Suggestions

Table

Home

	Tips For Educators

	(1) Learn From History
	Before the academic term begins, an educator can identify areas for improvement in the course from previous classes by studying the history (and results) of the course from the perspective of administrators, faculty, students, people who touch their lives and people whose lives they touch. In the past, how did each person contribute in positive and negative ways; passively or actively; and consciously or subconsciously? Did each person find his or her potential in the process? Were shortcuts taken in some places? Were some things done or not done for the sake of convenience? What role did good intentions play and what were the results? Were some gaps filled with certain speculations or assumptions about structure, circumstance or people? Each component and step in the process can be studied for pros, cons, and potential for change. Areas for improvement can be found, and the educator can define a specific plan of action. The plan might include the people, services, materials, and schedules that will be needed to achieve the targeted improvement(s). The next step is to act upon the plan "before" the term begins.
	(2) What is Important to You?
	People respond to things that are important to them. These important things drive their lives. Each of us lives in a different world and has a different combination of obstacles to face. The question, "What is important to you?" goes to the heart of matters. This question can be asked in different ways, angles, levels, and frequencies. It is one way to address differences in background, circumstance, experience, culture, gender, and age. Things that are important for and to the student can be incorporated into the plan of action, lesson, titles, acknowledgements, climate and way in which the educator interacts with the student. A lesson or part of a lesson can be created from these items or expand upon them. Related questions that can receive the same treatment include the following: "What are your needs?", "What works for you?", and "What am I missing here?" All of us are missing something about other people and their needs.
	(3) Be Organized
	An educator can create a syllabus, study guide, lecture notes, and/or outlines for class. Useful information includes title, subject, day, date, instructor, purpose, objectives, corresponding chapters in the course text, optional reading, and relevant comments for individual classes or deadlines. Additional information can include: rules; procedures; format; grade distribution; contact information of instructors and/or their secretaries; office hours; office locations; drop off and pick up places; and locations on campus, off campus or on the Internet of related and relevant information or tools. Some students are impressed when the instructor brings necessary and optional materials to class instead of expecting students to find a way to produce or borrow them. An instructor can make arrangements with the administration or other institutions in advance for the students to have materials for designated classes. An instructor can also apply for a small grant in advance for this purpose. If photocopied material is distributed, make sure that distinguishing characteristics are not missing. Graphs and legends commonly lose elements in the photocopy process. One student said that if it doesn't cost much more, instructors should make color copies of key graphs, figures, or pictures (or use a computer to generate them). This shows the instructor's extra dedication and can help to make the learning process exciting for the student.
	(4) Sound and Letter Size
	One student said that if the students in the last row in the class cannot hear, the teacher is not speaking loud enough. One strategy is for the instructor to gear the volume of his voice towards the last row of the class throughout the lecture. At the beginning of class, the teacher can ask the students in the last row if they can hear clearly. One student had an instructor who spoke loud in class like a drill sergeant. The student loved it because he could hear every word clearly and it kept him awake. There are students in different parts of the room, for different reasons, who need the volume. Similar advice was given for letter size. If the smallest letter on the board cannot be seen by the students in the last row, the letters are not large enough. Letters that seem large to the teacher at the board may still be unrecognizable in the back row or from certain angles in the class. The idea is to make letters larger than it seems necessary. The teacher can write a word on the board and then go to the back row before class begins to see how well she can see the word from there.
	(5) Enthusiasm
	Express love and fascination for the topic through facial expressions and body language. Ninety percent of communication is non-verbal. An instructor can smile. A smile expresses happiness and creates happiness for each party. If the instructor is fascinated, students will become fascinated by association. Explain what it is that is exciting about the topic, and why this topic is important. Before each subsection, explain how the student will benefit by having the knowledge or skills of this subsection. Try to make it a thrilling process of discovery for students who dislike the topic the most. If you inspire the most resistant of students, the rest come easy. One student said that the best type of teaching inspires a love for the subject, not just an understanding of it. Some educators speak monotonically and give the impression that they themselves have little interest in the topic; as a result, some students lose interest or never establish it.
