This particular list of teaching

This particular list of teaching characteristics appears in an excellent book that is all but unknown in the states, Learning to Teach in Higher Education, by noted scholar Paul Rams den. In the case of what makes teaching effective, he writes,a great deal is known about the characteristics of effective university teaching. It is undoubtedly a complicated matter; there is no indication of one ‘best way,’ but our understanding of its essential nature is both broad and deep.. He organizes that essential knowledge into these six principles, unique for the way he relates them to students’ experiences.“When our interest is aroused in something, whether it is an academic subject or a hobby, we enjoy working hard at it. We come to feel that we can in some way own it and use it to make sense of the world around us.. Coupled with the need to establish the relevance of content, instructors need to craft explanations that enable students to understand the material. This involves knowing what students understand and then forging connections between what is known and what is new.

 Rams den starts with the negative about which he is assertive and unequivocal. Truly awful teaching in higher education is most often revealed by a sheer lack of interest in and compassion for students and student learning. It repeatedly displays the classic symptom of making a subject seem more demanding than it actually is. Some people may get pleasure from this kind of masquerade. They are teaching very badly if they do. Good teaching is nothing to do with making things hard. It is nothing to do with frightening students. It is everything to do with benevolence and humility; it always tries to help students feel that a subject can be mastered; it encourages them to try things out for themselves and succeed at something quickly.

 This principle involves using a variety of assessment techniques and allowing students to demonstrate their mastery of the material in different ways. It avoids those assessment methods that encourage students to memorize and regurgitate. It recognizes the power of feedback to motivate more effort to learn.

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 Effective teachers set high standards for students. They also articulate clear goals. Students should know up front what they will learn and what they will be expected to do with what they know.“Good teaching fosters  sense of student control over learning and interest in the subject matter.. Good teachers create learning tasks appropriate to the student’s level of understanding. They also recognize the uniqueness of individual learners and avoid the temptation to impose “mass production” standards that treat all learners as if they were exactly the same. “It is worth stressing that we know that students who experience teaching of the kind that permits control by the learner not only learn better, but that they enjoy learning more.“Effective teaching refuses to take its effect on students for granted. It sees the relation between teaching and learning as problematic, uncertain and relative. Good teaching is open to change: it involves constantly trying to find out what the effects of instruction are on learning, and modifying the instruction in the light of the evidence collected.

Teaching Your Child About Phonemes

  

As the parent of a young child, you probably have a sense that you should help your child learn the letters of the alphabet. As the foundation for all written words, letters are important because they are the symbols for the small actions your mouth makes as you say words. What's equally important, however, is that your child learns the sound associated with each letter. These individual sounds are called phonemes, and children who know about the connection between a letter and its phoneme have an easier time learning to read.

These four tips were initially written for teachers, but have been adapted here for parents.

Certain sounds, such as  are great sounds to start with. The sound is distinct, and can be exaggerated easily. "Please pass the  There's a "You have  markers on the table." It's also easy to describe how to make the sound with your mouth. "Close your mouth and lips to make the sound. Now put your hand on your throat. Do you feel the vibration?" Once your child learns a few phonemes, it will be easier to keep talking about letters and sounds

Have fun with the letters and sounds. Gestures, such as a "munching mouth" made with your hand can make the  sound much more fun! "Slithering snakes" made with an arm or hand can make the sound easy to remember. Tongue tickers, also called alliterative words, in which the sound you're focusing on is repeated over and over again, can be a fun way to provide practice with a sound. Try these!

One part of learning letters and sounds is being able to figure out if a word contains a particular sound. "Do we hear  in the  Do we hear  in the word cake?" These sorts of activities, done orally with your child, can help him begin to listen for and hear sounds within words.

Putting these skills to work within a book is a powerful way to help your child see the connection between letters, sounds, and words. As you're reading together, find places in the book to point out the letters and sounds you've been working on together. "Look! This page says 'Red fish, blue fish." There's the  sound we've been having fun with! It's at the beginning of the word fish."

