10 Things to Make the First Day (and the Rest) of the Semester Successful
I like to arrive in the classroom well before the students. It gives me time to get things organized. I create an entrance table (I use chairs or desks if there's no table) that holds handouts for students to pick up. From day one the students learn the routine: they arrive, pick up handouts on the entrance table, and read the screen for instructions. They know what to do, and it saves time. Here's how I recommend introducing the routine on day one...
Feedback Forms for Peer Assessment in Groups
Many faculty incorporate a peer-assessment component in team projects. Because faculty aren’t present when the groups interact and therefore don’t know who’s doing what in the group, they let students provide feedback on the contributions of their group-mates. In addition to giving the teacher accurate information on which to base individual grades, the process gives students...
Creating a Mindset for Collaboration
Because we know that active engagement in collaborative projects can create a synergy among students that often surpasses what can be learned individually, we find ourselves designing assignments that create opportunities for students to collaborate and learn from one another. Also, the ability to work together in teams is a skill needed in today's workforce. So for many reasons, assignments that foster collaboration have become essential parts of a well-designed course.
What Textbook Reading Teaches Students
"Do we really need to buy the textbook? It's so expensive!" "Can't you just summarize it for us?" "Would you just tell us what parts will be on the exam?" "It was so long and so boring. I couldn't get through it!" Quotes like these indicate that many of our students want us to help them with the hard work of extracting difficult material and new vocabulary from their textbooks. They may use the term "boring" but what they really mean is difficult and time consuming. In turn, we sometimes fall into the trap of summarizing the textbook in our lectures and our PowerPoint presentations.