Tipping our hats to McKeachie

Part 6 in McKeachie’s book was a refreshing conclusion to what we have learned thus far in the semester. I felt that there was a lot of great new information, as well as a summary of ideas McKeachie stressed throughout the book. Unlike last week, I feel this week’s reading has enormous amounts of information that I will take with me into the classroom.

The following are ideas from the reading that I found useful and suggestions on how I could implement them into my class:

The importance of goals and self-reflection is something that has been echoed throughout McKeachie’s book. In Chapter 23, McKeachie stresses the importance of goals for student learning, rather than for the instructor’s benefit. He points out that a student’s goals are their own. We cannot tell them what goals to have, but we can help them reach their goals (p. 302). As instructors we can help them reach goals by providing students with examples of how class work may help them reach educational goals or relate to the world outside of school. This suggestion is something I will definitely be incorporating in my classroom.

Incorporating goals and self-reflection into my lessons isn’t a complicated addition. McKeachie suggests students write a brief summary of how the lesson is relevant to them presently and how it may be in the future. This can help students understand why the school work is useful to them (p. 302). This can be easily added to my lesson planning during speeches. Next semester I plan on giving students an opportunity to write down a short reflection on how a particular speech may help them throughout their studies and in their careers. Because public speaking is important in so many other classes and careers, I feel it is important for them to come to their own understanding of how our class work can help them achieve larger goals.

I also think it is important to remind them that the process is often more important than the outcome (p. 303). Many times students look at their grade as a means to calculate success or failure. What they learn during the process of putting a speech together is often more significant than the outcome. McKeachie’s suggestions prompted me to tell students how each step in organization is just as important as the finished speech. As I said before, I plan to interject the importance of each step to allow students to set smaller goals as well.



Anderson, Krathwohl, and Colleagues (2001) revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy was something I was excited to see in the reading. I found Bloom’s Taxonomy quite helpful in building my syllabus for this course. McKeachie’s implemented the taxonomy and gave the reader suggestions to improve thinking quality (p. 322-323). I found all of them to be useful, but the following suggestions will be implemented into my lesson plans next semester:

• Share Bloom’s Taxonomy with students in the beginning of the course. I feel that implementing the taxonomy during the first week will help students understand the goals, skills, and reasoning behind the assignments in the course. I believe it will help students comprehend the assignments worth, rather than seeing it as busy work.
• Show excitement in all aspects of thinking. This is extremely important to me because of past classes I have taken. During my undergrad, there were instructors that would only praise the “correct” answer. I found that it would stifle participation and make students believe the answer was the only important aspect. As I mentioned before, the process is just as important. If a student gives me an answer that isn’t correct or asks a question that is odd, it is imperative that I incorporate it into learning. I need to be just as enthusiastic about unusual answers/questions as I am for the typical ones. If students feel that their answers and questions can contribute, no matter the accuracy, they are more likely to feel comfortable participating. I also believe that they will learn from one another and feel more open to vocalize the process of their thinking.
• Ask students to judge the quality of their own contributions. We often have students critique and analyze the work of their peers. Rarely do I think of having students judge their own work or contributions in Comm 110. I want to incorporate this to allow students to reflect on how they feel they are doing. I don’t believe self-reflection is a natural process for undergrads. We have put so much weight on grades that it is easy for them to measure contribution by the letter they have in a class. I want to allow students to judge their contributions after each speech during the semester. Students can comment about class discussion, group work, as well as their individual speeches. Allowing them to put their self-assessment on paper can get them thinking about their contributions and how to improve or sustain their effort.

Improving teaching through peer feedback was another useful tool McKeachie suggests (p. 348). TAs in Comm 110 are observed by upper-level mentors once during the beginning of the semester. The results are evaluated and given to the department chair to prove you are fit to teach in the department. I found my observation to be similar to a test and there wasn’t a lot of constructive feedback. McKeachie stresses preparedness and thoughtful selection in a peer observer to make the observation effective.

I plan to incorporate peer feedback next semester by finding a colleague to form a “helping pair” for observation (p. 349). I believe that our group of first-year TAs have become somewhat of a family. We are all in similar situations and try to help one another whenever possible. I think it would be helpful to have two or three peer observations each semester to allow my peers to provide me with constructive criticism and suggestions. I think it may also help the observer see what the classroom climate is like for other TAs. Because we are all enthusiastic about becoming better teachers, this would be an opportunity to work together to achieve our goals.

Additional Resources:

Learner-Centered v. Curriculum-Centered Teaching. An interesting breakdown with great links and additional resources on these two teaching styles.

Here is a site that explains Bloom’s Taxonomy and gives examples of Anderson, Krathwohl, and Colleagues changes.

More on Anderson, Krathwohl, and Colleagues update to Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Trick or treat...or teach

Personally, this week’s reading was not as helpful as our previous readings. I felt the information was all over the board and a bit disconnected from my teaching situation. While the information is important to know, my connection to the material was not as strong as in past readings. I made sure to take notes on the material, as my teaching circumstances may change, but it was difficult to relate to lab instruction and distance learning.


The following are ideas from the reading that I found useful and suggestions on how I could implement them into my class:

Although the classes I will teach in the next two years will be relatively small, I found the McKeachie’s section on teaching large classes interesting. I didn’t particularly enjoy large lectures, in my undergraduate days, because of the anonymity and lack of involvement in the course work. But, a few of McKeachie’s suggestions would definitely make large classes more interesting for the students.

