becomes an end in itself, and in a “curve” grading system, a high grade may just mean that a student was the best of a bad lot. This brings me to my favorite goal orientation. It’s not really one of the official orientations favored by theorists, but it’s one we all recognize. I call it a “strategic effort” orientation (but in the literature it’s often called “work avoidance”). This kind of orientation recognizes that there are many demands on everyone’s time, and sometimes students have to sacrifice quality in the face of overcommitment. The theorists who put forth the “work avoidance” orientation meant it to be a bad thing, but I differ. I defy anybody in the education system, faculty included, to assert that they haven’t had this orientation to some task they had. Maybe we’ve spent five instead of 10 hours grading during a week full of meetings. Or maybe we’ve skimped on the references in order to get a paper submitted before a deadline. None of us would say we were being work avoidant; we’re being strategic in how we spend our time.
No. 46 November-December 2009
How Many Pages? continued I think that’s what is happening in our opening scenario. The teacher wants her student to be mastery-oriented and to work as long as it takes to really understand. The student, on the other hand, may be faced with having to make choices – to be strategic in the way he allocates his effort, which requires a good understanding of what is required. If each could recognize and accept the different orientation that the other has, they wouldn’t be so annoyed. They might realize that both want to do the best job they can, but within the constraints of available resources. Such an understanding might even lead to some compromises that would allow everyone to achieve a reasonable goal, and possibly put an end to all that frustration. Reprinted with permission from The National Teaching and Learning Forum, a bi-monthly newsletter on college teaching available from James Rhem & Associates, LLC. Individual print subscription, $59USD /$65CD annually. Multiple orders discounted. Internet site licenses available ( www.ntlf.com ).
Contents 1 A Reaffirmation of Why I Became an Educator 3 A LIFE CHANGED BY ART and by a teacher 4 How to Teach What You Don’t Actually Know 6 Beloit’s Mindset List for the Class of 2013 7 How Many Pages?
Teaching and Learning Center Staff Director: Michael Dabney (808) 543-8048 mdabney@hpu.edu
Back in the old days, around 10 or 15 B.C. (Before Cellphones,) I encountered a problem similar to cell phone distraction, but with print media. I used “fun” to address it. During the break in my two-hour lecture on basic principles of education, the student newspaper arrived. At the beginning of the second hour I was faced with a sea of open newspapers. I said to the class, “My obligation as a teacher is to those who are listening, and I’m concerned that the rustling of newspapers might distract them. Accordingly, I will have a page turning break at quarter after the hour, another at half past and a third at quarter to the hour. Please refrain from turning pages between those times.” To my surprise everyone put away their papers. I don’t know how to translate this into current technology. Perhaps I would ask them to turn down the light intensity on their phones so that they don’t distract those who are listening. The hidden message is: “I am bursting with enthusiasm about this subject matter and there are some students out there who also find it exciting. We can carry out our teaching and learning without you if you choose to withdraw. Just don’t interfere. This is not about me or my ego. It is about your engaging in the most exciting journey of your lifetime, if you choose to.” This piece originally appeared in a Professional and Organizational Development (POD) e-mail dated September 10, 2009. Reprinted with permission from Dr. Richard G. Tiberius, director and professor, Educational Development Office, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Department of Medical Education (R-98).
Administrative Coordinator: Sandra Meyer (808) 356-5250 smeyer@hpu.edu TLC Hours and Location: Monday to Friday 7:00 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. Saturday 7:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Opening hours change during summer and winter sessions. 1188 Fort St. Mall, Suite 139 Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96813
The Po‘okela newsletter is a bimonthly publication featuring articles of interest to faculty regarding pedagogy, scholarship, and service at Hawai‘i Pacific University. Opinions in this newsletter are those of the authors. Articles are chosen for their power to encourage reflection and discussion and do not reflect endorsement by the Teaching and Learning Center or Hawai‘i Pacific University.
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“Po’okela serves HPU faculty and an outside mailing list of readers interested in our work, with the intention to prompt community building and reflection on professional practice, and to encourage innovation in teaching.”
