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Fall 2004
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The First Few Days 1.
Use an icebreaker
(see attached ideas) to create a warm climate. 2.
Handout a course
syllabus (see attached guide). 3.
Call attention to
important aspects of syllabus. 4.
Have
students fill out an info sheet (see
attached examples). 5.
Consider giving
an assignment – Take home syllabus/read thoroughly/10 pt quiz over it on the
next class day. 6.
Create a Writing
Assignment: “What do you need from this classroom environment to facilitate
your learning?” 7.
Consider taking
pictures of your students and create a classroom collage 8.
Have students
write a letter telling you about who they are and why they are taking the class. 9.
Greet students at
door – make it a welcoming environment. 10.
Share your
philosophy of teaching with your students. 11.
Tell about how
you got here from your own beginnings in the discipline, and share your current
research interests. 12.
Let your students see the
enthusiasm you have for your subject and your love of learning. Anticipatory Set/Setting the Stage Each Day 13.
Get attention! Use an object, a special event, and unusual gesture, a fresh
location, crazy
costume, special visuals, unusual staging, wild decorations to introduce new topics. 14.
Take advantage of first
impressions: you have 30 seconds! 15.
Open with 3 key words
you’d like the audience to remember…and they will! 16.
Give Immediate WIIFM –
“What’s in it for me?” Announce
a benefit of the content. 17.
Start new topics by making
sure you use a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic preview. Every Class Day/On Occasion 18.
Start class on time. 19.
Keep students aware of
campus happenings and events –invite them to participate. 20.
Take roll – class pictures /roll call/clipboard/sign in. 21.
Check on absentees/by
calling or writing a personal note. 22.
Praise students for behavior you want. 23.
Organize. Give visible structure by posting the day's "menu" on chalk-
board or
overhead. 24.
Find out what your students are thinking feeling and doing in their
everyday lives – (eg.
Monday morning: weekend highlights, five minutes to find out.) 25.
Return tests and quizzes as quickly as possible for immediate feedback. 26.
Gather information from your class: read feelings & concerns, read the
audience. 27.
Take quiet time before class to gain a focus. 28.
Create RUBRICS and clear expectations for assignments and tests. 29.
The Brain thinks in color – use them! Boost
attention span and recall by using color in your notes, transparencies,
chalkboard, etc. 30.
Utilize pre-exposure: Make sure the
students get exposed to subjects long
before they really need to; from hours to weeks in advance, drop hints,
make references. 31.
Honor multiple
intelligence’s: Teach and assess
to include the 7 ways of being smart:
logical-mathematical, interpersonal, bodily kinesthetic,
musical-rhythmic, interpersonal
and verbal-linguistic. 32.
Patterns provided: Prior to
learning, provide the brain with a “map” of the material – a
graphic organizer that provides the connections and possibilities intrinsic to
that subject. Optimal Learning Climate 33. Be sure you put out an invitation to
students to use your office hours. 34.
Seek out a different student each day and get to know something about him or
her. 35.
Use some form of unique greeting and/or saying good–bye. 36.
Stay in your room between classes to engage in social conversation with
students. 37.
Use a variety of methods of presentation at every class meeting. 38.
Stage a figurative "coffee break" about twenty minutes into the
hour; tell an
anecdote, invite students to put down pens and pencils, refer to a
current event,
shift media, stand up and take a few breaths. 39.
Consider incorporating community resources: plays, concerts,
government agencies.
businesses, the outdoors into your curriculum. 40.
Hand out study questions or study guides. 41.
Be redundant. Students
should hear, read or see key material at least three times. 42.
Use non-graded feedback to let students know how they are doing: post
answers to
ungraded quizzes and problem sets, exercises in class, oral feedback. 43.
Maintain an open gradebook with grades kept current during lab time so
your
students can check their progress at any time. 44.
Consider having students keep “learning logs”, reflecting on what
they are learning 45.
Explore the use of collaborative learning strategies (contact the CTL for
more
information) 46.
Learn names. Make sure everyone makes an effort to learn at least a few
names. 47.
Set up a buddy system so students can contact each other about
assignments and
coursework, or help them form study groups to operate outside the
classroom. 48.
Form small groups for getting acquainted; mix and form new groups several
times. 49.
Solicit suggestions from students for outside resources and guest
speakers on
course topics. 50.
Have a suggestion box available for students input & control over
their learning,
make sure you read and respond to the suggestions weekly or they won’t
do it. 51.
Acknowledge audience
for their time and attention; give genuine compliments;
acknowledge participants for commitment and reassure them of value. 52.
Give a pre-test on the day's topic. 53.
Start the lecture with a puzzle, question, paradox, picture, cartoon,
slide or
transparency to focus on the day's topic. 54.
Elicit student questions and concerns at the beginning of the class and
list these on
the chalkboard to be answered during the hour. 55.
Have students write down what they think the important issues or key
points of the
day's lecture will be. 56.
Show a film in a novel way: stop it for discussion, show a few frames
only, anticipate
ending, hand out a viewing or critique sheet, play and replay parts. 57.
Form a student panel to present alternative views of the same concept. 58.
Stage a change-your-mind debate, with students moving to different parts
of the
classroom to signal changes in their opinion during the discussion. 59.
Conduct a "living" demographic survey by having students move
to different parts
of the classroom: size of high school. rural vs. urban. consumer
preferences... 60.
Conduct a role-play to make a point or to lay out issues. 61.
Let your students
assume the role of a professional in the discipline: philosopher
literary critic, biologist, agronomist, political scientist, and
engineer. 62.
Give students two passages of material containing alternative views to
compare and
contrast. 63.
Distribute a list of the unsolved problems. dilemmas. or great questions
in your
discipline and invite students to claim one as their own to investigate. 64.
Allow students to demonstrate progress in learning: summary quiz over the
day's
work. a written reaction to the day's material, etc. 65.
Have students generate one question from the week’s lessons that they
could see
on a test. 66.
Use music appropriate to the setting, topic or environment that you want
to create. 67.
Have students turn to their neighbor and identify some aspect / 3 main
points /
etc. that have just been discussed. 68.
Shut off the lights, have students close their eyes and visualize a
scene, concept,
place, etc. that has been discussed together.
69.
Offer smiles, positive gestures, a special comment on paper. 70.
Create room displays for your Learners' posters, signs, projects,
pictures, or
student work. Feedback
About Your Teaching The
following classroom assessment ideas are explained in detail in an attached
handout 71.
The minute paper 72.
The muddiest point 73.
The one-sentence summary 74.
Directed para-phrasing 75.
Applications cards
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