Notes

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Beginning Well

"Teaching is the only performance art in which there are no rehearsals."
--David Pace

1. Student Add-Drop Procedures

Check Add/Drop Procedures

You’ve probably already had students ask to add your class. Your role in determining who gets in your class should be very small and that’s good. Add/drop is very complex, as the KU site listed below indicates. Consider these ideas:

• Are you allowed to authorize written add/drops, or do the students need to contact someone else in your department?

• Find out if your department requires you to cap enrollment at a certain number.

• How big is the room? If you anticipate a certain number of students will drop, think again: If that doesn’t happen, will the room seat everyone who wants in your class? You won’t be able to move rooms, and you probably can’t get more desks, either.

• Consider how much time you need--to give feedback, to grade papers, to keep up with Blackboard comments. Keep the enrollment at a level that allows you ease in completing your work.

• Students are quite concerned with getting into certain sections, a position that we’ve all been in, but carefully decide based on the overall situation and not on emotional appeals. It’s unlikely that joining your class will make or break their college life.
  

KU academic calendar

2. They Know Your Name . . .

Knowing students' names is one of the most important things you can do to establish a positive classroom environment. Here are some tips to help you:

• Have them fill out an index card—name, year, major, one detail that will help you remember them. Use cards to randomly call on students for discussions, questions, etc.

• Have students give you a picture of themselves. Put it on an index card along with their name so that you can put the name and face together.

• Make a seating chart. Have students stay in that seat until you get to know them. In a large class, do this one section at a time until you know everyone in that area—then repeat with another section.

• Provide name tents (their name on a sheet of paper folded in half width-ways) that they put in front of their desks. Collect those each day, giving you another chance to match up faces with names. (This is also an easy way to keep track of attendance—pick up name tents to record who has been in class. Saves class time since you don't have to call out everyone's name.)

• Take digital photos of students, either individually or in groups. You can keep them on an electronic file that you refer to as you memorize their names.

3. Use Class Time for Learning

You’ve made it through the first day—congratulations! As you gain experience with how long daily activities take, what responses each gets, etc., you can adapt your class schedule to fit that knowledge.

Breaking the 15-Minute Barrier
In this one-page paper linked below, Wankat and Oreovicz point out that students lose attention after about 15 minutes. Their advice:

• In order to keep students engaged, break up your lectures/classes into segments.

• During those breaks, keep learning—but in a different manner. Have students do something that requires a physical and mental change, such write out questions for you, brainstorm with classmates, or solve a problem that you discuss as a class.

• By combining methods, you’re giving students a better chance to learn the material.

LINK: http://ctl.stanford.edu/Tomprof/postings/488.html

Adapted from Wankat, Phillip, and Frank Oreovicz. "Breaking the 15-Minute Barrier." Tomorrow’s Professor. Message # 488.

Key Points for Your Daily and Long-Term Plans:

Move from basics to more sophisticated ideas over the semester. By the end of the semester, you may need to eliminate material. The students will be okay if they have learned the underlying concepts.

Front load each class session. Start out with the most important material. If you run over, the end material—of lesser importance—can be jettisoned.

Time yourself. How long did it take to introduce a lab or give a short lecture? How much time did students need for studio work or discussion? Jot down the times as they happen, and use your notes for future plans.

Have a backup plan for extra time. Keep a short writing assignment or problem that can be adapted for different situations, such as comparing today’s work to that from an earlier day. Still too much time? Extend it by having students discuss their responses.

Set a stopwatch if you’re frequently falling behind. When the time is up, leave that material and move on. They can email you questions that they still have.

Use time outside of class. Have students write out two questions over the assigned material you didn’t cover or won’t have time to get to. Look those over after class. Often there will be overlap, so make a group response to all the questions. Do that via email, Blackboard, or a handout in order to leave class time free.

Review and revise often. A red flag should go up if you fall more than one day behind. At the end of each week, make sure you’re where you need to be to meet the course’s big goals.

Leave one soft day in your schedule. You can use it to catch up or to delve deeply into unexpected interests. But keep this to yourself: students won’t show up if you label it a "catch-up" day.

What Is the Most Difficult Step We Must Take to Become Great Teachers?

Nelson states when teachers cover too much, students focus on memorizing material to "regurgitate" on tests and papers, but retain very little after that quick onslaught of studying. He lists tools to help control coverage:

• Use reading study guides. Those selective ideas will form the basis for tests, and you can spend your class time deeply engaging a few important issues instead of chasing all points.

• Designate one class period each week for structured small group work. Present readings, problems, cases, etc., for deeper processing.

• Just because you have a special interest in an area—perhaps for your exams or thesis—doesn’t mean it fits into the class. Edit carefully what beginning students must know.

LINK: http://sll.stanford.edu/projects/tomprof/newtomprof/postings/327.html

Adapted from Nelson, Craig. "What Is the Most Difficult Step We Must Take to Become Great Teachers?" The National Teaching and Learning Forum, 10 (4), 2001. 10-11.