The first suggestion is the use of technology during lecture to engage students and help the instructor assess their learning (p. 255). By using wireless Internet, an instructor can put a question or poll on the board for students to answer. The instructor can check the students’ answers for accuracy, to get discussion started, or to tailor the rest of their lecture.

I have used Poll Everywhere in smaller classes and I believe it would be ideal for large lectures as well. I could implement this into my own teaching by prompting students to answer questions throughout my lecture. This would make it possible to get feedback on their understanding of the content. It would also help me to generate discussion if there was an inconsistency in the answers.

McKeachie’s also provides a list of ways to reduce anonymity in large classes. Two of the suggestions seem quite useful in large and small classes (p.260). The first one is using flashcards to remember student names and faces. During one of the first readings for this class, The First Day to Final Grade stressed the importance of learning names (p. 24). This is something that shows students respect and generates more student involvement. I think it is important that McKeachie encourages instructors to learn names, even in classes with 200 or more. By making a flashcard with a student’s name on one side and their picture on another, an instructor can study student names outside of the room.

Even though I teach smaller classes, this is an activity that I plan on using in the future. Each student can post a picture of themselves on the Blackboard discussion board. It not only gives me a chance to learn names and faces, but their peers can do the same. I can then make flashcards or study the names and faces online.

The next suggestion on the list is meeting with students in small groups outside of class. McKeachie proposes this by way of meeting to discuss assignments, observations, or just general meetings (p. 260). I think this is important, again, because it can be overwhelming for an instructor to remember and connect with 200 students in a large class. It is also important to make students feel that they are not just a number in a lecture hall. By breaking them into smaller groups or one-on-one, an instructor can spend more time with individual students.

I plan to incorporate this in my classes by setting up a meeting, early in the semester, to go over drafts or a given class assignment. It is important to have small group or one-on-one time with a student. This can give them an opportunity to ask questions or give feedback on their individual experiences. It may also help the student feel less apprehensive if they have already communicated with the instructor. By implementing meetings outside of class, my students and I can get to know one another better. It will also allow me to give them more individual help they may not receive in a large class.

In First Day to Final Grade I found the section on meta-teaching to be quite interesting (p. 168). Giving students the option to give feedback about my teaching seems a bit intimidating, but helpful. Meta-teaching can seem like an opportunity for students to view at an instructor as less authoritative and credible, but the authors prove otherwise. I like that students can incorporate their ideas and feedback on more useful ways to get them involved. This is highly constructive and can save time and energy on failed activities or discussion.

I plan to incorporate this into my classroom at the first sign of unsuccessful activities or discussion. I want to use positive language to make students feel that we are on the same team and that their opinions matter. They may be more apt to provide feedback if I can explain my intentions for an activity and how it will help them learn the material. They can understand what went wrong and we can decide what we can do better collectively. I believe meta-teaching is something that is useful, but I know I will need to prepare how I address situations. The examples in the book will come in handy in understanding how to address the class.

Additional Resources:

More info on teaching large classes. The page breaks down the problems, benefits, activities, and strategies of teaching a large class.


An article on Blended Instruction (blending face-to-face learning with computer-based learning) in large classes.

Learning Activities

The following are three class activities that could be used in my final project:

Active Learning

In class I want to have students working in groups as much as possible. McKeachie mentions that cooperative learning gets students familiar with working in groups in the employment field (p. 214). Since many careers, including public relations, incorporate teams and group tasks, syndicate-based peer learning is something that would be beneficial to present learning and future application. This activity will also encourage them to keep up with their reading.

I would divide them into learning groups in the first or second week of class. These groups would be the same throughout the semester. Each week students will write down questions and comments as they go through their assigned reading. They will then bring these questions and comments to their learning group for the assigned day each week. The learning groups will discuss the questions or interesting passages within their group for 15 to 20 minutes. One person will be in charge of writing notes, in preparation to share their group work orally to the class. I may add themes or specific discussion questions during certain weeks to add topics relative to current events or to cater to their learning. I will also provide a peer grading sheet, allowing students to grade one another, to avoid individuals not participating in their groups.


Low-Stakes Writing

Developing a class blog would be an ideal way for students to increase cognition, understanding, and encourage learning through writing (p. 193). This will also bring problem-based learning into play by using case studies. I have been debating on how to incorporate case studies into my lesson plans. I think it is important for students to apply and understand real life examples of pubic relations. A blog would be a great way to enable students to comment on their individual analysis of case studies.

I will post a case study on the class blog for students to read and analyze. They will casually write what they found positive, negative, and changes they would make to past public relations campaigns. They will need to use current textbook information and past learning to explain their comments. I am going to take McKeachie’s advice in explaining that these will be graded on a pass-fail basis. If they do their work they get 100, if not they get a 0 (p. 195). I want students to read at least 3 of their peers’ blog posts each week and discuss in class elements that they found helpful or interesting. The benefits of the blog would be improvement on writing and more active involvement in class. It will also be helpful in evaluating my own teaching by understanding their thought process.


