Observing College Professors Teach

I came to Stanford University in 1981. After being in the Graduate School of Education for five years, teaching four courses each year, advising about 20 students annually, and doing research on the history of classroom teaching and technology use in schools, a new Dean asked me to serve as his Associate Dean. Having been a superintendent for seven years prior to coming to Stanford and tasting the privileged life of a full professor, I had no inclination to return to being an administrator whose influence on tenured colleagues, was at best, limited and, at worst, non-existent. The Dean, however, wanted me bad enough that he and I negotiated a higher salary (Stanford is, after all, a private institution where everything is negotiated). We agreed that I would only serve two years, I could teach at least one course a year while I served as Associate Dean, and I would get a sabbatical quarter after completing the second year. What did I do as Associate Dean? I had to insure that all of my…