The following are teaching tips that I have accumulated over a semester on a variety of topics related to curriculum delivery, assessment and class management among other topics. Hope you find some of them useful! If you have others, please share!



September 18, 2007 Have you considered using your attendance sheet as a teaching tool? If you tend to send the sheet around for students to sign in, consider putting a “Question of the Day” at the top of the sheet that students can ponder until the end of class. The question could be a “Trivial Pursuit” type of question, for fun and diversion from the topic of the day, or could take the form of a review question that addresses prior knowledge relevant to your course content. Over time, students begin to look forward to the Question of the Day, and typically enjoy the challenge of being able to answer the question. They may well remind you to take up the answer, in case you forget. (I actually had one student record the question and correct answer daily, for her own records!)

October 2, 2007 Celebrating your Students’ Successes Some students make noteworthy gains in their scores from one test to the next. These individuals may warrant as much acknowledgement for their efforts as your top performers. You may decide that a jump of two letter grades, or a 20% (or more) gain from one evaluation score to the next, should be congratulated. If you “go public” with test results (with the prior consent of your students), you might add a “Most Improved”, or “Honourable Mention” category where these significant gains are also acknowledged. Typically this includes only a handful of students. If you have three major tests or evaluations a semester in a particular course, you're only doing this once in that course, theoretically. Alternatively, if you choose to contact students privately to congratulate them on outstanding evaluation results, consider adding these “improved” students to your list.

October 9, 2007 Today’s tip involves a creative way to invite students to show you how well they’ve prepared for a test or exam. This would be ideal as a bonus question. Clearly, some content areas will lend themselves better to this than others: “There may be a question you thought would be on this test that I didn’t ask, related to the material that you reviewed. For _____ marks, write the question and provide a complete answer to it.”


October 16, 2007 Using Questions to Punctuate a Lecture/Discussion You may recall the observation (earlier this semester) that it is ideal to punctuate “lecture style” classes into units of 10-15 minute intervals. One practice for breaking up your lecture may be to ask a question to engage the students. Interestingly, research also suggests that you should wait a specific length of time for students to answer. If the question simply requires recall or minimal processing to answer it, three to five seconds should be enough time for students to process the question and offer a response. If the question requires deeper processing or analysis, five seconds is the minimum recommended wait time; a longer period may be necessary. If students are taking longer to answer, it may be worthwhile to simplify the question. This could involve rephrasing, or breaking the question down into smaller segments, if it’s a complex question. Unfortunately, waiting longer seems to serve only to make students uncomfortable, but doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of a lack of responses.



October 23, 2007 Borrowing an approach from sports… Here’s the scenario: You’re coming to the end of a unit or scheduled class time, and the students’ body language is suggesting they really need a break. You can’t afford the time for a full break, or it’s too close to the end of a class, but you know you need to do something. Why not try baseball’s classic “7th Inning Stretch”? Get the students to stand up right where they are, stretch, yawn, move a little in their spots, and sit back down. The whole activity should take less than five minutes, but you’ve probably re-gained their focus and you can now take them through the end of the session or unit.



November 6, 2007 Preparing for the final exam In an effort to help students review for the final test of the semester, invite them to create a few test questions and bring them to class to share with others. Students could work in small groups answering each other's questions, sharing their choice for the top three with the rest of the class, as one possibility for a quick review. Another review option would be to compile several of them as a “dry run” for the final exam. Once you made copies of your chosen items, allow students the opportunity to take the quiz (perhaps as a homework assignment, if you can’t afford class time). Have students mark each other’s responses as you take up the correct answers.



November 13, 2007 As we prepare students for final evaluations, it is a good time to take an informal poll regarding the topics that students are handling well, relative to those that might still cause confusion or be unclear. A simple way to assess students’ confidence with content about to be tested is to invite them to complete the following two statements: -“Here’s what I still don’t get:” -“I’m pretty confident I understand the following concepts/skills/content:” Recommend the students complete these statements anonymously, unless they would like further consultation with you about strategies to use in gaining more familiarity and confidence with troublesome topics. This strategy should help you gain important information to guide review activities. You may find it necessary to provide additional clarification on topics that remain problematic for a substantial number of students.