These simple tips can help your child develop a very important awareness of phonemes which will serve him well as he begins to learn how to read.

Selecting Words

Every Monday, my seventh grade English teacher would have us copy a list of 25 words she'd written on the board. We'd then look up the dictionary definitions and copy those down. For homework, we'd re-write each word seven times.

Good, now you know it. Test on Friday and never for those 25 words to be seen again. Poof. Old school, yes. Mundane task, yes. Did it work? I don't remember. Probably not.

Copying definitions from the dictionary we would probably all agree is not an effective way to learn vocabulary. Passive learning hardly ever is. It's just often the way we learned, and as teachers, we sometimes fall back on using these ways when teaching rather than taking a good look at student data, the latest research, and then trying something new.

The truth is, and the research shows, students need multiple and various exposures to a word before they fully understand that word and can apply it. They need also to learn words in context, not stand alone lists that come and go each week. Of course the way we learn words in context, or implicitly, is by reading, then reading some more. This is why every classroom should have a killer classroom library stocked full of high-interest, age appropriate books.

Selecting Words

Ah, so many words, so little time. When choosing which words deserve special instructional time, we don't have to do it alone. One of the biggest mistakes we teachers make in vocabulary instruction is selecting all the words for the students and not giving them a say in the matter.

My first year teaching, before my tenth graders began reading Lord of the Flies, I went through every chapter and made lists of all the vocabulary words I thought they'd have trouble with, so that I could pre-teach them.

When I looked at those long lists, I began to freak out. How will I teach all these words, and still have class time for all the other things we need to do? First off, rather than waste my time compiling lists, I should have let the kids skim the text in chapter one and select their own words.

Then, here's what to do after the students pick their own words:

• Ask each child to create a chart where he/she writes down words of choice, and rates each one as "know it," "sort of know it," or "don't know it at all."
• Then, on the same paper, have them write a definition or "my guess on meaning" for the words they know and kind of know (No dictionaries!)

Before they turn in these pre-reading charts, be sure to emphasize this is not about "being right" but that they are providing you with information to guide next steps in class vocabulary instruction.

Read through them all and use the results as a formative assessment. This data will show you which words they know, those they have some understanding of, and those words that are completely foreign to them.

The kids have selected and rated the words, and now it's your turn.

Ranking Words

When considering which words need the most instructional attention, let's turn to Isabel Beck's practical way of categorizing vocabulary words into three tiers:

Tier One: Basic words that rarely require instructional focus.

Tier Two: Words that appear with high frequency, across a variety of domains, and are crucial when using mature, academic language coincidence, reluctant, analysi.

Beck suggests that students will benefit the most academically by focusing instruction on the tier two words (since these appear with much higher frequency than tier three words, and are used across domains). So, this is when you take a look at the pre-reading vocabulary charts your kids created and choose "kind of" and "don't know at all" words that you deem to be tier two words. Go ahead and select some content-specific word tier three but only those directly related to the chapter, article, short story, or whatever you are about to read.

You now have a vocabulary list. It's time to teach.

Teaching Words

If you haven't heard of him, I'd like to introduce Robert Marzano. This guy is pretty amazing, having spent countless hours observing students and teachers. An education researcher and teacher, he stresses that in all content areas, direct vocabulary instruction is essential and suggests six steps:

Step one: The teacher explains a new word, going beyond reciting its definition tap into prior knowledge of students, use imager.

Step two: Students restate or explain the new word in their own words(verbally and/or in writin.

Step three: Ask students to create a non-linguistic representation of the word a picture, or symbolic representatio.

Step four: Students engage in activities to deepen their knowledge of the new word (compare words, classify terms, write their own analogies and metaphors).

Step five: Students discuss the new word pair-share, elbow partner.

Step six: Students periodically play games to review new vocabulary Pyramid, Jeopardy, Telephone.