Hawai‘i Pacific University • Teaching and Learning Center • http://tlc.hpu.edu
A Reaffirmation of Why I Became an Educator by Gina Greco
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“Impersonal, disconnected, and unfulfilling.” That is how I would have answered if you asked me 10 years ago what I thought of online teaching. As a teacher, I feed off the energy of the crowd and thrive on exciting and entertaining my students to the point of drawing even the most resistant into attending class. When the economy and my growing family necessitated that I teach online as well as in the classroom, I couldn’t have been more surprised by the satisfaction and joy that could come from a distancelearning program. It is not easy. First there are the students themselves. They are generally older, multicultural, and have work and family commitments. Many are in the military or have a spouse in it. Many are single mothers. Some see this chance for an education as their only chance in life, their last option. To effectively work in the distance-learning realm, your students need to feel close to their classmates and professors, despite the miles between us. Establishing a bond, a common ground, a supportive arena for thought and expression may mean the difference between a successful, compassionate classroom and a lost, detached one. One step toward entering an online frame of mind is to reconsider how we write to our students. Staying positive and eliminating language that could be taken as biting or sarcastic, or that could be misinterpreted and cause anxiety or confusion, can make or break online classroom interactions. It is amazing how even an emoticon like “:)” at the end of an e-mail message can defuse a tense situation. Without the benefit of
tone, body language, or social cues like proximity or volume, no wonder it is so difficult to communicate effectively in the online classroom. We always hear that we should not write the way we speak. I agree — everywhere but in the online classroom. Our language must literally pop off the computer monitor. Like poetry, our words should be written as we want them to be read. We have to go back to the basics of our word-processing programs: Use bold fonts; use italics for emphasis and parentheses for clarity, as in “(slight sarcasm here).” Many of our students know the etiquette for speaking online better than we do. Shortcuts, emoticons, Internet-chat acronyms, and the like can be exploited positively if used in conjunction with strong, grammatically accurate language. I have often responded in the class-discussion forum with “LOL” (laugh out loud) followed by my reasons for enjoying a student’s post. They think it is hysterical that I am “lingo literate,” and I am ensuring that they read everything I post — even if it is just to see what I will say next. The elimination of anxiety is a superb tactic that can be used daily in interactions with students, in the planning and development of our assignments, in discussion-forum prompts, and in timely responses to questions in students’ individual forums. Clear, detailed assignments can be the difference between a student’s feeling confident or overwhelmed. I often construct course materials much like an owner’s manual: clear, without a lot of needless filler, and including helpful notes or tips for students continued on page 2
A Reaffirmation of Why I Became an Educator continued who run into trouble. It is important to anticipate problems and try to answer the questions before they are asked. As if composing a manual for a dangerous piece of machinery, I try to anticipate the many things that could go wrong — confusion, misinterpretation, failure to do an assignment — before I settle on what is right. The curriculum, especially for students returning to college after a long absence or raising a family or working full time, is generally very challenging. A dose of levity now and again can create an atmosphere of community and understanding, and, most of all, a sense of not being alone. It is quite amazing how quickly students respond positively to a “Hectic week, anyone?” posted the week before a holiday. Perhaps I’m a storyteller by trade, but sharing little bits of my life — even feelings of stress and being overwhelmed — can create the feeling of a classroom that parallels the support one might find on the campus. It can also encourage students to share among themselves aspects of their lives that are not class-related but that affect their success in class. Students can create such supportive bonds in the discussion forums that they will often respond to one another’s concerns, personal issues, and difficulties with assignments before I even get to them — something rarely seen in the traditional classroom. Retaining students is a tough job in any classroom, but nearly impossible when you can’t see their faces. Even instructors can feel a little detached sometimes. Checking in on students, one on one, is a great way to connect with them and make them feel valued. An example might be
simply: “I haven’t seen you in the discussion forum — are you OK?” Or even checking their past posts, perhaps one about taking care of an ill parent, and asking, “Is everything OK with Dad?”
