A famous teacher once wrote, “You teach with what you are. You are only as good a teacher as you are, or are becoming, a person” (Pullias and Lockhart, 1963). Anyone with the good fortune to share a room with a gifted teacher will quickly notice that the information coming through that teacher invariably takes on some of his or her personal characteristics. In a sense, an excellent teacher acts as a prism, splitting and combining his or her feelings for the material being taught with the material itself in ways that project his or her own values and experiences.

Garrison, T. 2009. The oceanography classroom: In praise of travel. Oceanography 22(3):268–269, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2009.89.

Pullias, E.V., and A. Lockhart. 1963. Toward Excellence in College Teaching. W.C. Brown, 133 pp.

Steinbeck, J. 1951. The Log from the Sea of Cortez. The Viking Press, ~ 300 pp.

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