Problem-based Learning

My students will be developing a public relations campaign throughout the semester for their final project. This campaign revolves around publicity for a new company or improving public opinion on an existing company. It is important for my class to understand the importance of PR in company development, but also in terms of crisis situations. To achieve this I want to incorporate one to two small crisis campaigns that students complete in class. Crisis situations are unique problems that students must solve to ensure a company’s survival. Each learning group will be given a company, a crisis situation, and a budget. They must design a mock campaign, within their budget, to help the company through the crisis. They will be allowed to be as extravagant or grassroots as they see fit, as long as they stay within the companies means. Each group will present their campaign to the class, as if they were presenting to the company’s board members. The class will evaluate the group’s campaign and give feedback when the presentation is finished. They class will also vote on if they feel the campaign would help the company “solve the problem” by overcoming the crisis.

This activity will help them practice thinking by way of problem solving. McKeachie suggests that students retain, apply, and are more motivated in problem-based learning (p. 227). This activity can also help me in that I can understand a group’s thought process throughout the activity. I can guide them through the process and still allow them to use their prior knowledge in gaining more understanding about PR.


The following are best practices for learning activities:

Activities can be wonderful tools in the classroom if they are used correctly. McKeachie gave us a plethora of examples and benefits when we use activities in our teaching. Planning and relevance seems to be two issues that are the most difficult for me. I know what it is like to plan an activity and have it bomb before we get through the first five minutes. One of my goals after reading this week is to take the time to think of every possible question or concern. I need to be proactive in developing the directions, possible pitfalls, and overall direction I want the activity to go. I also must analyze an activity’s benefits before presenting it to a class. All class work should have learning in mind. I feel that activities are sometimes used to engage students, but not to improve learning.

I find it is also important summarize and explain future use of learning activities. Nearly all of my activities are meant to parallel their future work. Whether they decide to work in PR or in athletic training, the skills that they develop in my class should have long-term benefits. I believe summarizing what was learned and explaining future application are important steps in learning activities.

Additional Resources:

Using blogs in the classroom

A little more on Peer Learning

It's all about the learning...

Our reading for this week focused on Learner-Centered Teaching (LCT). McKeachie’s text had chapters written by two different instructors discussing motivation and diversity. We also had an excerpt from the book Learner-Centered Teaching. All of the readings had to do with techniques and theories to help the instructor focus on student needs. By understanding different aspects of individual needs in our classrooms, we can focus on the best ways to garner learning for all students.


What is LCT?

Learner-Centered Teaching aims to balance the power structure between instructor and student. In most classes, instructors hold the power in deciding course policies, assignments, deadlines, and overall structure of the course. LCT supporters suggest that this power balance can discourage learning. They feel conventional courses become more of a challenge to meet the instructor’s outcomes, rather than a forum for individual learning. The focus is on learning rather than teaching. The overall pedagogy of LCT aspires to involve students in course decisions and planning so they are more engaged and motivated in learning. Students are more centered on understanding the material and less concerned with classroom politics.

Aspects of LCT that would incorporate into my teaching:

• Students choosing their assignments. This is an aspect of LCT that I am quite familiar with. One of my undergraduate professors allowed us to choose which written papers wanted to complete. There was a list of 10 topics and we were allowed to choose the four we were most interested in. It gave us a sense of responsibility and power in deciding what we would learn. There was a sense of respect for the instructor in that he understood us as individual learners. The only problem was there was a degree of inconsistency in the amount of work for each paper. Many students chose paper topics that would be easier to research and write. If, as an instructor, I could make each topic similar in scope and effort, I believe that students could benefit from choosing their own assignments. Not only do they get to develop areas in which they are interested, but they get to feel more responsible for their learning.

• Voluntary participation. As much as I would love all of my students to participate, this is not always the case. I often find myself spending hours developing discussion topics only to have them fail in the classroom. At times, I find myself randomly calling on students to see if they can break the ice and get discussion rolling. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. After reading Learner-Centered Teaching, I found myself evaluating my motivation. By calling on students during a failing discussion, I am probably doing so to benefit myself rather than the student (p. 36). I am trying to encourage a discussion because I feel it is necessary, not because the students have something to say. I found that I may have to reevaluate my participation expectations in order to avoid making students feel embarrassed or intimidated. I can make participation available to those that feel they have something to add and not call out those that don’t.
  

Aspects of LCT that would be difficult or unwise to incorporate into teaching:

• Textbook selection. I feel that it may be nonproductive and time consuming to have students pick their own textbook. The excerpt from Learner-Centered Teaching suggested that an instructor choose five textbooks that adequately encompass the goals and objectives for the course (p. 29). The students then form a textbook review committee and make nominate the textbook of their choice. In my opinion, it would be difficult for a student to understand and weigh the benefits of each book in a timely manner. I can see one-third of my students being excited and motivated, but the remainder seeing the textbook selection as an “added assignment” or being confused. The time it would take for them to get into a committee, review the texts, and then justify their decision could be time spent covering class material. In general, I believe LCT can be incorporated by taking baby steps. Textbook selection seems like it would be a giant leap that they may not be ready for.
  

• Deadline selection. When I read about students choosing due dates in Learner-Centered Teaching, I thought it sounded wonderful. Allowing students to choose due dates for projects and then determine the penalty for late work seemed like a great idea. Not only were they thinking about the amount of time they needed to complete an assignment, but they were also responsible for their consequences for late work (p.33-34). Then reality hit me. Do students truly understand time management for projects in the planning stages? Is this plausible for any class at the first or second year level? Currently, my students have a hard enough time choosing which day they will give a speech, and there are only a few days to choose from. Student’s setting their own deadlines and consequences may make my job easier (“YOU chose this date yourself. And this is the consequence YOU decided.”), but at what cost? If they aren’t structured or mature enough to understand the time needed to complete the assignment, it may just be setting them up to fail. Structure isn’t always hurting a student’s growth, as I felt this book tried to covey at times. Deadlines are there to also teach students how to manage their time.
  

