What makes a great teacher great? Who are the professors students remember long after graduation? This book, the conclusion of a fifteen-year study, offers valuable answers for all educators. The short answer is--it's not what teachers do, it's what they understand. Lesson plans and lecture notes matter less than the special way teachers comprehend the subject and value human learning. Whether historians or physicists, in El Paso or St. Paul, the best teachers know their subjects inside and out--but they also know how to engage and challenge students and to provoke impassioned responses. Most of all, they believe in two things: that teaching matters, and that students can learn. Bain describes examples of ingenuity and compassion, of students' discoveries of new ideas and the depth of their own potential. This book is a source of insight and inspiration for first-year teachers and seasoned educators.--From publisher's description.