Issue Home Volume 12: Issue 1

Teaching Tips: Getting the Semester off to a Good Start

Anne McCabe, Ph.D.
Department of English, Madrid Campus

Two key words have always kept teaching fresh and meaningful for me (and I hope for my students!): contextualize and reflect. A major part of our work involves us in contextualizing the learning experience, with questions like, “How does this class relate to the one you just came out of?” When the classroom becomes a collaborative learning experience for both me and the students, relevance emerges in sharp relief. As we construct together a fabric of knowledge that makes sense to ourselves and to the wider world, we can see aspects of the subject never seen before. I ask the students to reflect in dialog journals, and I respond with more questions. I hope, in this way, to help scaffold a sense of real understanding and ownership of knowledge and learning.

Marta Moreno, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Business Administration and Economics, Madrid Campus

In teaching mathematics and statistics, for me it is very important to get the students to ask themselves the same questions the people who developed the various theories asked when they came up with the tools we use. I always stop the class to let them think about the problem we want to solve before I even give them a hint about how it might be approached. I think these minutes of reflection help them understand the theory as a solution to a particular problem instead of an obscure mathematical method.

Elizabeth Richard, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Director of Communication

Nothing helps me start the academic year off right more than organizing my office work space. Whether you are lucky enough to have an office of your own, or if you simply have a desk where you do work, there are a few things that you can do to lay a good organizational foundation for the upcoming academic year. Create spreadsheets for recording and calculating grades and attendance. Prepare folders and binders to organize teaching materials and graded and ungraded student work for each of the classes you teach. Mark your calendar with important dates and deadlines. Taking the time to do these simple tasks makes life much easier once the chaos of a new semester gets underway.

Joanne C. Langan, Ph.D., R.N.
School of Nursing

As I prepare for my fall on-line Disaster Preparedness elective course, I keep the students as the focus for teaching strategies and class activities. I navigate the Blackboard system as they will and check for any glitches or processes that may confuse them. All websites are checked for accuracy and updated. Seminar discussion questions are created based on current global affairs. The goal is to prepare our nursing students to be capable and confident leaders when disasters or emergency situations arise. Case studies are chosen that the students can relate to and critically think through to solution.

Mike Lewis, Ph.D.
Chemistry

I begin each semester by looking to the evaluations from the previous time I taught a course. While it always amazes me how the teaching likes/dislikes of a class of students can vary from one year to then next, I work hard to be cognizant of the threads that have remained constant over previous years. And to address the teaching/learning styles that change from year to year, I mark my calendar about four or five weeks into the semester for CTE to perform a midterm evaluation.

When I teach a class of Chemistry majors, as I am doing in two classes this coming semester, I stress early on the importance of becoming involved in the Department’s research efforts. An undergraduate education is incomplete if the student has not worked on modern problems within their discipline. Furthermore, the sense of community that comes along with joining a research group enhances the student’s learning experience.

Jonathan Smith, Ph.D.
American Studies

I aim always to remember that each individual class comprises a community. As such, I do all I can in the opening class session to establish a sense of community between myself and the students. Of course, the syllabus and course requirements establish the community's goals and expectations, but they do not do the work of introducing the members of that community to each other. It is easy to underestimate the value of a simple name-major-"why I'm in this course" exercise. A good introduction exercise clears the way for free discussion, inquiry, collaboration, and effective learning throughout the semester.

Last updated 08.19.09