Additional Resources:

Developing a syllabus using LCT. And Iowa State University page dedicated to developing a syllabus with LCT in mind. Some of the same ideas presented in the readings, but it gives a basic outline and steps to follow


More on LCT. I thought the table on page 2 gave an interesting side-by-side comparison of Learning-Centered vs. Curriculum-Centered Teaching.

Ah yes -- problem students

Many of us have had to deal with at least one problem student. Though each one has their individual issues, we tend to group them into one category. After the readings, I have a different opinion of problem students. Instead of seeing the student as a threat or irritant, I see them as a person I need to assist. Many times there is an underlying reason a student acts out or does poorly in class. It is my job as an instructor to find these reasons and try to help the student.

The following are things I found useful in this week’s reading and how they can be implemented into my field:

1. The entire section on plagiarism in First Day to Final Grade was extremely interesting. I am currently investigating a speech which may have sections that were copied from another student. Even though we have a university policy on plagiarism, it was interesting to read Curzman and Damour’s take on the varying degrees (p. 130-131). Was the plagiarism an honest mistake or did the student blatantly steal someone’s work? In my mind, anything that is not your own work needs to be sited. But I’m not sure students, especially first-year students, understand how strict this concept is. The authors say that this distinction should be a factor in the severity of the punishment. The student may not necessarily know what they are doing is wrong.

I think this is an important distinction to make because we need to educate students on the concept of plagiarism. If it was a mistake or the student wasn’t aware of their fault, I’m not sure kicking them out of school or giving them a zero in the class is productive. We need to use instances where plagiarism is the result of ignorance to educate them on how to research, site, and develop their own work correctly. Their future work depends on this.

I started to think about my discussion of plagiarism from the beginning of the semester. Did I explain the definition and consequences correctly? Does the student understand plagiarism and all of the components? Do they understand this includes work by other students? First Day’s discussion on the matter can help me better explain myself during the first class. I must minimize the opportunities, guide students in research, and fully explain the depths of the consequences (p. 125). I believe that many instructors assume students understand plagiarism because we stamp a university policy on our syllabi. The extra 10 minutes I could have spent explaining plagiarism may have stopped my current student from making a poor decision.

2. McKeachie sighted two distinct concepts about cognitive development by William Perry and Barbara Hofer (p. 174). Perry believes, in the first stage of cognitive development, students see things as right or wrong. They expect us to know the answers and teach these definitive answers to them. Hofer believes that students understand, and may believe, multiple perspectives in the first stage. There is not always a right and wrong, and students will use this principle to debate the information you give them. While this is the first time I have read about these concepts of cognitive development, it was interesting to apply it to the reactions I get in class discussions.

Many of my students can be argumentative about concepts of pubic speaking and the reasons behind their usefulness. I have had many occasions where students will dispute why a step should be used in developing their speech. While I generally find common ground with the student, I was always annoyed with their argumentative tone. The concepts of cognitive development gave me some insight and I was able to reflect on my experiences.

In my opinion, I think students can be stuck in the middle of Perry and Hofer’s perceptions. They understand that there can be more than one opinion, but they are unable to weigh concrete evidence in evaluating their own opinions. They know that they are entitled to their own opinion, but they believe it constitutes validation for their argument.

By utilizing both Perry and Hofer’s findings, I can try to understand the reasons students take an argumentative stance. I have to remember that students are still in an important stage of cognitive development. They may be meshing the beginning and middle stages of Perry’s model, but I need to encourage them to support their argument. They are aware of their opinions, but I need to help them find when there are justifications for arguing what they learn. This will allow me teach them on a higher level. It will also help me check my own understanding so I can stay sane throughout this process!

3. McKeachie gives readers great suggestions as to why students may be having problems in class. Often times it goes beyond effort and motivation, especially when a student is underprepared (p. 175-176). After reading this section, I thought about students in my class that aren’t performing well. I found it enlightening that McKeachie encourages the instructor to forget the past and work in the present. This was important to me because it helps instructors realize that they can’t do anything about the past. They can only move forward. I also found his suggestion about student learning centers extremely important. We aren’t always prepared enough or able to give students the extra instruction they need. This is part of the reason for learning centers. This section of the text was helpful in defining a problem for a students’ work and giving useful instruction as to how to handle it.

I plan to use McKeachie’s suggestion about giving quizzes and tests at the beginning of the semester to diagnose problems. This will allow the student get adequate help early on, and help them for the remainder of their work in my class. I also plan to utilize the student learning center more often. It will be helpful to use the first day of class to explain what the learning center is and why it is available to students. Students will then have an opportunity to seek out help, if they are already aware that they are underprepared.

The following are techniques, theories, or suggestions that I want to incorporate in my own teaching:

• I plan on saving all of my email records, regardless of how trivial they seem. I also need to save my replies to students as record of my correspondence with them. I think this will help me if a problem student tries to put words in my mouth or pretend they were unaware of something I discussed over email. I also feel that students don’t treat email as they do face-to-face interaction. Many times things are said that they wouldn’t normally say if they were talking with you in person. It is important that I keep these records in the case that there is a communication breakdown.

Additional resources:
NDSU Academic Counseling Center

NDSU Center for Writers is a great resource for instructors. I have even used their services in writing for my own classes.