Marzano's six steps do something revolutionary to vocabulary learning: They make it fun. Students think about, talk about, apply, and play with new words. And Webster doesn't get a word in edgewise.

The Rationale

At this point, you might be thinking that there just isn't enough time for all this pre-reading word analysis, direct instruction of vocabulary, and game playing(You have content to teach! So, I'd like end with a few quotes for you to consider:

Vocabulary is the best single indicator of intellectual ability and an accurate predictor of success at school.

Because each new word has to be studied and learned on its own, the larger your vocabulary becomes, the easier it will be to connect a new word with words you already know, and thus remember its meaning. So your learning speed, or pace, should increase as your vocabulary grows.-- Johnson O'Connor

We think with words, therefore to improve thinking, teach vocabulary. 

How to be a good teacher

Is teaching an art? Is teaching a learned skill? Actually, I believe it is a little bit of both. There is an art to teaching. Sometimes it comes natural, sometimes it needs to be drawn out over time. Perhaps experience and longevity contribute to this "art." Just as one can take classes in painting, one needs some classes on how to teach. But there certainly must be something else there in order to be a great or even a good, teacher!

First of all, you have to want to be in your classroom. And be there on time and daily. If you do not want to be there, how can you teach? If you have some bad classes, adapt! If you don't want to be there, it will show. And your students will suffer.

Be friendly, positive, fair, balanced, If you are strict, and you certainly should be or you will have problems, you will be respected if you are all four of those! Students want rules and expectations. But they want you to be fair and everyone on a level playing field. You are not there to trick your students or make life especially hard.

Know each and every one of your students in a personal and professional way. Be there for them. Always. If it means getting to school early, staying late, or even giving up a lunch break, do it. Nobody is going to help your students more than you.

Know the parents. Parents want teachers to include them, even if just for conversation. An added bonus is that calling home is a great classroom discipline technique. You can ward off problems by calling parents on a regular basis. It really does not take much time. 3-4 minutes a parent, calling 10 or so parents each night.

Are you an expert on your subject? If not, you had better be prepared! Work overtime outside of class to prepare perfect lessons. Students know when teachers stumble and they will eat you alive.

Never raise your voice in anger, show anger, or any other similar emotion. Remember, you must have a positive classroom, be a positive teacher, in order to get positive students.

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Click here for FREE worksheets!

I am now semi-retired, having spent the last 10 years a college lecturer. I spent many years in the public school system before that. And here are some of my observations.

There are a lot of good teachers out there. Sadly, they are outnumbered by others who are not so good. I got there early and left late. Many teachers would show up a minute before the bell, and be out the door almost before the students. They just went through the motions. Many showed videos, sat back, and relaxed. Videos are not teaching. And worksheets? Oh how some teachers love to pass out handouts and worksheets. Again, sit back, relax.

Get to school early. Plan great days, not videos or worksheets. Engage your students in real learning.

The only time I saw most teachers line up eagerly for anything, was when someone brought donuts to the staff room.

Faculty meetings? Most of these were clique-fests. Teachers in there own groups gossiping, while the principal or other poor sap was trying to give out information. Teachers as a whole hate these meetings and feel they can just sit there and good off.

And these same teachers could not understand why their students did not pay attention. Amazing.

If you are going into the teaching profession, then actually WANT to be a great teacher!

You know a good teacher when you see no rules in the classroom. Or, if there are, there is at most three.

Why? Because every student knows how they are supposed to behave. Good teachers have students who understand and follow this.

When teachers try and make a list, they can't list everything. Some students think lists are the final word. So, if throwing paper is not on the list, well, why can't I do it?

Many teachers are very caught up in rules. Bad idea. A good teacher has stellar classroom management and discipline down and have no worries about any "rules."

