Design Stunning Posters

September 26, 2018

Whether it’s your first day teaching or you’ve been instructing for years, there’s always something new you can learn about becoming a better teacher. Hear from some of USU’s award-winning instructors about how you can be the most effective teacher and mentor for your undergraduate students.

Sarah Lopez

3rd year PhD student in the Engineering Education program and has a bachelors in both Engineering and Education. Her courses are taught by students from various areas of engineering so their needs and interests vary but she says seeing the lightbulb moments in her students really keeps her going. One of the biggest struggles in teaching, she says, is keeping students engaged but showing your own genuine interest in the topic can help a lot. Sarah says the interactions that happen outside the classroom can make a real impact on your students so keeping regular open office hours can also show your students that you care about them and their learning. Another trick she uses to keep her students engaged is to use a variety of activities such as iclicker polls, demonstrations, and projects that let them apply the broad concepts to their specific interests and fields.

Dustin Crawford

A faculty member in the English Department who teaches some required courses and some elective English courses. Dustin says he started teaching by using content he loved but quickly realized that your students likely won’t share your interests. One key to creating good courses is using content that has tangible results in society and culture. Another tip for keeping students engaged is only using content that meets a very clear purpose, students don’t want nonsense so don’t give them busywork.

Shawn Miller

Teaches in general chemistry and is working on tenure. The chemistry department has three tracks that are all very different so many of Shawn’s classes have students with varying interests and career goals. While he does enjoy seeing students have lightbulb moments he also appreciates the challenge that teaching provides. He loves figuring out how to teach the same content to students with different needs and meet their expectations. His tips for staying on top of things include: planning when you’ll prep your material, clearly defining your expectations for what you want to teach, determine what skills you want your students to walk away with and make sure all your materials and assignments are aligned with that. This process can require a lot of self-reflection which can be difficult but that process never ends.

Sonia Manuel-Dupont

Has been teaching for 40 years in many different fields from technical communication to linguistics. She loves the variety of learning styles teaching allows her to engage with. She says teaching is a relationship, not a dictatorship, and you’re not always going to be right. Sonia says being humble is key to being a good teacher and being defensive will cause you to lose credibility with your students. Another teaching tip is to break up teaching into 20-30 minute chunks so students stay engaged and attentive. She echoed what Shawn said and suggested backward design when creating your courses. Including creating objectives and goals then designing assignments that will get your students there. Lastly, Sonia says to remember that lightbulb moments don’t always happen all at once, often they take time so be patient with your students.

 

Q&A

How do you handle students who turn things in late or don’t want to do the work?

Dustin: Just don’t accept late work. Set that expectation from the start and stick to it. Often Freshmen have a lot going on (it’s a time of life where a lot is new and changing) so if they want to have their grade raised, talk to them and find out what’s going on for them outside the classroom and work with them one on one.

Sarah: Dropping one or two low scores at the end of the semester can be a great solution. Quoting Scott Bates: Everyone will be considered for a grade increase at the end of the semester UNLESS they ask, begging won’t get you anywhere.

Sonia: Make sure they’re prepared for the type of exams that you give, provide them with practice quizzes that are identical in format to your exams.

How do you teach students with a variety of needs and backgrounds?

Sonia: Have students introduce themselves on a discussion board in Canvas and leave personal comments on them as well as assignments and quizzes. This helps you get to know them and they get to know you.

Shawn: Administer a pretest to see where you students are, this also helps them understand where they are on the material. If there is a majority teach from that level so they aren’t left in the dust.

What means do you use to assess your teaching?

Shawn: If you have a TA or UTF they can give you feedback when they sit in on your lectures. Anonymous midterm evaluations can also be helpful. You can ask other faculty to come observe you or CITI members can observe. Record your lectures and review them on your own. Self-reflection is the hardest part and just takes time and experience.

Sonia: Use the fist of 5. Ask students to let you know if they’re following by holding up the number of fingers that reflect their level of understanding (0/1 not understanding to 5 total understanding).

Sarah: If you make yourself approachable the students will let you know if you’re “doing something dumb.” If they know they can ask questions in class and know that you value their input they’ll be more than willing to give you feedback.

Dustin: Start with the assumption that you look ridiculous and use humor. Humor breaks down the hierarchy that naturally exists in the classroom. You can pick out students that don’t like you or are just plain uninterested, reach out to them so you understand where they’re coming from (easier to do in a smaller class).

How do you work with students who fall asleep during lectures?