	(6) Don't Read Lectures
	Try to give the lecture, instead of reading the lecture. When an instructor reads a lecture, the impression is that the instructor does not know the material well himself. One strategy is for the instructor to pick words or phrases that cue him into each section to be presented. The instructor can create a wild story (that he keeps to himself and that includes these cued words). He can think of this story as he gives the lecture. With this, he will be able to give the lecture smoothly without having to look down at a paper or book and read it. This can be applied to whole lectures or parts of lectures.
	(7) Clarity
	One of the most common complaints from students is lack of verbal clarity. Simple and well-pronounced words are key. Since students love clarity, don't be afraid to overdo it. Clarity also reduces the chance of misinterpretation. Often there are many different legitimate ways to interpret the subtlest of differences. The teacher can orient the students by clarifying the day, date, title, and current location in the lecture series at the beginning of each lecture. She can clarify what things were for the previous lecture and what things are for the next lecture, at the beginning or end of each lecture. Inform the students of reading and writing assignments in advance. Define what something is but also make a few points about what it is not. This crystallizes the edges. Similar advice is to describe what the student is expected to learn but also take a brief moment to point out the areas that the student is not expected to learn at this stage in the training. Since more than thirty percent of the brain is engineered for the interpretation of visual images, a teacher can help by deliberately choosing simple clear images for the board that can be used to explain more than one aspect of the topic. One student suggested repetition: summarize what will be taught, teach, and then summarize what was taught.
	(8) Complete Notes
	One thing that is important to students is a complete set of notes at the end of the lecture. It is frustrating to a student to leave the class with a fraction of what he wanted on paper. An instructor can help by engineering this agenda into the class. For example, when a teacher is presenting slides, he can plan time into has the lecture for students to write all of the words on the slides, ask if every one finished before moving on, use more concise slides, provide photocopies, or make the information available on a web site.
	(9) Order
	Some teachers zigzag back and forth between topics in lecture. By the end of the lecture, the student's notes are a mess. It is useful to present one topic at a time with clear breaks between each and a predefined order. The notes will then flow in a way that will make sense to the student when he reviews them at a later point in time.
	(10) Objectiveness
	Make a sincere effort to be objective in the presentation and evaluation of information. Consider both (or more) sides. Some students complained that some teachers only present one view, pressure students to accept the teacher's personal opinion, or restrict consideration of other views in class and on graded assignments.
	(11) Assumptions, Biases, Culture, and Tradition
	Describe common assumptions, biases, cultures, and traditions in the field (and why they exist). Spoken or unspoken, every field has these. Students need this information to know the difference between objective and subjective elements of the field, to communicate in an acceptable way with peers in the field, and to complete certain steps in challenges (like homework problem sets). Simple examples include the assumption that the average man weighs 70 kilograms and the tradition of presenting power in joules per second. There are other logical ways of presenting the information but some are not accepted in the field of study. Some teachers forget to include this information because it has become automatic for them.
	(12) Examples
	Give several complete and specific examples of each concept. Examples provide many forms of useful information at one time. Humans of all sizes learn effectively through example. When a mother teaches a baby what a table is, she points to a table and says "table." The baby receives verbal information from the mother's voice, visual information from the movement of the mother's lips and from the view of the table, and information about the table's texture by touching it. Information is received from many different angles. This is how adults learn too, through example. The same is true for analogies. Finding complete examples and analogies can be difficult for the teacher but is well worth the effort. It increases the standard of understanding and students love them. If for some reason time does not permit, the teacher can provide examples and analogies on paper for the students to take home and study.