CREATING AN IDENTITY- SAFE CLASSROOM

Creating an Identity-Safe Classroom

How can we promote academic success for all students who enter the University, particularly those students from disadvantaged backgrounds? How can we help students overcome their own anxiety about achievement and get past “stereotype threat?” How can we increase retention rates--both for particular majors and at U-M generally--by encouraging students’ to see their abilities as malleable, rather than fixed? In early February, U-M Department of Psychology faculty member Bill Gehring addressed these topics at an LSA faculty seminar on Diversity and Climate. His research-based strategies can provide direction for instructors in all fields to enhance diversity and academic success at U-M.

In his presentation, Professor Gehring described four evidence-based interventions that work to create “identity-safe” classrooms:

(1)  Seeing Students Holistically: It is important for faculty to recognize that students’ performance in class can be affected by many factors beyond intelligence. For example, Professor Gehring’s research on students in his Psychology 111 course found that students’ motivation to do well was positively related to their performance on exams, while their anxiety about testing was negatively associated. To increase motivation, faculty can help students set goals for their learning, and to decrease anxiety, more frequent, lower-stakes assessments may help.  Other “non-cognitive” factors related to performance include discipline (i.e., the ability to resist distractions and procrastination). To reduce distractors, Gehring recommends that students not bring laptops to class, as his research finds a statistically significant decrease in exam grades among students who almost always bring their laptops, compared to less frequent users.

(2)  Framing Disappointment: The first undergraduate year can be a struggle, given that many students come into U-M at the top of their classes yet underperform relative to their expectations. (Incoming student survey data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program indicate that 75% anticipate having at least a “B” average.”) Similarly, many students experience doubts about making friends and fitting in socially. 

Faculty can help students frame these potential disappointments, so students do not give up but see challenging events as opportunities for growth. Gehring notes that faculty can explicitly tell students that many undergraduates have difficulties at first, yet grades typically go up after the first year and worries about social belonging also decrease. (Wilson, Damiani & Shelton, 2002, summarize several studies showing positive effects of these normalizing statements on improving students’ academic performance and retention.) Helping students keep sight of their long-term goals has also been found to be effective. In a study published in Science, researchers found that having students complete a short “values affirmation” – a brief writing exercise at the beginning of the term about why values such as family or career achievements are important to them – reduced disparities in exam performance (Miyake et al., 2010).

(3)  Helping Students to Manage Stereotype Threat: “Stereotype threat” can harm academic performance of students for whom there is a socially-held negative expectation about poor performance – such as women in science -- and it can have a significant impact on students’ test-taking activity (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Prof. Gehring notes that U-M has “perfect storm” of factors that exacerbate stereotype threat, e.g., its large classes and student demographics. Faculty can help by using student-centered teaching methods and by providing positive and diverse examples of researchers in the field. Studies also have indicated that if faculty explicitly note that their tests do not show bias, stereotype threat can be negated (Good, Aronson, & Harder, 2008; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999). More resources on stereotype threat are available at this link.

(4)  Encouraging a Growth Mindset: Researchers such as Carol Dweck (2007) note that students who have a “fixed” view of intelligence tend to give up when facing challenges. In contrast, those with a “growth mindset”—who see intelligence as malleable—see challenges as opportunities to improve and seek out new ways to learn even if they are risky. Faculty can help encourage adaptive responses by praising students’ effort, rather than only their achievements, and verbally reinforcing the benefits of a growth mindset.

TIPS FOR COMMON TECHNOLOGY

Tips for Using Common Technology Tools in Teaching

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Teaching and learning with technology can be both challenging and engaging for instructors and students. While technologies make it easier for instructors to create learning opportunities, provide prompt feedback, and improve student engagement with content materials, they also pose challenges. Following are some practical guidelines for using technology in teaching. They may help you manage technology-supported teaching more effectively, avoiding some of the common pitfalls.

