Molly Robinson, Director of Lewis & Clark College Teaching Excellence Program
The other evening, I was having a conversation with two
recent L&C alumni. I asked them to tell me what concrete things their
professors had done in their classrooms that they most appreciated. Their
answers were surprisingly consistent. I developed the following four
recommendations based on what they shared.
1. Create a STRUCTURE and stick with it.
For most of us, the structure we create for our classes is
contained in the syllabus. Ideally, a syllabus contains basic information about
course objectives, readings, expectations, and the schedule. For the students I
spoke with, the schedule / calendar was by far the most essential of these
elements. They said that regardless of what actually happened in class,
professors who provided a predictable, reliable schedule were highly
appreciated.
I recommend focusing on the following key elements of course
structure as you design or revise your syllabi and course plans:
Reading choice and length. Resist the temptation to
assign overly long readings. A good rule of thumb: assign readings of a length
you yourself would be willing and able to read in the time allotted to your
students. If you want them to do the reading and do it well, make sure the
reading length and difficulty level make this expectation realistic.
Evaluation points. After you’ve decided on the
material you plan to cover, consider when and how you will assess your
students’ learning of that material. Build a schedule for papers, tests, and
other major assignments that makes sense to you. As you go through the
semester, do your best to respect that schedule. If a test or paper day is
coming and you haven’t covered all the material you had hoped to cover by that
time, seriously consider whether you can omit some material from the assignment
instead of changing the schedule.
Homework: predictable accountability. Make sure your students
know their homework for next time by the end of class. Then, be sure to use
that homework in class in some way. If you assign homework but fail to make
students accountable for it, it will not be long before your students stop
doing their homework. You can avoid a host of teaching problems by making
homework important and useful IN CLASS.
Have a lesson plan. Your lesson plan can be as
detailed or as open and flexible as suits you. As you make it, two questions
are essential: what do I want my students to learn during this class? How will
I help them learn it?
Begin and end class on time, and intentionally if
possible. “When professors begin and end on time, it feels like they value
our time and understand we have other things to do besides their class,” my
former students reported. Remember, in the 10 minutes between classes, students
often need to wait in lines to use the bathroom, grab a bite to eat, etc. They
are rushed as it is. Don’t make it harder by ending late.
2. Manage your feedback.
Take the timeliness of your feedback to students seriously.
Very, very seriously. Arguably, nothing will undermine your goals for your
students’ learning more than asking them to do work on which they receive
feedback very late or never.
Here is one method that has worked for me: after I’ve
created my course calendar, I copy and paste it into a new document, and add to
it my own grading deadlines. These are the dates by which I aim to return
grades and feedback on assignments to my students. I print this document out
and tape it to the wall alongside my computer, and check things off as I go. Find
a system and timing that work for you. Make it happen.
3. Create belonging.
Consider your class a place in which belonging can happen
for your students. They are at an age when social relations with their peers
are still extremely important – perhaps even more formative and influential for
them than their relationship with you. Plan for this. Reflect on what kind of
environment you want to have in your class and how you want them to relate to
you, to each other, and to their own learning. Then, think about how you and
they can help make this happen.
But don’t just think about what you want for them – say it.
Tell them you want them to feel like they belong here. Tell them they will
learn better that way. Encourage them to tell you, in whatever way they feel
able, if something in class is falling short of this goal. Tell them you always
want to know if something isn’t right. We can’t always think of all the ways in
which someone might feel like an outsider in our classes. But we can make sure
they know we want them to feel like they belong, and that we always want to
know if they don’t.
4. Aim to grow… just a little.
Sometimes, we can be too ambitious in how we think about
“improving our teaching,” and forget that small changes can make a big
difference. Why not aim to try one small, new thing in your teaching this
semester, with the simple aim of experimenting and keeping it fresh? Maybe this
means attending just one TEP event this semester, or trying a new kind of
assignment, or choosing one of the ideas on the “TEP Active Learning Toolkit” handout
I’ve attached here and trying it a few times.
Finally, remember this: just by showing up day by day for
your teaching, as best you can on that given day, you are growing and learning
as a teacher. Each day of teaching will bring new circumstances and challenges,
some joyful and some unpleasant. As we rise to meet them, again and again, we
are adding to our “bank” of teaching experiences and skills.
In other words: show up and be you. And don’t forget to
notice and celebrate the ways you will grow as a teacher this semester, whether
big or small.
Have a great semester.
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