Teaching Techniques

September 21, 2016

There’s no set recipe for teaching, but much like baking a cake, there are certain ingredients that can make it better. At this GrTS, Scott Bates, Camille Fairbourn, Blake Tullis and Lynne McNeill shared their teaching advice in the form of something to think about, a problem to solve and a teaching strategy they use to sweeten their classes.

Something to Think About

You are not your students

Scott Bates began September’s workshop by reminding teachers: you are not your students. A typical general education course will have up to 300 students. Of those 300, only half will graduate. Of that half only about five will have the same major you did as an undergraduate. Of those five, only one is likely to continue on to graduate school. None of your students have all the same passions and interests as you. None of your students have the same path as you do. It’s important to recognize this and to be compassionate and patient. You aren’t looking at a younger version of yourself. You’re looking at a unique individual with their own motivations and desires.

Be willing to embrace change

Camille Fairbourn has seen a lot of change in over 20 years of teaching. With the invention of new systems, software and technology, she no longer hand writes grades in a notebook. She doesn’t use a blackboard and chalk. She uses the online tool, Canvas, instead of Blackboard. To be a successful teacher, Camille said,  it’s important to embrace change!

We like what we understand

Blake Tullis observed that we like what we understand. As we review our own favorite and least favorite college undergraduate classes, most likely our favorite classes aligned most with what we understood best, and our least favorite classes came from a lack of understanding. Acknowledging this, Blake said it’s important for students to take responsibility for their own learning. If students are not taking advantage of the educational opportunities being presented to them, it’s not a teacher’s fault.

Blake also said college should teach students how to learn and answer their own questions. He discussed how he assigns his students a three-page paper in which they discuss how they would design a certain experiment. Blake believes this assists students to get into a problem-solving mindset.

Use different voices within teaching

Lynne McNeill invited students to think about all the different voices they use in a class setting. Their voices are different when they’re lecturing as opposed to chatting before class. They similarly have a different voice if they’re talking in office hours or sending an email, or if they’re moving from group to group helping those who have questions and comments. For Lynne, it’s important to consider the different voices used with students, especially in online class settings.

A Problem to Solve

What should I do when a student asks me to raise their grade?

Have you ever had a student beg you to raise their grade? According to Scott Bates, one way to avoid this problem is to have a grade bump syllabus policy. This policy would allow all students within ten points of a grade to be eligible for a bump based on test score improvements, class attendance, class participation and other engagement factors. If students have done well and improved throughout the class, they will receive a grade bump. However, any student who asks for their grade to be improved will automatically not have their grade raised. For Scott, this reduces the number of emails he receives on this topic, and it helps him evaluate students’ performance over time instead of through one instance.

Can everyone participate in class?

Want to make sure everyone has a voice in class? Camille bought craft sticks and wrote each student’s name on one. Because she teaches broadcast classes, she also color-codes based on campus. When she gives a lecture, she pulls out a craft stick and asks students questions based on this. She said it helps everyone be engaged, and it dissuades any student from talking too much. The one caveat is to make sure students can opt out of this because some students have crippling anxiety or fear which will make it impossible for them to focus on the lecture due to fear of being called on.

How do you grade class competitions?

Blake Tullis’ problem to solve was based around the idea of grading class competitions. Typically, when there is a class competition, the winners receive an “A” grade. Those who come in second receive a “B” and so on. Not viewing this to be fair, Blake grades based on effort and thoughtfulness behind a design. Regardless of how a design performs, if there was effort put forth and thoughtful contemplation put into the design process, a student will receive an “A.” Similarly, those who do not put thought or effort into the creation of a design will receive a poor grade, regardless of performance. He will then include a separate incentive for those who win the competition.

What do you do when a student asks a question you don’t know the answer to?

What happens when a students asks you a question and you don’t know the answer to? According to Lynne McNeill, you need to be courageous enough to tell your students you don’t know. By doing this, you model how an intelligent person acquires knowledge. By saying you don’t know the answer, you can show students how to find the answer, and you can help them become independent thinkers, capable of answering their own questions and dealing with their own problems.

Teaching Strategies

Takes notes of your lectures

Do you review your lectures? Scott uses Evernote to evaluate his class sessions at the conclusion of each one. He writes what went well and what needs to be improved. This helps him as he teaches the same course semester to semester and otherwise may forget how students received his lecture material. He recommends everyone use a notebook or device to write thoughts about each teaching experience.

Record lectures

Camille Fairbourn recommends teachers use Panopto to record their lectures. This way, teachers will be aware of their verbal ticks, and you can improve upon you’re their teaching techniques. Using this tool also allows students to have access to information when they miss class due to illness or emergency. This saves time for teachers and student since they don’t have to email back and forth or spend time in office hours discussing what material was missed.

Make lecture overviews.

Blake Tullis said a strategy which helps students is to write an overview of the day’s lecture on the board. Explicitly stating what students can expect by the end of the lecture can help them identify ways to improve. If you tell a student they should be able to identify three key concepts within a literary document by the time class is over, they’ll know something is wrong if they can’t do it. Giving class overviews provides a benchmark for students to check their work against expectations.

Don’t assume students know why they’re doing anything.

Lynne McNeill said you should never expect students to know why they’re doing anything. Instead, assume students are in your class because it fulfills an academic requirement, not because they actually want to be there. With this understanding, ask questions. Ask your students why they think it’s important to have a folklore class. Ask why they think it’s important to learn about a myth vs. a legend. Make your students engaged by asking questions, and asking why they think this is important in their lives.

Questions and Answers

What do I do if there's a lull during class discussion?

Presenters agreed silence can be a useful tool in classroom discussions. Also, most of the time silence seems to last longer to the teacher than to the students.

Camille also suggested using the Think. Pair. Share. strategy. In this strategy, students think about the question and discuss their thoughts with a classmate sitting next to them. This allows for thoughts to be formally articulated before being shared in front of the entire class. It also allows everyone to consider the question and form their own opinion before having a discussion where only three people may choose to share.

How do you engage students in subject material?

Scott said it’s important for him to view general education classes as his discipline’s one chance to connect with a student. Knowing students may not change their major after taking his class, he at least hopes they have a more positive feeling toward his field of study after taking his class. He hopes students can see its usefulness in society and why it matters to the world.

Lynne said there are prerequisites for a reason, and each class level yields itself to a differing engagement rate among students. Remembering this, we can gear our discussions and content to the audience we have at hand.

Should my exams be open note or open book?

Blake said he has two parts to each of his exams. He has a closed note, closed portion the exam which tests basic concepts and knowledge. He then has this portion be turned in, before giving his students the second portion of the exam where they work through problems and use formulas to arrive at conclusions. Blake said the formulas help guide knowledge and application of principles. To him, if the formulas are helpful, and if students would look up the formula in a real life setting, they should be able to look it up in a theoretical, exam setting.

Are one-page assignments worthwhile?

Blake believes being able to synthesize information is a key skill for experts of any discipline. Thus, when students have to articulately craft a one-page response to an assignment, they learn what’s most important and they are more prepared to teach their peers.