Classroom Management Strategies. Many of these are for younger students, but it does give more in-depth strategies for behavioral problems than found in our text.

And if all else fails, there's always intimidation!!!

I repeat - this is not a test!

This week’s blog is dedicated to testing and assessments. I have to admit that my prior understanding of testing was directly related to grading. Students take a test, to prove what they have “learned,” and receive a grade to reward their efforts. The two readings for this week gave me a new understanding of testing. I’m still reflecting on my own assessment methods and reasoning, but I have listed a number of important ideas below.

According to What the Best College Teachers Do (Bain, 2009), there are two ways most teachers go about assessing and teaching students. The performance-based approach is the more traditional approach. Students are obligated to comply with the instructor’s deadlines, participation standards, general test questions, and other rules, in order to attain a grade. The focus seems to center around grades rather than student learning.

The learning-centered approach, which Bain advocates, is based more on student comprehension and development (p. 152-153). Throughout the article, Bain gives the reader examples of techniques to adhere to the student-centered approach. By moving away from scores, and instructor can concentrate on a student’s long-term intellectual and personal development. This was extremely interesting because he allowed me to think of testing as a means to learn, rather than a means to achieve a grade.

Several techniques are suggested by Bain to adhere to student-centered learning. I am listing two that I found most interesting and useful to implement into my own classroom.

• In lieu of threatening with deadlines, Bain gives an example to help students organize their own time to get all materials done in a timely fashion. One instructor distributed a timesheet that outlined every hour of each day for the semester. Rather than giving deadlines and penalties for late work, he explained the timesheet as a schedule to follow. If students kept on track they would make orderly progress to attain the course’s goals. If they fell behind, their feedback would be reduced because of time constraints.
  
  I want to implement this in my own classroom to give students an idea of the course load from the start. If they understand the effort needed to attain the course’s goals, they will be more likely to stay on track. By using deadlines and consequences for late work, students may feel threatened. I believe this technique will allow the class to concentrate more on learning and less on meeting restricting deadlines.
  

• The other example that Bain gave readers was in regards to testing and grading. He explained that many instructors use grades as a means to motivate students. By disregarding the traditional grading system for tests, students can concentrate on their overall learning and not be stifled by one poor test outcome. To do this one instructor used comprehensive tests that used the final test as the only grade (p. 161).
  
  Because I don’t have the flexibility to change testing structure in my department, I plan on implementing this when I am in charge of my own classroom. I believe it will help students see learning as long-term. Each day should be a learning experience that they can add to their knowledge. For the last test, students can see their overall understanding of the course content. This is more important to me than individual assessment questions throughout the course.
  

In McKeachie’s reading, I found many interesting assessment ideas and techniques. McKeachie’s book is turning into my little classroom companion. The text has given me a lot of information that can be used in planning my own classroom lessons, as well as implementing them into my current course.

• I really enjoyed McKeachie’s suggestion of group testing (p. 78). Students take individual tests and then break into groups to combine, discuss, and streamline their answers. By defending and explaining their answers with peers, students build on the learning process. I have never heard of this, and probably wouldn’t have believed it could be useful. After reading the benefits, it is definitely going to be used in future classes. I think it will encourage students to discuss their reasoning and give them a more practical application to what they have learned.
  

• Portfolio development was another suggestion by McKeachie that I found interesting. Not that a portfolio is a new concept, but I never thought of them as useful outside of their classic atmospheres. The idea of combining student’s work from beginning to end to highlight their improvement and development seemed the most applicable to my class. I want to implement in my courses to provide students a tangible representation of how far they have come. I think it would also be interesting to provide students with a binder of their best speeches to add to and improve on in the future.

There are many other techniques and ideas that I want to implement into my classes:

• Peer assessments. Allowing their peers to assess their work will give students a better understanding of grading criteria. It can also give them an opportunity to evaluate and discuss what other students are turning in. I always believe that any kind of peer work can help students learn from one another.
  

• Online testing. I have found that online tests can be very beneficial, if done correctly. Computers can do things that paper-and-pencil tests cannot. I want to implement computer tests into my classroom to give students more realistic and thought provoking questions. Because I teach public speaking, a test designed with questions evaluating speeches would be quite helpful. Because students work at different paces, it would be helpful if they could watch embedded speeches in their tests and answer questions in their own time.
  

Additional Resources:

Examples of CATs from the National Learning and Teaching Forum. McKeachie briefly mentioned CATs in Chapter 7. This site gives specific examples and their importance.

College Grading Standards. This goes along with what we worked on last week. I've been working on my grade standards since our class last met. This site gives a rather specific explanation to each grade as it applies to universities.

Assessing Student Learning On-line. This is an Australian website that lists benefits and strategies to on-line tests. Some of the information seems a bit dated, but I was able to find a lot of great info.

(Week 4) And so it is...

This week’s readings gave me a lot of great information about grading and cheating. As the weeks move along, it is good to read about issues and techniques that continue to come up during the semester. I was a bit worried, during our first few weeks, most of our readings dealt with planning a course. It is great to be able to read about grading and cheating at a time when I can still implement them into my classroom.

The following are things I found useful in this week’s reading and how they can be implemented into my field:

Grading

• The authors of First Day to Final Grade touch on controlling grading time (p. 147). A four to seven page paper is suggested to take no more than 30 minutes to grading. Taking too much time on a student’s work can allow for too many remarks, thus confusing the student. Allowing only a set amount of time can assure the instructor is making only the most important comments about the paper. I was always under the impression the more time spent grading, the more constructive it would be for the student. Our reading made me change my tune.
  
