Book Review: In the Trenches: Teaching and Learning in Sociology

In this aptly titled book, Atkinson and Lowney offer crucial guidance for teachers at all levels of experience who find themselves “in the trenches” of teaching. The valuable and thorough guidance spans the entirety of teaching, from course development to grading, to a range of pedagogical approaches, and everything in between. I firmly believe that the best teachers are resourceful; they know how to find materials that will help them improve. This book provides a stockpile of resources at your fingertips. As the authors state, “this book is intended for sociologists who want a basic guide to teaching well” (p. xv). In this review, I will discuss how I use this book in a graduate seminar called Teaching Sociology, but it would be valuable for any teaching sociologist.

This book was influenced by one of the most profound books on college teaching, What the Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain (2004), which my graduate students read concurrently with In the Trenches. While Bain offers a deeply inspiring discussion of the philosophies and attitudes associated with good teaching (what some might call the “art” of teaching), In the Trenches provides the practical wisdom and effective strategies associated with good teaching (what one might call the “science” of teaching). The combined wisdom encourages readers to develop or refine the important craft of teaching. Students in my course read the last chapter of Atkinson and Lowney, “What the Best Sociology Teachers Do” (chapter 22), with the first chapter of Bain’s book, “Defining the Best,” because it provides a sociological context for Bain’s definitions of “the best.”

In the Trenches is written in a casual, conversation tone, which makes it a quick read—something busy instructors will appreciate. While it reads well from start to finish, it is also possible to read it nonsequentially if immediate needs demand it. Need some ideas for how to get the first day of a new term off to a great start? Skip ahead to chapter 11, “First-day Teaching Activities.” Struggling to find the right amount of content to cover? Go directly to chapter 3, “How Much Content to Cover.” Trying to process the class evaluations from last semester that just came in? Check out chapter 15, “Class Evaluations.” Thinking of evaluating your teaching methods by starting a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project? See chapter 20. Although you can ping-pong your way through the book, it is organized in a very logical manner, and I recommend reading it sequentially if you are new to teaching; I assign chapters sequentially for students in my graduate seminar. The book is organized into five sections: (1) “Course Development”; (2) “Day-to-day Life in the Classroom”; (3) “Assessments, Grading, and Evaluations”; (4) “Twenty-first Century Pedagogy”; and (5) “Building Your Career as a Teacher-Scholar”.

In section 1,“Course Development,” Atkinson and Lowney discuss how to write learning goals and objectives and how to construct a syllabus, and they address the difficult question of how much content to cover. They suggest that instructors break down the importance of beginning a course design by asking themselves, “What do I want students to learn?” This important question can be easily overlooked and sometimes becomes an afterthought once we have selected our texts and assigned a set of readings. A primary goal of my work training graduate students learning to teach is for them to take this question for granted in their teaching practice; I was glad to see the authors place such importance on it, not just for course design generally but for every single class period. Beginning with learning goals ensures that all course planning—what students read, what assignments they write, and how, when, and if they are tested—is in the interest of achieving those very specific learning outcomes. Beginning here, they promise that “you will be more relaxed, more secure, and ready to enjoy teaching. You will never again have your students complete a creative activity only to find that it did little more than entertain” (p. 3). This is excellent advice; a well-planned class will certainly save you hours of grief, last-minute scrambling, and post hoc realizations of what didn’t work. But teachers know that sometimes the machine of a semester can take on a life of its own, and even the best plans can sometimes be subverted by unforeseen circumstances.

Fortunately, Atkinson and Lowney understand this. The second section, “Day-to-day Life in the Classroom,” contains a wealth of knowledge and practical advice for making the most of each day by choosing the appropriate teaching techniques (chapter 4). From skills for constructing effective lectures (chapter 5) and guiding discussion (chapter 9) to employing both active learning (chapter 6) and inquiry-guided learning (chapter 7) to promote critical thinking (chapter 10), this section can be a lifesaver for teachers who find themselves overwhelmed. Some of the advice they offer will give you some quick and easy techniques (e.g., low-stakes writing) to try in your classrooms (chapter 8). Other advice will provide the essential tools for transforming your teaching practice, should you want to shake things up or need to recover from common teaching failures (chapter 12). Discussions about Bloom’s Taxonomy, for instance, will help you rethink the level of critical thinking you expect from your students. Atkinson and Lowney offer numerous examples—some anecdotal from their decades of experience and the experiences of their colleagues and others from published papers—that will no doubt inspire thinking about your classroom in a new way.

