Teaching Tip – TTT

Teaching I – Rethinking the Optional Attendance Policy “We must reconsider optional attendance policies not least for the sake of students’ physical and mental health,” Eric Skipper writes in this Inside Higher Ed piece. Faculty members report continued attendance issues even though we are back to in-person classes. Some feel the optional attendance policies we created during the pandemic’s peak have created a “free pass” mentality toward attending class.

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Teaching II – Can our actions compound the imposter syndrome? You may be familiar with the term “imposter syndrome” – one believes they are not as competent as others perceive them to be – but what about impostorization? Coined by Dr. Angelica Gutierrez, impostorization refers to the policies, practices, and seemingly innocuous interactions in the college environment that can make students question their intelligence, competence, and sense of belonging.

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Teaching – Recovering student engagement at mid-course time Although the end is in sight, do some of your students seem overwhelmed, lack motivation, or feel disconnected from the class? Have you tried midterm course evaluations but still feel this lack of engagement? This short Faculty Focus article provides some low-stakes active learning strategies that may help you and your students successfully cross the end-of-semester finish line together.

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Teaching II – When Revising, Read Out Loud What advice do you give your students when they are revising their writing? Dr. Nicole Green, Director of the Writing Center, requires her writing center fellows to read aloud when helping students revise their work. This short piece from the Learning Scientist provides evidence of why this is a sound idea.

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We’ve reached that point in the semester – student presentations. For many students, this can be daunting. Help build student confidence with some low-stakes presentations, as explained in this short Faculty Focus article. Want more resources on presentations? Check out this Guide to Effective Presentations from the Learning Scientist.

Are you using groups this semester? How are they going? 

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In the recent book, The New Colleges Classroom, the authors provide a host of activities to get students engaged: think, pair, share, and entrance and exit tickets, etc. But what happens when these fall short; the students aren’t engaged, and the class doesn’t gel? This short Chronicle article provides some advice on making that reset.

One way to get that critical “reset feedback” is midterm evaluations (the last TTT’s focus).

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Did you see the recent article, This Is How the Humanities End, by Steven Mintz? How did it sit with you? Our own Karen Spierling had some thoughts on the article and shared them in this IHE letter to the editor, ‘Stop With the Academic Clickbaiting’ on the Humanities. In it, she cautions not to dismiss the efforts of fellow academics—and especially the hard work of junior professors—to keep the humanities vital.

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As we near the halfway mark, consider getting mid-semester feedback from your students. Mid-semester evaluations:

1. If necessary, provide a chance to correct student misconceptions or make changes to the course schedule, activities, etc.
2. Allow students to reflect on their expectations, efforts, and learning.
3. Let students know you care about their input.

Here are some sample mid-semester evaluations you can use or adapt for your course:

• This check-off format from Seattle University makes it easy for your students to provide specific feedback and some open-ended questions.

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One of my most considerable angst for a new class is correctly pronouncing my students’ names. While my rural upbringing did not provide many opportunities to practice pronunciation (my school district was Milan, pronounced MY-lin), I do make a concerted effort to pronounce students’ names. I ask them to work with me and help me learn, just like I will work with them to learn in my class.

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As we head into the fifth week of the semester, the grading has started in earnest. Are you happy with your grading process? A group of Denison faculty created a Faculty Learning Community – Alt-Grading – to consider different approaches to grading. In part, they are exploring the many facets of the term “ungrading,” which aims to focus more on the learning process and less on points.

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