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.