Book Review: What the Best College Teachers Do

teaching practices in college education. This review focuses on the key elements Bain identifies as those which frame the unique components that help define best teaching, which can be divided into three broad categories: knowledge about teaching, knowledge about students, and knowledge about learning. The review includes detailed descriptions of each of the three categories. When first reflecting on a statement such as the one Bain puts forth in his book title, we cannot help but think about our own experience in the classroom, both as students and teachers. It often seems easy to identify key characteristics of exemplary teachers in isolation, but, as Bain points out, it is not one particular set of traits that characterizes teachers who form part of this cluster of best teachers. Rather, it is the combination of unique traits, strategies, idiosyncrasies, techniques, and, ultimately, awareness of who our students are and what they need in order to be(come) successful learners tha