Beloit’s Mindset List for the Class of 2013 continued 16. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
29. Kevin Costner has always been Dancing with Wolves, especially on cable.
17. State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
30. There have always been flat screen televisions.
18. The European Union has always existed.
31. Elite American colleges have never been able to fix the price of tuition.
In fact, such efforts to retain and engage students can be rewarding for the instructor as well. Perhaps my most eyeopening experience involving the retention of my distancelearning students was during Hurricane Katrina. I watched the horror on the TV screen and the plight of the citizens of New Orleans, but it wasn’t until the first week of September that I realized some of my students were among the missing. I checked their class logs and searched for e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers. I started writing and calling. As I began to reconnect with them, I found them displaced and disillusioned but still eager to complete their coursework — to maintain some sense of normalcy in the chaos. I was able to provide those students with something that could not be washed away: the education they so desired. For me it was the reaffirmation of why I had become an educator in the first place.
19. McDonald’s has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
I have fallen in love with this method of teaching. I feel more connected to my students than I ever have, and I feel needed and appreciated daily.
27. Amateur radio operators have never needed to know Morse code.
Gina Greco teaches English at Hudson Valley Community College as well as online for the University of Phoenix. This article originally appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, August 28, 2009. Reprinted with permission.
20. Cable television systems have always offered telephone service and vice versa. 21. The American health care system has always been in critical condition. 22. Desperate smokers have always been able to turn to Nicoderm skin patches. 23. Their folks could always reach for a Zoloft. 24. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen. 25. Women have always outnumbered men in college. 26. We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
28. Ozzy Osbourne has always been coming back.
32. Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the evening news came on. 33. Someone has always been asking: “Was Iraq worth a war?” 34. Natalie Cole has always been singing with her father. 35. Elizabeth Taylor has always reeked of White Diamonds. 36. There has always been a Planet Hollywood. 37. For one reason or another, California’s future has always been in doubt. 38. “Womyn” and “waitperson” have always been in the dictionary. 39. Avon has always been “calling” in a catalog. 40. The two Koreas have always been members of the UN. 41. Vice presidents of the United States have always had real power. 42. There has always been blue Jell-O.
How Many Pages? by Marilla Svinicki He said, “How many pages does that paper have to be?” She said, “As many as it takes to make your case.” This exchange is pretty common, and annoying. The student is trying to set the boundaries of the assignment and is probably annoyed with the vague response he got from the instructor. The instructor wants the student to learn how to make a good argument, and is probably annoyed that the student seems to be focusing on quantity rather than quality. But there’s a motivational theory that might help each party understand the other. The theory is called Achievement Goal Orientation (Dweck, 1986). The core of it asserts that the kind of goal that students pursue can produce very different behavior patterns based on their “orientation” to that goal. The most desirable orientation, teachers believe, is the “mastery” or “learning” orientation. Here a student is trying
to learn or master the content. To this end, he is willing to expend a lot of effort, take chances at difficult tasks if they promise to help him learn more, persist even in the face of temporary setbacks, ask for help, and generally exhibit all those highly desirable behaviors that teachers would say indicate that “he really wants to learn.” Such students are wonderful to teach. Another more familiar orientation is the “performance approach” orientation, or, less flatteringly, “grade-obsession.” When students adopt this orientation, they are concerned with demonstrating their competence rather than learning. They want a good grade, preferably better than the other students, because they interpret that as a sign that they are “good.” Students with this orientation stick close to things that they already know or that they know are correct. This way they can be certain of success and appearing competent. In the “grade-conscious” student, a high grade symbolizes high competence. But in many cases, the grade continued on page 8
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How to Teach What You Don’t Actually Know continued at them. Instead, insert mini-discussions into your lecture. For example, an instructor was leading into a lecture on the properties of microwaves, but he began with a brief discussion on microwaving potatoes to stimulate interest in the topic.
the items on the list. Why are some items on the list and not others? Why is the list organized this way? Construct the list using students’ input. Write the title and first item from the list on the board, then invite students to generate the rest.
Focusing on lists. When professors teach outside of their expertise, their lectures tend to be heavily peppered with lists, such as the “eight most powerful political parties in India,” or the “12 steps to designing an effective web page.” In part, faculty members who are new to the material may rely on lists because they provide pre-packaged, well-organized information.
