How to Teach College

Inspiring Diverse Students in Challenging Times

James W. Loewen

Edited by:

From the bestselling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me comes a profound and practical roadmap for cultivating a rewarding, empowering classroom experience for both teachers and students—brimming with lessons for lifelong learners

“Not a few professors teach solely because they have to, to hold a position that lets them do what they really want to do, which is ‘their work’—their research, their writing. . . . Those professors miss the joys of teaching.”
—from the introduction to How to Teach College

Widely known as a bestselling author and an award-winning college professor for over fifty years, James W. Loewen passed away in 2021, but his words and wisdom live on in How to Teach College. Full of strategies and secrets to inspire and invigorate students, this is a must-read for educational leaders at every level looking to deepen the impact of their teaching and inspire students to stay curious, vigilant, and engaged.

How to Teach College is an invaluable resource for professors teaching in increasingly fraught American classrooms. With a special emphasis on teaching students from diverse backgrounds and potentially controversial subjects, this posthumously published book comes to us in Loewen’s vibrant, original, and inimitable voice. In it, he offers advice on:

How to make content come alive with vibrancy, leading to knowledge retention, comprehension, and student engagement
How to convey a love of one’s topic and motivate students to become lifelong learners—both in the classroom and outside of it
How to efficiently design a syllabus, manage the classroom, and optimize testing and grading
The importance of ethics and open-mindedness when it comes to shaping young minds, and how to incorporate freedom of thought into each and every lesson

As a leading sociologist of race relations and a prizewinning college educator with a teaching career spanning over half a century at Tougaloo College, Harvard University, University of Vermont, and Catholic University, Loewen taught the way he wrote: with creativity, humor, and a high expectation that students can handle the truth. Edited by Loewen’s son, himself a fellow educator and longtime high school teacher, as well as sociology professor Michael Dawson, How to Teach College comes as a pivotal moment in history and is sure to inspire and motivate generations of teachers to come.

Topics:

Education

Praise

“This insightful volume by one of this nation’s greatest teachers reminds us that ‘learning how to learn’ is the most important lesson. Never afraid to speak truth to power, Professor Loewen taught our history the way it really happened and inspired countless students to do the same. While answers are important, sometimes asking the right questions is even more important.”

—Donzell Lee, PhD, president, Tougaloo College

“How to Teach College is a 'cookbook' of over one hundred (I counted!) practical lessons, techniques, tricks, and gimmicks that Jim learned in his fifty-year career as a college teacher. It provides a clear road map that will make teaching easier, more effective, and more rewarding for students and professors alike. While it speaks directly to teachers, I hope that educational leaders at every level will read—and absorb—this brilliant, eminently sensible, and highly readable book.”

—John Merrow, former PBS Education correspondent

“While most of us know Jim Loewen for unearthing important yet hidden aspects of history and culture so that we can have more robust content, in this volume he unearths the real challenge of what happens in classrooms . . . ensuring good teaching. He reminds us that content cannot teach itself. Outstanding college teachers make the content come alive and ensure that students are engaged. This volume is a real treasure!”