Teaching Meetings: Providing a Forum for Learning How to Teach

In 1996, librarians at the University of Washington Bothell Library gathered together their teaching librarians and the director of the Writing Center and began meeting on a regular basis to discuss issues of teaching and learning. In this article, Leadley addresses some of the larger issues surrounding teaching, specifically how within higher education those individuals, including librarians, who are expected to excel at this most complex task gain the skills and confidence required. She argues that developing or improving as a teacher happens not when teachers are working in isolation but when teaching and learning are the subject of serious discussion and inquiry among its practitioners. She discusses specific objectives for the teaching meetings at UWB and some of the topics or questions that have been explored there.