Teaching outside your expertise can be intimidating, but you don’t need to know everything to create an environment in which students learn new things. As Codrina the chemist remarked to me, “Students don’t learn more when you’re perfect.” They learn more when you’re human and you make the classroom a place where it’s safe to ask questions.
But students can often get that information directly from their textbooks or the Internet. Further, you might be sending the message that you value rote memorization when you really want students to understand those concepts, not just list and recite them. Try to engage students by examining the relationship among
Therese Huston is director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Seattle University. This essay is adapted from Teaching What You Don’t Know, to be published by Harvard University Press. Copyright(c) 2009 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reprinted with permission.
Beloit’s Mindset List for the Class of 2013
A LIFE CHANGED BY ART and by a teacher The following letter was written by a student of Paul Levitt, adjunct instructor in art, this past summer. Paul shared this letter via e-mail with Dr. Teresa McCreary, chair for the Arts and Humanities, and other art faculty, at HPU. Paul says, in his message to Dr. McCreary: “I think we all have doubts as teachers....... A letter like this makes it all worthwhile. We all work so hard to share our passions and give the students a quality learning experience.......... all with love.” We add: This is an example of the richest kind of teacherstudent interaction. Paul’s student went past facts to locate a passion: Grace found gold threads of feeling and meaning in art woven into her own life fabric. Such an outcome might be Paul Levitt and student Grace Jo. hoped for in teaching any art appreciation. A few grammatical edits enhance its flow, but the content is unchanged. We are grateful to Grace, and Paul and Teresa McCreary for permission to share this story. Dear professor,
Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities, Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director, Ron Nief. The list is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation. The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world. It is a multicultural, politically correct and “green” generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact. For the complete list, please visit http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2013.php 1. Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Kevorkian, and Mike Tyson have always been felons. 2. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables. 3. They have never used a card catalog to find a book. 4. Margaret Thatcher has always been a former prime minister. 5. Salsa has always outsold ketchup. 6. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible. 7. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
This is Grace Jo from ARTS1000 this summer. How are you doing these days? I visited New York last week and I had SO MUCH FUN!! I really want to thank you because you inspired me so much – you just made me go to New York City! I went to MoMa (Museum of Modern Art), the Metropolitan Museum, Whitney Museum, The Guggenheim, and the International Center of Photography (ICP). I visited most of the big museums in NYC, although I wish I had more time to stay and visit other galleries as well. I’m really proud of myself, and it was just magical!! I felt so great even though I don’t know about artwork precisely, but since I’ve learned very important terms of art, I was able to understand and think about it. Also, I was surprised because most of the art I saw was covered in class, especially the ones you showed on Youtube and other videos. Personally that was why I enjoyed the exhibitions more than usual. I saw a lot of Picasso, Cezzane, Braque, Manet, Monet, Courbet, Warhol.... I mean everything was there! Frankly speaking, before this summer, all I was interested in were paintings from old centuries but now I’m really in to Modern Art. I feel like I’ve awakened from old experiences...
9. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
Also, I was amazed at Jackson Pollock’s work! I’ve seen five pieces of Pollock and all of them just blew my mind. I actually bought a poster at the Guggenheim. It’s in the doorway at my house right now. I cannot forget his work – ever, especially the ones in MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum.
10. Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (née Sears) Tower in Chicago.
Anyway, I had an amazing time in NY and it was really worth it. Thanks again for your wonderful instruction.
11. The KGB has never officially existed.
Unfortunately, I won’t be taking any art classes next semester and maybe not until next year but I’m still going to read books and visit museums and keep art in my life!
8. Rap music has always been main stream.
12. Babies have always had a Social Security Number. 13. They have never had to “shake down” an oral thermometer.
Have a wonderful summer!!!
14. Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
Yours sincerely,
15. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
Grace JO
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How to Teach What You Don’t Actually Know by Therese Huston, Ph.D. Zach is a tenure-track professor at a small liberal-arts college. He teaches chemistry and cares deeply about teaching it well, so he volunteered to teach a new course for freshmen to draw more students into the sciences. It’s called The Chemistry and Biology of Fat. But Zach doesn’t know a whole semester’s worth of material about fat. His expertise is in proteins. Codrina also teaches chemistry. But she has been assigned to teach a first-year writing seminar and has found herself teaching the Declaration of Independence and reading slave narratives. Then there’s Andy, an adjunct instructor in education who is about to start his second year at a large state university. The department chair asked him to teach, Research Design and Statistics. To be a team player, Andy agreed, even though he’s never used half the methods in the textbook. Zach, Codrina, and Andy aren’t alone. Faculty members often find themselves having to teach what they don’t know. I have formally interviewed 28 faculty members and administrators and discussed the idea with many others. And I have found that teaching what you don’t know isn’t the lonely plight of the newly hired Ph.D. but a common dilemma for faculty members at all stages of their careers. If you’ve just been assigned to teach a course that is outside your specialty, what are some survival strategies? How can you teach well enough that students learn something valuable, and also manage your time well enough to stay sane? Based on my research, the following steps may be helpful: Consider the principle of backward design. Begin with the end product first: What do you want students to be able to do as a result of learning in your course? Then outline the kinds of evidence that will be acceptable. Finally, decide what you need to do, and what students need to do, to produce that kind of evidence. What materials will students need? What strategic advice or background information should you provide, and what kind of practice will they need? That approach differs from the way most of us design our courses. We usually outline the readings first and then figure out how many homework assignments or exams to give. Then, somewhere near the middle or the end of the process, we draft language about what we want students to know —which inevitably leads to squeezing in some additional readings or assignments. I’ve done that many times myself, but that approach doesn’t focus on academic purpose. Basically it’s designed to fill the calendar. You’ll achieve that, but in doing so you’ll commit yourself to covering all that content —some or all of which you don’t know —without more meaningful learning goals in mind. Focus on asking the right questions. Many instructors try to begin with questions that will be compelling to students. But being an expert can get in the way of seeing the issues from a student’s perspective. The beauty of being a content novice is that you
have an outsider’s level of excitement and curiosity. Questions that might be demeaning to experts are enticing to content novices, just as they’ll be enticing to your students —who will be more interested in learning because you’ve asked the right questions from the start. Moreover, one of the reasons we become so exhausted when we teach as content novices is that we don’t know what’s important to know. Once Therese Huston, Ph.D. you’ve identified the end questions, you’ll have a better sense of which concepts you’ll need to research more intensively before class, instead of simply doing additional research on every detail in the reading that’s new or hard to pronounce. Talk to supportive colleagues. First find someone knowledgeable about the topic you’ll be teaching who can help you determine the important questions to ask. You’ll also want to talk to another professor about the fact that you’re teaching outside of your expertise, someone who will listen supportively to your concerns. As I discovered in my interviews, most instructors have taught outside of their expertise at least once, and if the person to whom you turn is reflective and insightful about his teaching experience, he might offer some savvy advice.
How to Teach What You Don’t Actually Know continued • If you, the instructor, could pick only two or three things that you’d like to learn more about before you teach the chapter, what would they be? It’s important to introduce big questions early in the course, both in the syllabus and on the first day of class, so that students see your vision and what they should be able to do by the end of the course.
the number of graded assignments by one. By removing just one paper or problem set, you’ve saved yourself a considerable amount of time: the time it takes to create the assignment, meet with anxious students before it’s due, generate grading criteria, grade the assignments, offer feedback, and wrangle with students about the whole process afterward.
Spend some time early in the course on a topic within your expertise. That can reduce your anxiety levels. You also build credibility with the class if you start from a place of confidence, where you have facts, terms, and examples at your fingertips. In fact, an instructor from the College of William and Mary organized her course so that the entire first half of the semester was comfortably focused on her expertise. The second half ventured into new applications of those concepts, but only after she’d already established a rapport with students.
Failing to manage expectations. You don’t want to set unrealistic expectations or avoid direct conversations about expectations altogether and then disappoint people. It’s particularly important to talk with departmental colleagues who have a commitment from you. You don’t have to fully disclose that you’re teaching something you don’t know —simply tell them that you’re doing some new prep and it’s a lot of work. If you’re collaborating on a research project or writing a paper, discuss what you can and cannot contribute while you’re preparing and teaching the course. If you’re on a committee, talk with the chair and agree to take on more tasks or responsibilities later in exchange for a work reduction now.