PowerPoint

• Use fonts 24 points or larger for the text.
• Use dark type and light background for the overhead/slide.
• Avoid USING ALL CAPS. (The normal use of upper and lowercase characters is easier to read.)
• Use Italics or color rather than underline to emphasize a point. (Underline makes some characters difficult to read.)
• Limit seven words per line and eight lines per overhead/slide.
• Use the overhead/slide as a guide for presentation.
• Face the audience when showing the overhead/slide.
• Distribute a copy of the overheads/slides to students ahead of time if possible.
• Keep the room lights on and avoid showing slides in a dark room for more than 15 minutes (Dark rooms can make students drowsy.)
• Avoid putting students in a passive mode of receiving information by combining the overhead/slide presentation with chalkboard/whiteboard use or other learning activities.
• Have a backup plan in case of a power outage or equipment failure.

Email

• Establish rules for using email for class communication, for example:
  • keep specific subject lines.
  • establish convention for naming message titles and sub-titles, (e.g., ECON 101 -– Assignment and ECON 101 – Requesting for Appointment).
  • clarify wait time for the instructor’s response (e.g., a student who sends an email
    at 3 a.m. cannot expect a timely response from the instructor).
  • ask students to use consistent attachment formats (e.g., saving documents in DOC, RTF or Text format).
  • Keep a copy of important correspondence yourself.
  • Do not assume that your students will keep all the messages you send.
• If you plan to use email for class discussion purposes, read the next section about “Online Conferencing/Discussion”.

Online Conferencing/Discussion

Preparation

• Define clear goals and objectives for the online discussion.
• Organize the online conference clearly by category and topic ahead of time.
• Provide detailed instructions for students, including student roles and responsibilities.
• Establish rules for appropriate and inappropriate behaviors before starting discussions.
• Require students to log in for a certain number of times each week.
• Establish clear expectations and standards for assessing student performance in the online discussion.
• Distinguish between two types of conferences: a) formal and b) informal ones.
• Create an outline of different types of activities for the online conferencing/discussion.
• Make online discussion/conferencing an integral part of the course. (Do not separate what is happening in the conference from what is happening in the face-to-face class meetings.)
• Establish a clear starting and ending time for each discussion topic.
• Direct students to technology training classes, online tutorials, and any other assistance when necessary.

Facilitation

• Create a comfortable atmosphere for the online conferencing/discussion, for example:
  • be an active participant.
  • challenge the students without threatening them.
  • use personal anecdotes when appropriate.
  • bring your own experiences to the discussion.
  • do not dominate a discussion or let a few students dominate it.
• Ask questions at different levels (e.g., knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation).
• Paraphrase a message if it is not clear.
• Encourage active student participation.
• Energize the online discussion if needed (e.g., using role-plays, simulations, pros and cons).
• Bring closure to an online discussion (e.g., summarizing learning points).

Teaching with the Web

Course Web Pages

• Allow plenty of lead-time for planning the course and designing course web pages.
• Be sure that the course web pages are functional.
• Have a back-up plan for lectures (e.g., print or save the web pages on your local hard drive).
• Be well-prepared for your presentation, for example:
  • check the classroom set up (e.g., browser, software, computer memory, monitor, and audio).
  • verify links, especially the external links.
  • check the room lighting to see if it is suitable for both viewing the projected screen and taking notes.
  • arrange for a technical support staff to be in your classroom at the start of class to help with the setup if necessary.
  • always know whom to call for help if technical problems occur.
• Emphasize the need for filtering and interpreting information on the Web when encouraging students to use online resources.
• Remind students that only a smaller fraction of the whole archive of knowledge is available on the Web.

Student Web Pages (Project Web Pages)

• Define specific goals for student web pages/projects.
• Provide detailed guidelines for student web pages/projects.
• Set clear expectations and standards for assessing student web pages/projects.
• Make student web pages/projects an integral part of student learning experience in the course.
• Arrange technology training for students if necessary.
• Encourage group sharing and reviewing.

Web-based Course Management Systems

• Identify what features in a course management system you will use and why you will use them.
• Start with a few features if you are the first time/novice user of the course management system.
• Consider how to organize and present course materials effectively through the use of a web-based course management system.
• Prepare students for the use of the course management system and arrange student training if necessary.

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