1. Pygmalion effect: “What you expect to be will be.” If you project enthusiasm for your course chances are that your student will show enthusiasm to learn. Constantly try to remember what was something that made you love the subject you are teaching. Point out those things that you felt are fascinating about your topic. What were the topics hard for you? What did you feel when you first learned them? Your students might feel the same. Ask your students which are their favorite topics, then amplify or enhance when you teach the next time around. Imagine you have to explain to friends and family why are you so excited to teach your course, what is so interesting about your course. If this is hard for you to answer you might not have the excitement from past and you should look for new material for your class. Keep your interest up so your students will mirror your enthusiasm for the topic. Even if you teach your students and often time you find them immature, always respect them. Struggling students need you more and are the ones you can have the most profound influence. Reach out to your students and treat them with respect and professionalism at all times during and outside class. Praise and encourage questions at all time, even dumb questions. If you cannot turn around a dumb question you have to question your teaching abilities. Never put on the spot a particular student, no matter what question was asked. Use always praise and help struggling students get the message that you respect them enough to help them no matter how far behind they are. Offer your help and praise even minimal effort.
2. Go out of your way to encourage questions: The fear factor prevents many students to ask questions especially in very large classes. A bag of candy is good for elementary school classroom as well as for a college class. It melts the fear and make it more fun to ask questions. Use them as a reward, will make class atmosphere more human as well.
3. If an entire class performs poorly on a quiz or exam, take the blame: not always is the students fault when fails to respond correctly to exam questions. If the entire class performs below expectation on a problem on your quiz or exam it might well be your fault. It is worth temporarily ignore the class syllabus and go over one more time covering the missed topics. A quiz that will cover the material can be used to check if this time around the class is better prepared. Nothing more than that concern you show to your students will increase your evaluations. Your students will see that you care for their learning and that you are indeed a good teacher. They will be more motivated to learn.
4. Tell students how to study! When teaching freshmen and especially for very difficult or highly technical classes students may not know how best to study. They might not have experience with many of the topics, or you might have students from highly disparate majors. As instructor you are aware of which learning methods work best for this type of course, how to outline and what is the efficient way to study for exams. Spend some time at the beginning of the class to prepare your students’ study skills.
5. Provide a written set of take-home messages for each lecture: in class you pour a large amount of new information, and the text book might not be as organized as some students need. They will spend a finite amount of time learning new course material and often will have difficulty sorting out what are the major points they must remember, what are the important and only filler details they must learn. Providing students with a list of important points will help them guide their learning and provide a good structure to build on their knowledge for exam purposes.
6. Make sure the exams emphasize the important material: You should test what you teach! It is fine for students to think that one exam was difficult but not to be surprised of the content they were tested. They should be announced ahead of time what material will be on exam, and if any of the new material will be covered and in what measure. Especially in a large class students might feel lost when no one among their friends knows exactly what the exam will be like, or get mixed information from past cohorts of students.
7. Bring their everyday experience to the classroom: one way to engage students is to bring real life examples into the lectures. If you teach chemistry topics start by talking about a commonly known substance which is related to the topic of the day. Why would someone care to know a specific theorem in mathematics? Start by talking to your students of a direct application of that theorem before you present what is all about. Make them see first the need they need to learn about the topic as it is related to a real life example. Seeing movies and listening to songs your students like is a very rich ground of real life examples as well.
8. Bring some of your own personality and experiences into the classroom: it is NOT a good idea to use yourself constantly as an example telling them “I did this…I did that…I know… I think…” your person becomes boring after a while. However you must avoid becoming a teaching body. Your students will respond positively and you will build rapport (which is a important part in results from teacher evaluation!), if you bring elements of your own personality or experiences into the classroom. For example share with your students your interests, your hobbies, ask them about their interests. Later you can imbed their interests in well chosen classroom examples and have a rich ground to formulate exam problems using topics of interest. If you are a runner let them know you run the 5K, invite them to participate. If you like to go to symphony or theatre post a little announcement when a celebrity is in town. On your turn participate in their activities be it they collect food items for the homeless, or pet food for a shelter. Show your human part, share your experience and be curious about their interests and experiences.
9. Always warn students when you are covering material you know it has historically been difficult: from past semesters you must know what are those topics your students have a hard time to understand and where they make many confusions. Keep track of such material and let your students know before you start teaching. Remind them at the end of the lecture, and then revise again and remind them the next class period. Stress that this is a difficult topic and they should pay more attention. This method is valuable for two reasons: first, it alerts students to pay more attention; second, it reassures the ones struggling that they are not the only ones feeling lost.
10. Use technology to enhance lectures: Your students grew up with TV, computers, and cell phones, they sleep with iPods hooked up and have blogs, My space, Face book, and twitter their friends. Use of technology is embedded in their daily living. However technology is only the tool, so do not use technology for the sake of having technology in the classroom. Technology is the tool to get your message to your students. Frist, learn well the technology you use in the class. If the technology does break down or does not work don’t spend time figuring out. Ask the class, there will always be tech wizard students who are eager to help you out. Meanwhile the student helps you can talk about the topic with the class and not loose precious time. Second, choose wisely why you use technology. There is nothing more boring than seeing an instructor struggling to start a video, or having a long and boring video to watch when the message from it could be told in one sentence. If you are comfortable with technology don’t be afraid to podcast your lecture or parts of it. That will help students go back to listen one more time and perhaps have a better understanding. Post your lecture notes online, there will always be among your students some who are not good note takers, who cannot focus on you and on writing down what you say in the same time. If you have a computer and projector in the room open a word document and jot down the main ideas you talk with the class. At the end of the lecture save and post it on the class web, or send it to your class listserve (yes, you should have these!). Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to use technology, and if you don’t know it, then be a student yourself and learn it by the next semester. You must keep pace with your students!
11. Have a course web site and improve it each semester: it is known that technology is important, however we must recognize that occasionally – when you rush through your lecture Power Point - some students will forget to take notes. A course should have a good web site where all information is posted and updated. Place lectures, notes, images, explanations, mock up tests.
12. Keep class spontaneous and exciting by periodically doing the unexpected: nothing is more boring than a person at the podium talking for 50 minutes and clicking through Power Point slides. You can ask a student or a TA to role play by asking a question you can introduce the new topic, or bring in a news paper or magazine clip that relates to the topic in study. If you teach about qualities found in a substance or object ask the TA or a student to play out the provider when you ask in the lecture “Who happens to have a…..” Students will be surprised (the more surprising is the likeliness that anyone would come to class with that object) and you will have their focused attention. Be inventive, and bring some fun and surprise in your teaching.
13. Don’t let them just sit there: students in large classes assume they are anonymous, and that their lack of attention will not be noticed. Unfortunately that is correct to some extent. The best way to keep students engaged is to ask thought provoking questions. Ask a question that would make them think about the content just covered. Have them vote by show of hands, by voice vote, or even by asking them to stand to acknowledge correct answer. It is possible some will stand just to agree with others, but at least is a good way to make a little action and wake them up (if nothing else). Besides bringing back the focus, it keeps students engaged, and it also shows you how many understand the material or have not been paying attention.
14. Don’t stay always behind a podium: very large classes are designed in the amphitheater style, where the speaker is somewhere in front down low. Don’t just keep that point of view. Move among the students, most of the tech devices have a good range so you can advance your slide even from the back of the room. Especially when you know you will stay some time on a slide is a good time to move around. Proximity will bring focus to your students, and you will see their faces (or wake up the ones sleeping in the upper last row).
No comments:
Post a Comment