Section 3, “Assessments, Grading, and Evaluations,” is all about how you know that your students are learning and that your teaching methods are effective, at both the classroom and program levels. The authors discuss an array of assessment strategies, including various exam questions and ideas for assigning writing without overburdening yourself with grading. They emphasize the importance of clear instructions and the use of grading rubrics, not only to aid student success but also to make grading more straightforward. Despite the growing evidence citing the limitations of class evaluations (Flaherty 2016), they remain useful measures for getting a general sense of how students experience our classrooms, especially if we look for and examine patterns in the data, as Atkinson and Lowney suggest (p. 182).

The fourth section, “Twenty-first Century Pedagogy,” will help readers effectively adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the twenty-first century. The advancement of technology and the fact that today’s students are digital natives demands a chapter on teaching and technology, and Atkinson and Lowney deliver (see chapter 17). The authors discuss both the benefits and limitations of various technologies and provide solid reasoning for choosing which technologies to use for what. Learning management systems, such as Moodle, Blackboard, and Brightspace, can be excellent resources and provide a digital home base for course material and conversation. Student response systems, audio and video capturing, and social media platforms, such as Twitter and WordPress, are also discussed. The authors offer advice for (and examples of!) how to be “proactive about common issues students might have with technology” (p. 225). Rapidly changing technologies may inadvertently create digital platforms that are inaccessible for students with disabilities, and Atkinson and Lowney devote an entire chapter to maintaining accessible materials. The last chapter of this section is about teaching large classes, and Lowney, a veteran teacher of large classes, shares her experiences and evidence-based strategies for how to do so effectively. A curious omission from this section is any discussion of Levine and Dean’s (2012) book, Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today’s College Student, which captures who our twenty-first century students are, what they’ve been through (e.g., the Great Recession and the development of the Internet), and where they are going. As much as Atkinson and Lowney packed into this book, the omission is not detrimental, just surprising. If your interest is piqued, I highly recommend Levine and Dean’s book. In my graduate seminar on teaching sociology, I assign a portion of Generation on a Tightrope to supplement this section of Atkinson and Lowney.

Finally, a book on teaching and learning would be incomplete without the material covered in the fifth section, “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.” Atkinson and Lowney superbly articulate the importance of viewing teaching as a scholarly activity, suggesting “that many teachers would benefit from beginning to do research on their teaching (SoTL) and that all of us should be scholarly teachers” (p. 277). Their nuanced discussion untangles the differences between the scholarship of teaching and learning, and scholarly teaching, and it shows readers how to approach this and how to make it part of their teaching practice. This section also offers valuable advice for how to develop a teaching philosophy and how to document the effectiveness of one’s teaching. This is especially useful for job seekers and those applying for promotion, as teaching philosophies and evidence of effective teaching are increasingly included in application materials. For graduate students learning to teach, chapter 21, “Creating Your Teaching Philosophy and Teaching Portfolio,” is more than worthwhile reading as they prepare for the academic job market.

In the Trenches is a must-read for any sociologist who teaches, both new and seasoned instructors alike. This book will complement the journal Teaching Sociology and American Sociological Association’s Teaching Resources and Innovations Library (TRAILS), both of which contain a plethora of useful resources, ideas, and assessments of specific topics and strategies. It will find itself at home among your favorite books on pedagogy. In the Trenches is unique because it is a comprehensive handbook for teachers in sociology. The authors understand the nuances of teaching in sociology, have developed their pedagogies in the field, and are experts on the scholarship of teaching and learning in the discipline, making them wise beyond measure.