teaching – The BMJ

Richard Smith: Teaching is stand-up comedy

Posted on May 9, 2012 by BMJ

Teaching, it seems to me, is much the same as stand-up comedy. One is much scarier than the other, but which is the scariest depends on who you are. I was left thinking about the connection after a recent bad experience of teaching. I do a lot of teaching these days, most of it unpaid and […]

Joe Collier on being a teacher

Posted on April 15, 2009April 15, 2009 by BMJ

I have taught medical students for over forty years and, after a difficult start and the occasional hiccough, it has, overall, given me enormous satisfaction. Of the key components of teaching – lecturing and nurturing – lecturing was a particular challenge. Lecturing is, if nothing else, a public performance, and my beginnings as a performer […]