Build flexibility into the syllabus. A common source of anxiety a few weeks into a new course is the concern that you’re falling behind or running ahead of schedule. One way to create flexibility is to list the topics and readings on the calendar by week rather than by individual class sessions. Another strategy is to include a class with a short reading and an ambiguous topic about half-way into the course, simply to build in a catch-up day. You can also indicate in the syllabus that a revised calendar will be issued midway through the course if needed.
• Does the chapter raise any big questions for you?
Use at least one case study. That way, you won’t need to prepare as broadly. Instead of trying to cover all conceivable topics, cafeteria -style, you can focus your background reading on the case. Moreover, students are more intrinsically interested in the topic when they are trying to crack a case-based problem, which means they are less driven by grades and more driven by their curiosity. One reason that cases work so well for teaching unfamiliar topics is that students share the burden of being fact-finders. They are actively working to understand how all the pieces of the case fit together, rather than passively waiting for you to assemble everything in perfect working order.
• Which items in this chapter strike you as the most or least interesting?
Through my research, I’ve also found that people who teach outside their expertise can make common mistakes, including:
• Which theories, findings, events, cases, or equations are most important to the field, to the best of your knowledge? If you can’t answer that question because the topic is too far outside of your discipline, which concepts seem to get the most coverage in the chapter?
Underestimating the preparation time. Even if you’re excited about the course and volunteered to teach it, it will zap your time and energy. Lydia McAllister, an associate professor of nursing at Seattle University, summed it up as follows: “You should assume that, midway through the course, you’re going to be more tired than usual —and by the end, will need a much better vacation.”
Read the materials before the course begins. You may be thinking that is obvious. But it’s important to keep in mind, as it will improve your teaching and make life more manageable once the course begins. As you read each chapter, consider the following:
• Which concepts or examples are the hardest for you to understand? One of the best ways you can use class time is to help students make sense of ideas that are unclear from the text alone. • What background information will help students understand the chapter? This may be one area where you can draw on your existing expertise. • Is there any advice you’d like to give students before they read the chapter? Or try completing this sentence for students: “Come to class ready to …”
Assigning too much work. Part of the problem is related to the first mistake —it’s hard to gauge how much work and time the course is going to take. You may be modeling the course after someone who had more content expertise, particularly if you’re working from someone else’s syllabus. Some instructors also assign too much because they are tempted to try a variety of assignments. But if you try too many novel ideas, you could find yourself slogging through mounds of unexpected work. The simplest, most concrete step is to reduce
Forgetting what you’ve learned. Maybe your mantra is, “Never give tests on a Friday” or “Build in time for student meetings at midterm.” It’s surprisingly easy to forget those strategies when you’re dealing with unfamiliar topics. It’s fine to begin with someone else’s syllabus because that can save you time and anxiety, but before you are lulled into complacency by their course design, step back and take 15 minutes to think about your other teaching experiences. Whatever golden truths you’ve learned, honor them here, too. Overpreparing for each day in class. If you prepare too much, you can become exhausted and resent the students. And if you’re cramming the night before to research just a few more sources, you won’t have time to organize it all. An alternative strategy is to begin by identifying your three or four learning objectives for the day and outlining the class according to those objectives —in other words, use backward design for each individual class day. Ask yourself, on the basis of what you’ve read about Concept A, what would you reasonably expect students to be able to do? What should students be able to do when they’ve finished studying Concept B? Although it takes time upfront, you’ll be more efficient and strategic in deciding what you do and don’t need to do to prepare for class. Lecturing too much. You may want to resort to lectures when you teach content that’s outside your comfort zone, because they are more predictable than discussions and active learning. When you’re in lecture mode, students are less likely to ask questions that you can’t answer. Moreover, you may think that lecturing will save you preparation time. You’re taking notes as you read and learn the material, so the easiest thing to do is to use these newly constructed notes as your lecture notes. You don’t have to step back from the material and analyze it for the most thoughtprovoking discussion questions. You can just staple your notes and go. But lecturing takes a lot of time to prepare, and, despite all your efforts, your students may not learn as much when you lecture continued on page 6
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