	(13) Challenges
	Teach and then test. Some of the students asserted that some teachers test before teaching. As a result, the student has no basis from which to answer the questions. Other ideas were the following: spend a disproportionate amount of time teaching verses testing; teach for understanding instead of for testing; give tests that are fair representations of what is taught in the class. Some instructors teach one thing but test on something else. Another suggestion was to de-emphasize memorization and focus on the structure of knowledge, the general rules of the domain, and strategies for the problem-solving process. After teaching with many clear examples, give assignments that have the student constructing or transforming something. Give assignments with a good gradient of questions. An example would be an assignment with a few easy warm-up questions, many medium-difficulty questions, and one or two very challenging ones. With a good gradient of questions, everyone gets something out of it. Each student can step on the ladder and move up. The questions might be ordered according to this gradient. Each student can begin their experience with the confidence that comes with getting the first few ones right. This encourages the students to continue; it also reduces the stress and procrastination that can accompany the beginning of a challenge. Gradients can be used for assignments and examinations.
	(14) Amount of Work
	One rule of thumb for the amount of homework to assign is to assume that the students have five other classes requiring equal amounts of time. This accommodates not only the other classes but also the student's need to participate in activities outside of the class for balance and to build credentials for graduate school or post-collegiate jobs. One student said that his instructor assigned so much required reading that most of the students rarely completed it; as a result, they seldom had something intelligent to contribute in class. If a very large amount needs to be covered, one strategy is to divide the class into groups, assign each group a different part, and have each group present or discuss their part. The benefits are that the material gets covered, the students maintain interest, and the in-class discussion is of higher quality.
	(15) Clearly Define Goals, Expectations, and Requirements
	One student said that his instructor put the students into small groups without defining the goal. Each student had his own idea of the goal and nothing got accomplished. The instructor needs to be as specific as possible. A student was given general instructions, worked hard, and then found that the teacher was looking for something else. Much of the student's hard work was done in vain.
	(16) Get The Student There
	If a student just doesn't fit into the teacher's system, the teacher can help the student achieve the goal in another way. A participant of the survey has a brother with dyslexia. Letters of some words appear backwards or upside down. As a result, he could not take the written examination like other students. So his teacher read his test questions to him out loud. The student proved verbally that he knew the answers well despite the reading difficulties associated with dyslexia. There is often more than one way to achieve and to demonstrate excellence.
	(17) Legitimate Problems
	One student said that life is happening to the student at the same time as the course, and only in Utopia will the two never conflict. Leave room for the possibility of legitimate problems when they do occur and work with the student. Sometimes things happen that are beyond the student's control; the student only survives if the teacher has faith.
	(18) Derogatory Words
	One student asked for clarification of a test question that she felt was poorly worded. She had never been angrier in her life than when the teacher's response was to ask her if she knew how to read. She said that students pay to be in class but not to be humiliated or talked down to. Derogatory comments, particularly from someone who students look up to, can be painful and have long-lasting effects.
	(19) Respect is a Two-way Street
	Students usually have fewer credentials and are younger than the teacher. However, humans of all ages and backgrounds respond best to relationships in which both parties are treated with respect.
	(20) Order of Scrutiny
	First present the positive things. Explain how and why it is that these things are positive. Then present those things that need to be improved or changed. Describe how and why these changes will make a difference. For a long written project, like a dissertation, consider reserving specific types of scrutiny for specific stages of the project. For example, in the first stage, an advisor might limit scrutiny to the direction of the project. In the next stage, limit scrutiny to components of the outline. Further stages of scrutiny may include: certain types of detail; sections or chapters; documentation style; and in the end, spelling and grammar.
	(21) Written Corrections
	If you are correcting a draft, avoid using the color red. In Western society, red is often associated with things that are negative, dangerous, or stressful. The teacher might consider using pencil. As mentioned earlier in the book, gray is restful. Blues and greens are calm and cool. Greens are often linked with things that are positive and safe. The teacher might write corrections in list form, on a separate piece of paper, instead of directly on the student's draft. This sends a signal that the student's draft is valuable and respected. It reiterates the idea that respect is a two-way street.
	(22) Availability
	Finally, many students want time in the faculty members' or administrators' schedules. In some cases, a staff member allocates responsibilities to persons below or around him but is not himself visible or available.