Dustin: You don’t know what’s going on with them unless you reach out and connect with them. Sometimes they have a lot going on outside of class and need your help.

Shawn: You can’t force someone to come, stay awake, or care but some of teaching is showmanship and that’s really all you can do. Try to do things that keep them engaged like group discussions, clickers, etc. to break up the lecture and keep them interested.

How do you deal with students that talk a lot and encourage others to speak up and participate?

Sonia: Give your “talkers” tokens and once their tokens are gone they’re done talking that day while others have to use their tokens to show participation. But she usually doesn’t count participation in her grad because she understands that lots of students are shy.

Sarah: You don’t have to call on a person but you can call on that row to answer.

Dustin: Feel free to give students a heads up before calling on them. Like if you’re interested in something they wrote in an assignment ask them to bring it up in the next class.

What would you do when students say they don’t know a topic you they should know before the class (in a prerequisite course for example)?

Shawn: Use a pretest to assess their readiness. Talk about the material with them one on one outside the classroom. It isn’t fair to go over things in class just to catch up one student.

Sarah: Point them to resources so they can catch up on their own time.

Sonia: Have additional resources available for them on canvas that they can refer to if they need to.

In regards to diversity, how do you accommodate different learning styles? How do you build that in to your courses?

Sonia: Post all your lectures on canvas (slides, audio, and video). You can build this up over time (don’t try to do it all in one semester) to set students up for success.

Dustin: Put all materials online and try to hit all styles in each lecture and incorporate things that break the students out of their comfort zones.

Shawn: You have to decide how far you’re willing to go to accommodate those students. Even if you can’t help everyone make sure they know what to expect and that you give them what they need to prepare for your exams. This helps them learn to learn in other ways. Do what you can but don’t overextend yourself.

Tips for surviving the first year teaching:

Shawn: Find yourself a mentor to help you create content with, sit in on your lectures, commiserate with, and give you advice. Over prepare if possible but if it’s not just do your best.

Sonia: Always overprepare. It’s easier to cut stuff out than to have extra time in class with no material to fill it. Build activities in but have enough material to make up the time if the activities bomb.

Dustin: Know as much as you can about every topic you cover. Students can tell when you’re prepared and when you’re BS-ing and you will lose all credibility. Get as many different types of teaching experiences as possible as these will influence your perspective and strategy.

Sarah: Get experience as a graduate student so you’re prepared when you hit your first year teaching. Minimize the number of aspects that will be new when you first hit the job field.

How do you encourage critical thinking?

Shawn: Remember that students are not the enemy. Students are not really different than they ever were- older people have always complained about younger people. Be an approachable, good person and set appropriate expectations for yourself, showmanship is key.

Sonia: Model the process for them. When you do it with them they learn from you.

Dustin: Don’t shut down conversations even when your students are not paying attention or are a bit off topic. Weave it into the main theme so that they don’t feel foolish. Making them feel that their ideas are unimportant will make it less likely for them to think for themselves or to share what they’re thinking.

Sarah: Don’t be cynical with them. These are students who want to work hard, think critically, and show excellence. Construct activities that allow students who really care to go deeper. Build flexibility to the course so that others who are less engaged will find ways to go deeper and apply it to themselves and their field and interest. Provide them ways to think critically about what their interests are.

How do you use humor effectively and know if it’s working?

Dustin: Use humor to make fun of youself or the topic but never the student or their comments. Your humor won’t always make sense to everyone.

Sarah: You can’t change them and what they like but learn to get a read off of them and what they seem to enjoy most. You can’t make everyone happy.

Shawn: Target the material at yourself. If you own it the students will go along with you.

In regards to general education courses, is it best to focus on students that care or try to involve everyone?

Sonia: Take it as a challenge. If the students are choosing to be unhappy you cant change that it’s their decision to be engaged or not. You can talk with them one on one if you’re concerned about them. There will always be some you can’t reach. Call your exams “Celebrations of learning.”

Shawn: A lot of it is you. Set the tone for the course and you can pull people into your orbit by being authentically interested in the topic and create an open environment. But know that not everyone will follow you.

How much hand holding do I need give to be to train incoming students to have good learning habits?

Dustin: Tell them if they miss a class to come talk to you or get discussion information from classmate. But if they’re missing more than one class be sure reach out and show them you’re concerned and that you care about them.

Sarah: It depends on your class size. If it’s a big class and you’re busy. Provide what you can in the time that you have (office hours for example). In big classes you won’t even know if people aren’t coming but pay attention based on the contact you DO have with them.