• My first time grading I spent over an hour on each student’s speech. I made too many comments and strayed from the overall purpose of the grading. For this reason, it would be important to implement this strategy in my field. By keeping a close eye on the time it takes me to grade, I can assure myself that student’s are getting the most important comments/suggestions on their work. This practice can help me to save time and offer my students better feedback.

Cheating

• McKeachie gives us a great deal of information about cheating in this weeks reading. I was most interested to see how he explained what to do about “wandering eyes” during an exam (p 120-121). As the reading points out, there are many decisions to be made and steps to follow when you suspect cheating. Instructor uncertainty, university policy, and student feelings are all considerations. My biggest concern is instructor uncertainty. During the first quiz I gave, I had a student’s eyes wander. I wasn’t sure if he was anxious, nervous about the test, or just looking into space while he was thinking. I kept an eye on him, but McKeachie’s suggestions will be used in the future.
  
• To implement McKeachie’s suggestions, I plan to have the student move away from others. I could also make eye contact with the student to let them know I am watching them. I also believe that advising the university would be an important step, if I was sure that the student was looking at someone’s paper. I think this will help me by giving me a set of standards to follow when I believe a student is cheating.

Grades

• In McKeachie’s Teaching Tips, the author mentions keeping students informed about grades throughout the semester. Advising students about what the instructor expects, how he/she grades, and updating students as to where they stand are all important. The most useful information was about having grades available to students. We use Blackboard in my classroom, but I have not been good about getting grades posted. Some of my students did poorly on the first speech and quiz, but don’t seem to be improving. McKeachie suggests that grade protest may be more likely if a student only sees a poor grade as the class concludes (p. 135).
• To implement McKeachie’s suggestions, it would benefit me to post grades in a timely manner and be more explanatory in breaking down grades. Because Comm 110 is mainly structured by the department, I often overlook the influence I have on my own grading. By getting students more involved in grading it could help them determine goals. It can also help me avoid problems with grade protest at the end of the semester.
  

Further tips and suggestions to integrate into my classroom:

• Listen first, when talking to a student about a grade change. You may learn something!
  
• Effort and progress should be praised to make students understand that grades aren’t the only goal.
  
• Meaningful activities should be incorporated to make students feel like learning skills, and not just grades, are important.

Additional Resources:

What will they think of next...

A little cheating humor from Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd...

3 is a Magic Number

Another week gone by and I’m still here to write about it. This week was my introduction to the “grad school experience” others have waxed philosophical about. Reading, grading, and lesson plans seem to have taken over my life, but it’s becoming a comforting routine. And what would any new TA’s routine be without McKeachie?

I found this week’s readings on discussions and lectures to be more informative than previous topics. I’ve selected a few examples to include in this week’s blog.

The following are things I found useful in this week’s reading:

• Facilitating discussion with questions requiring application and interpretation, rather than questions of definition, leads to better comprehension. This seemed obvious when I read it, but I realized that I don’t often use this strategy. As I looked through past lesson plans, few of my discussions allowed students to use application or interpretation. This reading was quite useful in that it led me to change my approach. I am able to put more effort into the process of writing questions so they will best benefit my students. Factual questions are sometimes important, but they aren’t as constructive for the students.

• Students’ attention is highest in the first 10 minutes and near the end of a lecture. This was interesting because I usually struggle to keep students’ attention on days of heavy lecture. I often try to open with an activity to engage students, only to have them glassy-eyed within minutes of the lecture. This information is useful because it can guide how to structure a lesson plan. If an instructor knows when students will most often be attentive, they can gauge when to incorporate the most important aspects of a lesson.
  

There are many things that were useful in this week’s readings can be implemented into my field.

• Preparing discussion questions for class is a standard component of lesson planning. Taking more time to draw up questions students can apply or interpret to their own experiences will help them further understand the lesson. For instance, in Comm 110 students can suggest how aspects of public speaking relate to their future careers. A discussion probing how the material from the text applies to their everyday lives may help me to connect them to the material. They can comprehend that these techniques will help them far beyond their time in the classroom.

• Understanding when a student is most attentive can be an advantage to the instructor. Hartley and Cameron’s (1967) research shows that students are most attentive at the beginning and end of lecture. This can help me to plan my lecture according to when they will absorb the most information. I can plan to lecture in small amounts at the beginning and end of class and hold activities and discussions in the middle to keep them engaged.
  

The following are techniques, theories, or suggestions that I want to incorporate in my own teaching:

• To check understanding after a lecture, I plan give students a minute to write down questions, or comments, to share with their peers. I often ask if anyone has questions, following each section of lecture. After reading the text I realized that this may be ineffective. I want to have students write down questions because they are more likely to participate. I may be able to respond to questions that would have previously gone unanswered.
  

• Incorporating better listening practices into my classroom is another technique I plan to use. I learned a lot from text about note taking during lecture. I want to avoid students’ focus on taking notes in place of actively listening to my lecture. By asking the students to just listen and write a summary for 5 to 15 minutes after, they may be able to concentrate and retain more. I am also going to take McKeachie’s suggestion of asking students to compare their summaries to encourage peer discussion.
  

