Originally published by CoS with the title October Teaching Spotlight: John Etnyre.

by Carrie Shepler, Assistant Dean for Teaching and Learning

Originally Published October 26, 2026

Summary

Highlights of John's pedagogical approach:
1) Very thoughtful design of lecture content that leads students where they need to go
2) Modeling thought processes necessary to succeed in the class and future
3) Sharing the joy he finds in math
4) Making time for students
5) Providing rapid feedback on assessment
6) Just-in-time review in place of "front-loaded" review

Our October spotlight is on John Etnyre, a Professor in the School of Mathematics who has taught at Georgia Tech for over 20 years. While teaching a range of mathematics courses, he usually teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in geometry and topology. In the past, he has won the Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: Class of 1934 Award and the College of Sciences Faculty Mentor Award. 

Excellence In Design

When I first took on the assistant dean for teaching and learning role, School of Mathematics chair Michael Wolf suggested that I sit in on classes taught by math faculty members to get a better feel for what mathematics education entails. I still recall how much I enjoyed sitting in on John’s class a few years ago, and how excited I was to be able to follow along in a graduate level math course.  This was due solely to John’s excellent design and organization of the lecture. Our conversation after class highlighted how intentional he is in structuring his course, and I am thrilled to pass along his insights in our latest Spotlight

Paying It Forward

I asked John about the impact he hopes his teaching has on students, both during his course and after they leave Georgia Tech.  His response began with recognition of the many great professors he has had and particular emphasis on those who most influenced his approach to teaching, Professors Reed and Gordon.  Reed, John noted, “had an infectious joy for math and life” while Gordon “gave carefully planned lectures that really prepared [him] for [his] career beyond classes”.  John wrote that he aspires to both approaches to teaching, and I attest that he has achieved them. John continued:

I hope students in my course learn (at least) two things that should help them in their future courses and future careers: the course content and the joy of mathematical thinking. Most undergraduate classes are really focused on material needed for future classes in math, science, and engineering. So the most critical thing is making sure that they know the course content when they leave the class and are able to use it in their future classes and careers. The second thing is mathematical thinking, which is also sometimes called mathematical maturity. This can take many forms, but the key is really understanding a problem and understanding whether you have a rigorous solution, an approximate solution, or an intuition about a solution. It is really important that one does not confuse those! To sum it up, I aim to inspire students with the joy of math and the technical skills needed to succeed in their careers.  

To sum it up, I aim to inspire students with the joy of math and the technical skills needed to succeed in their careers.  

Socratic Monologues and Thoughtful Lecture Design

John’s approach to teaching supports student success in many ways.  He noted, “I care a lot about my students and try to develop practices that set them up to succeed, not only in the class, but beyond.” He indicated that there are several very important aspects to student success.  Based on my observation from several years ago, I was unsurprised when John pointed to “carefully prepared lectures to make the material as accessible as possible” as the first of these.  John noted: 

I would love to have a Socratic dialogue in the classroom, but due to the constraints of our system, that is usually not possible. So I like to think of my lectures as a “Socratic monologue.” I spend a lot of time trying to think about the issues a student might have with the material and build that into my lectures. So while I encourage questions and dialogue in my classes, I prepare the lectures so that many of the issues that might come up are dealt with in a natural way. This keeps students engaged and allows the class to cover a good amount of material. 

Making Time for Students and Providing Timely Feedback

John also highlighted the importance of ensuring that students can ask questions and to get timely feedback.  “So I try to make myself available whenever a student needs my help, whether it be through email, office hours, or scheduled meetings,” John wrote. “More generally, making time for students and finding out what their goals in the class and the future are allows me to support them on their journey.

John also tries to grade all his own exams (even for very large courses) so that he can give feedback to students within a day or two while they still recall what they were thinking during the exam.  John shared that he has had many students tell him how much this helped them, and he also uses the approach as a means of understanding what the class is “getting” and what they are struggling with. 

More generally, making time for students and finding out what their goals in the class and the future are allows me to support them on their journey.

Just-in-time review

I asked John how he supports students arriving in his classes with different levels of preparation, and he noted that students in Georgia Tech math classes are much more diverse than those at other universities and their backgrounds can be “wildly different.”  Rather than spending weeks at the start of the term reviewing material from past courses, he builds 15-20 minute mini-reviews into lectures when they are needed in a lecture.  This helps John balance providing review to students who really need it exactly when they can apply the information with keeping students who already are familiar with the content from getting bored.  He notes that he has found that even students with really good backgrounds for the course appreciate the reviews to get focused immediately before application of the content.   

John also writes up some of the background material and posts it to Canvas, noting, “This helps get all the students ready for the material in the class and can help students understand if they are ready for the course, since if the background material is really foreign to a student, then it is clear they should take another class to prepare so that they can succeed.” 

On Soliciting Student Feedback

I asked John what feedback from students has most influenced his teaching.  He responded: 

There is a huge variety of students taking advanced math courses at Georgia Tech; much more so than at most universities. This is due to the incredible engineering and science programs we have. While I find this really improves the classroom experience for everyone, it can sometimes be challenging to keep everyone engaged with the material. Given this, I have started to use carefully structured term papers instead of final exams. 

Noting that this approach is not appropriate for every class, John described how “through a lot of trial and error and student feedback,” he arrived at the current assignment structure, the most important aspect of which, he feels, is a draft turned in a month or so before the final paper that is evaluated by others in the class.  Not only do students receive good feedback on their work, but he also asks them to reflect on their own papers after reading a couple of their classmates’.  “Whether the papers were great or needed improvement, this approach actively engages students and makes them think about their own work in new ways.”  John stated that the papers help students truly engage with the course material and apply it to areas that impact their future success.  

“I am always happy to get student feedback, and this is just one of the ways it has influenced my approach in the classroom.” 

Thank you, John!