Austin Hatch on Adler’s Modes of Teaching

A great learning experience comes at the material using different practices—listening, reading, memorizing, interrogating, doing, speaking, and/or writing about the idea until it crystallizes in the student’s mind. And a great teacher facilitates those practices in his class plan.

For his talk at the 2024 Forum Teaching Conference, upper school teacher Austin Hatch borrowed the “three modes of teaching” proposed by author and educator Mortimer Adler. These are: didactic instruction, supervised practice, and active participation. Mr. Hatch explains why they are each needed in good proportion, and what each can look like in the classroom.

Chapters:

00:04:25 The beginning and end is friendship
00:09:57 Didactic instruction: be brief and clear
00:12:23 Supervised practice: make the time
00:20:54 Active participation: host a seminar or performance
00:31:27 Beholding a man in performance
00:33:21 Q1: preparing students for a seminar
00:35:07 Q2: escaping the grade game

Links:

Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus by Mortimer Adler

De Amicitia (On Friendship) by Cicero

Featured opportunities:

Teaching Essentials Workshop at The Heights School (June 16-20, 2025)