• Telling students why they are participating in discussion and what I want them to learn are other suggestions I plan on incorporating into my teaching. Like last week’s reading, students understand more if they know what goal is to be met. If they understand the importance of the discussion, they may be more inclined to participate. If they know what they are supposed to obtain from a discussion, they can work to achieve that goal.
  

• I also want to try to include online discussions into my teaching. I find that many students are much more interested in incorporating technology into their learning. I want to use online discussions not only to try to gain more from nonparticipants, but to allow for participation outside of the classroom. I think it would be interesting to have students begin discussion on a message board. I believe that it may facilitate further discussion during our scheduled class time.
  

• Finally, I plan to give students questions at the end of class to ensure they are reading. I have a difficult time with one class because they are reluctant to read the text. Discussions and activities are difficult because many of them don’t know the material. I want to give them a few questions, before chapter readings are due, to help prepare them for discussions. Rather than having quizzes at the start of each class, we can use the time to delve deeper into the material.

Additional resources:

Discussion Formats
This site has list of various discussion activities. We have discussed some of them, but there are a few new activities that I may implement in my own classroom.

Online Discussions
Here is a pdf I came across when looking into online discussions. It gives a few examples and also lists some great sources.

How To Take Effective Class Notes
Taking notes seems like second nature to many of us, but some of my undergrads struggle with taking notes when they aren’t written out word for word. This is a site I may incorporate before my next lecture to give them some tips.

And we're off...

This week’s reading dealt with preparing for class, discussion, and class planning. Last week’s readings were a great introduction to teaching. This week, I found the reading helpful for those of us that are already teaching in the classroom.



The following are things I found useful in this week’s reading:

• Do not teach to disruptive students. I often focus in on the one student that is not paying attention in my class. It takes a lot of energy to try to engage the student who doesn’t care to be involved in the class. This energy is then taken away from the students that are actively participating. I found this idea useful because it will help me prioritize my energy and efforts. I need to teach to those that want to learn and understand that I can’t reach every student all of the time.
  
• It is important to focus one or two major goals for each session. Daily goals allow an instructor is to put lessons into perspective and keep them on task. It can also give students a way to gauge their understanding of the content. I found this useful because it will help ensure students are gaining the proper information from a lesson. I often find myself reflecting on what my students have learned after class is finished. By setting a goal, the students and I can have a shared understanding of what needs to be accomplished in a given session.
  
• The section on lesson formats gave me a different perspective on how to plan my classes. I often have discussion questions or activities to gauge how well students understand the material. I also feel it breaks up the monotony during days with heavy lecture. The text suggested varying formats, not only to keep things lively, but to accommodate different learning styles and get students accustomed to learning in different ways. I found this information useful because it provides me with a different outlook on activities and discussion. Using various formats not only teaches students the material, but it also trains them in visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning.
  

Many things that were useful in this week’s readings can be implemented into my field. For example:

• Disruptive students are a part of many classes. They are not always obnoxious or loud, as the book stated, but they can be distant and unwilling to engage in learning. This practice will help me give my full attention to those who want to learn. By not focusing on teaching a disruptive student, I can give those who are engaged all of my energy. As the text suggested, most of the class is aware of disruptive students. Hopefully many of them can ignore those not willing to participate if I refuse to give them all of my attention.
  
• In planning the week’s lesson, I can start with one or two goals I wish to accomplish in each session. I can use the goals to guide my lesson plans, rather than reflecting on what the students learned when the class is dismissed. I can also announce the goals to the students when class begins to help them understand my intention with the lesson. This practice will help me stay on task and ensure I am providing students with the most relevant information. It will also give students an idea of what the purpose of the content is.
  
• When planning lessons, I can implement daily activities and discussion to ensure I am reaching visual and kinesthetic learners. Discussion questions and activities should be well thought out to encompass the material that auditory learners gained from my lecture. Planning various lesson formats, that correlate with my daily lecture, will help me to engage students will all learning styles.
  
  

The following are techniques, theories, or suggestions that I want to incorporate in my own teaching:

• Start the lesson by going over bureaucratic details. I frequently make announcements at the beginning of class, but I don’t often ask for questions about reading or assignments until class is nearly over. The text mentioned that students are often getting materials packed up and wanting to leave at the end of a session. This may often result in questions not being asked or concerns going unsaid. I want to begin class by going over questions or concerns that students have. It may even be something I can incorporate into my lecture or spend more time on in the future.
  
• Making sure class starts on time is important. Occasionally, I have some students coming into my class late. I usually feel that I need to update them on what they have missed or wait until they arrive. I want to incorporate this because it is important to utilize all of the allotted time for the class. If I give the impression that being late is acceptable, it will be unfair to those students that arrive on time. It is not only a poor message to wait for a late student, but it takes away from time that others could be learning.


• Inviting a public speaker to my class is something that I have been thinking about for some time. Since I instruct a course on public speaking, it seems relevant to invite a prominent speaker in the community that could share their expertise with my students. I plan to follow the steps the text provided so I can incorporate a guest effectively, not only for the students but for the speaker as well. It is important to have students write questions ahead of time to ensure that they are prepared and participating.
  

Additional Resources
Find your learning style
Many of you may already know your preferred learning style, but this is interesting when thinking of learning from a teacher’s perspective.

www.mnispi.org

Blog Entry #1

As week two comes to an end I am amazed that I am still here to blog about it. I’ve survived the ice-breakers and lesson plans. I made it through the apprehension and mistakes. I feel I was prepared for the worst and experienced the best. As with any learning process, my first blog entry will be an adventure on its own. I intend to use this entry to discuss important readings, useful techniques, and future plans, based on my reading and classroom experience.