November 20, 2007 As the semester approaches its end, and students are possibly experiencing heightened levels of stress, it may be helpful to remind them of some stress-busting strategies:

Spread out study sessions; cramming is not recommended

Schedule study time and record it in a date book (and keep it)

Form study groups; if they already exist, make sure meetings are scheduled and maintained

Visit the Learning Centre to get suggestions for studying, or find out about workshops or literature that address exam preparation and writing exams

Visit the Counseling Centre or the Health and Wellness Clinic for help with undue levels of stress

Remember to keep physical health at an optimum level - this aids mental functioning as well. In particular, pay attention to diet, sleep, hydration, and exercise

Take a relaxing bath


November 27, 2007 Some professors appreciate receiving feedback on their teaching and curriculum delivery strategies from their students in ways that go beyond the standard, survey-type course evaluation. There are several easy, quick methods to gain feedback from students that have the potential to be insightful and instructive. One method is the “Start/Stop/Continue” series of information. Invite students to write, anonymously, what they’d like you to START doing, what they’d like you to STOP doing, and what they’d like you to CONTINUE doing. In this manner, students are able to provide endorsement of the strategies they found helpful ("good news"), as well as to identify those activities or methods that they perceived to be less than successful or effective ("bad news"). Ideally, you should also get suggestions on what you might be able to add to the course that will go beyond what you’re already doing to meet the students’ needs (also good news?). It’s sometimes helpful to remind students that the statements they make ought to be made in the spirit of constructive feedback. After all, if they have more courses with you in future semesters, they’ll possibly reap the benefits of their insights.




December 4, 2007 “That’s a Wrap…” There are several important elements to consider when concluding a semester-long course. Most can be addressed during your final session with your students. A few suggestions….

• Reinforce with your students how far they’ve come in their understanding of key concepts. Review the breadth of the content you’ve covered, by listing several highlights.
• Remind students of the examination procedures, and how you’ll disseminate results of that final test. List materials or tools they may need to bring to the exam, how much time they’ll have to complete it, and the method by which you’ll convey their marks on that evaluation.
• Look to the future. Review the next steps in the program, and what interesting challenges and experiences are in store.
• End on a positive note. Help allay anxieties by encouraging students toward success. Thank your students for their hard work and efforts. Wish them well on the exam and in their future endeavours.

December 11, 2007 The Anonymous Journal Most of us are familiar with the many benefits of journal writing. Students are encouraged to expand on ideas, extend their understanding of a concept or topic, reflect on experiences related to their curriculum or lab activities, or to consider the potential implications of a concept on their professional lives, to name a few uses of the journal in the classroom. So, what is the added value of anonymity? Along with the uses listed above, students may be encouraged to provide feedback (solicited or not), react to content or curriculum delivery issues, or ask questions that might otherwise be difficult to ask, but for the anonymity. All of these entries are contained within one book that becomes a chronicle of the student’s experience throughout the semester. You may wish to respond to some, all, or none of the entries, depending on your goals in using these journals. To keep the journal anonymous, invite each student to decorate the back of one of multiple identical notebooks (supplied by you). "Decorations” can include drawings, markings, or other form of identification that is unique and easily identifiable. At the start of any class in which you wish to use them, the journals may be placed at one end of the room, face down. When the students enter, they may collect them, read any comments you may have provided, and be ready to produce the next entry.

May 23, 2009 For the final exam, allow (and encourage) students to bring in a "Tip Card" (I avoid calling it a cheat sheet) which they complete while studying. It lets or forces the students to organize their thoughts, and they have some concrete method to studying. I award a few bonus points for those that bring their cards to the exam, but I point out that if they prepare them correctly, they won't need to refer to them.