I. This week’s reading covered nearly every step from preparation to the first day of class. I highlighted a few of the most interesting ideas below.

• McKeachie’s hypothesis regarding the importance of learning over teaching was a reality check for me. Much of my first two weeks have been spent struggling with details about the act of teaching, rather than my role as a teacher. I found McKeachie’s idea useful because it puts my position as a teacher into perspective. It is easy to get caught up in planning a lesson that will fulfill the department’s criteria. Meanwhile, the purpose of my position as an instructor is to facilitate learning. After reading this hypothesis, I realized that I need to constantly keep the students’ learning at the top of my instructional goals. I decided to print this idea inside my planner as a reminder of the true meaning of teaching.

• The influence that gender has on students, in the First Day to Final Grade, was an aspect of teaching I hadn’t considered. I remember being overwhelmed with the first impression I gave to the students. I was trying to come across as fun, while proving my authority. By adding gender influence to my nervousness, I wonder if I would have overcompensated to try to avoid gender bias. Would I have tried to be overly strict as a process of intimidation? Although I am beyond my first impression in the classroom, it is something I can use for the remainder of my teaching. I want to be sure that my students are all being treated fairly. I don’t want any of the students to feel that they are favored due to gender, or can treat me differently because of my gender.

• Out-of-Class learning is a concept I didn’t fully grasp until I read Chapter 2 of First Day to Final Grade. Previously, I considered out-of-class learning to be just a part in the process. Every student must read and digest information so they are aware of the material. I didn’t consider my role as a facilitator of learning after the students left my classroom. The fact that their out-of-class work can make them engage more in the classroom makes sense to me now. This will be useful when I assign future homework. I need to spend time preparing out-of-class work so it can perpetuate their learning and get them motivated for the next class.
  

II. A large amount of this week’s reading contains theories and techniques to be used by first time instructors in various fields. I found a few of the techniques would be especially useful in the field of communication.

• I can learn the names of my students in a timely fashion. To be honest, I haven’t put much effort into learning the names of my students. I often give the excuse that I am not good at memorizing names. On the second day, I had my students make name cards to be placed on their desks during class. While the cards have served the purpose for calling on them when they have questions, there has been little attempt to learn their names without the cards. Learning their names will help me to show respect and compassion to my students. I am instructing a course on communication. I should be expected to learn their names to improve the instructor-student communication.

• I can have students fill out “vital information” cards to help me contact them. Currently, my out-of-class contact with students is strictly by email. I learned about the limitations of this plan yesterday when one of my students couldn’t get into his email or on Blackboard. “Vital information” cards could help me contact a student when technology is down. It could also help me get to know my students better, by containing information about their interests and other courses.

• I can use excess time constructively rather than dismissing class early. I had 10 minutes to spare when we concluded our lecture last week. It was too little time to go through an extra activity, but enough time to do something productive. I can plan questions and short activities to use if we have extra time. I can also have the following week’s lesson plans outlined to see if students have questions or concerns.
  

III. There are a number of things I would like to incorporate in my teaching for the future. Many of this week’s readings dealt with syllabus structure and how to plan for the first day, but I feel many things can be implemented at any time.

• I will reflect more on my own goals for the class, so I can include them in the syllabus. The department has goals about their expectations, but I believe my own goals for the class would help students better understand my expectations. Because I will be facilitating learning in the classroom, it is important that students can strive to meet goals that I have set out for them.

• I will do my best to understand and make note of appropriate teaching methods. The last two weeks have given me a chance to get acquainted with my teaching style. The process has been one of trial and error, but I feel I learn something new each day. I want to take notes on what works and what doesn’t work as it pertains to certain lessons, situations, students, etc. I feel this will be important in my growth as a teacher. The more I can learn how to maximize my teaching, the better it will be for future students.

• I will check my resources prior to the first day. By understanding the university system, my classroom setup and the classroom technology, I can be more prepared for my students. Checking my resources can ease tensions and give me a better understanding of the tools at my disposal.

• I will not try to interest every student all of the time, and accept the fact that it is nearly impossible to do so. I found this to be helpful information for the future because I tend to teach to the students who aren’t engaging. I need to work more on keeping interested students engaged rather than bending over backwards for those who don’t care. In doing so, I can teach to the students who are actually interested in learning.

• Learning names! I need to learn the students’ names. (I could use this under each heading.) I need to put forth the effort to treat my students with the same respect I do my peers. In doing so, I will gain more respect from them. It will not only make activities and discussion easier, but it may help strengthen the unity of our classroom.
  
  
  The Comm TAs were involved in an intense orientation at the beginning of the semester. I feel that we covered a lot of what has been discussed in the text. As much as I learned in orientation, it still feels helpful to review certain concepts. It is also nice to get a different perspective on why we have different rules and techniques. Overall, I feel that my first two weeks have been a success. I feel prepared for the bad days (I hope) and look forward to more of the good ones!
  
  

Recommended Readings:

• I stumbled across this page from the U of Utah while looking for advice for new TAs. The info on basic teaching styles is interesting. There are also many links and “printer-friendly” tips.
  http://web.utah.edu/taresources/
  
• This may be interesting for others using PowerPoint and different technology in the classroom.
  http://chronicle.com/article/Teach-Naked-Effort-Strips/47398/