Tools for Teaching

612 Pages·2009·13.79 MB·english

by  Barbara Gross Davis

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Tools
for
Teaching
second edition
Barbara Gross Davis
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The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series
Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davis, Barbara Gross.
Tools for teaching/Barbara Gross Davis.—2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7879-6567-9 (pbk.)
1. College teaching—United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Classroom management—
United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Curriculum planning—United States—Handbooks,
manuals, etc. I. Title.
LB2331.D37 2009
378.1'25—dc22
2008041906

Printed in the United States of America
FIRST EDITION
PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Preface vii
Credits xiv
The Author xv
PART I: GETTING UNDER WAY 1
1 Designing or Revising a Course 3
2 The Comprehensive Course Syllabus 21
3 The First Days of Class 37
4 Classroom Conduct and Decorum 48
PART II: RESPONDING TO A CHANGING STUDENT BODY 55
5 Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom 57
6 Students with Disabilities 72
7 Reentry and Transfer Students 85
8 Teaching Academically Diverse Students 90
PART III: DISCUSSION STRATEGIES 95
9 Leading a Discussion 97
10 Encouraging Student Participation in Discussion 106
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iv Contents
11 Online Discussions 112
12 Asking Questions 118
13 Fielding Students’ Questions 127
PART IV: THE LARGE-ENROLLMENT COURSE 133
14 Preparing to Teach the Large-Enrollment Course 135
15 Delivering a Lecture 148
16 Explaining Clearly 157
17 Personalizing the Large-Enrollment Course 162
18 Encouraging Student Participation in the
Large-Enrollment Course 168
19 Maintaining Instructional Quality with Limited Resources 174
PART V: ALTERNATIVES AND SUPPLEMENTS TO LECTURES
AND DISCUSSION 179
20 Web 2.0 181
21 Learning in Groups 190
22 Informal Group Learning Activities 207
23 Formal Group Learning Activities 214
24 Case Studies 222
25 Simulations: Role Playing, Games, and Virtual Worlds 229
26 Service Learning and Civic Engagement 233
27 Undergraduate Research 244
28 Guest Speakers 251
PART VI: ENHANCING STUDENTS’ LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 257
29 Helping Students Learn 259
30 Learning Styles and Preferences 273
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Contents v
31 Motivating Students 278
32 Informally Assessing Students’ Learning 290
33 Mobile Learning 298
PART VII: STRENGTHENING STUDENTS’ WRITING AND
PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS 303
34 Helping Students Write Better in All Courses 305
35 Designing Effective Writing Assignments 314
36 Evaluating Students’ Written Work 325
37 Homework: Problem Sets 335
PART VIII: TESTING AND GRADING 343
38 Promoting Academic Honesty 345
39 Quizzes, Tests, and Exams 362
40 Allaying Students’ Anxieties about Tests 375
41 Multiple-Choice and Matching Tests 390
42 Short-Answer and Essay Tests 401
43 Grading Practices 409
44 Calculating and Assigning Grades 419
PART IX: PRESENTATION TECHNOLOGIES 431
45 Flipcharts 433
46 Chalkboards and Whiteboards 436
47 Interactive Whiteboards 441
48 Overhead Projection 443
49 Slide Shows 447
50 Video Recordings and Clips 450
51 PowerPoint Presentations 453
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vi Contents
PART X: EVALUATION TO IMPROVE TEACHING 459
52 Early Feedback to Improve Teaching and Learning 461
53 Video Recordings and Classroom Observations 472
54 The Teaching Portfolio 481
PART XI: TEACHING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM 489
55 Holding Offi ce Hours 491
56 E-mail, Text Messages, and Instant Messages 497
57 Academic Advising and Mentoring Undergraduates 504
58 Guiding, Training, Supervising, and Mentoring Graduate
Student Instructors 517
PART XII: FINISHING UP 527
59 The Last Days of Class 529
60 Student Rating Forms 534
61 Writing Letters of Recommendation for Students 551
Index 557
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PREFACE
Tools for Teaching provides new and experienced faculty in all disciplines with
practical, tested strategies for addressing all major aspects of college and univer-
sity teaching, from planning a course through assigning fi nal grades. Graduate
student instructors and teaching assistants will also benefi t from the foundational
knowledge and research fi ndings described in this book.
This second edition includes twelve new chapters devoted to innovations in
classroom technology and current trends on American campuses. In addition, all
of the chapters from the fi rst edition have been thoroughly revised to incorporate
recent research on college - level teaching and learning.
Certain assumptions about you, the reader, have guided the design and orga-
nization of this second edition:
• Y ou teach a course that is primarily face - to - face and use technology for admin-
istrative and educational purposes.
• You want to know about specifi c instructional strategies that faculty members
have used successfully and that researchers have found to be effective in devel-
oping students ’ intellectual and cognitive skills.
• You can fi gure things out for yourself. Once you are presented with the gist
of a strategy, you can adapt it to your particular circumstances and needs— or
reject it as inappropriate for you and your students.
• Y ou are busy and have little time to read through the burgeoning literature on
teaching and learning. You want to be able to quickly locate information and
appropriate strategies for improving your teaching and students’ learning.
Each chapter contains a brief introduction, a set of general strategies, and
concise descriptions of teaching ideas, supported by research, that instructors
can adapt and try out. The format lends itself to easy and effi cient identifi cation
vii
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viii Preface
of major points and to quick reading or browsing. Each chapter can be read
independently of the others, and the chapters can be read in any order.
Many of the suggestions can be readily implemented; others require planning
or modifi cations in course design. No one instructor could possibly use even half
of the ideas — nor would any instructor want to. Tools for Teaching is truly a toolbox
from which to select and adapt those ideas that match your teaching style and the
needs of your students. Indeed, one of the premises of the book is that there are
no pat answers, quick fi xes, or sure - fi re recipes for excellent teaching and optimal
learning, only endless ways to improve.
Sources of Tools for Teaching
The information in T ools comes from many sources: the research literature in
higher education on teaching and learning; books published by scholars, research-
ers, and faculty development experts on effective educational practices; articles on
pedagogy by college and university faculty; conversations with and classroom
observations of faculty at the University of California, Berkeley; the Web sites
of colleges and universities, especially the resources at t eaching.berkeley.edu; and
local and national listservs devoted to teaching.
I have made every effort to attribute each entry to a published source or
to cite a reference that provides greater detail, although the source cited is not
necessarily the originator of the strategy. Some tools, though, are part of general
lore or reached me without attribution. If I have misinterpreted any fi ndings or
conclusions or if I failed to give appropriate credit, I hope readers will contact me
so that I can make corrections in a future edition.
Though Tools derives from a substantial body of research and theory, the text
focuses on practice. For readers who want to know more about the origin and
testing of the strategies, the end- o f- c hapter reference lists provide starting points.
Those seeking discussions of theory and philosophy, essays on good teaching,
personal refl ections about classroom experiences, examination of the teaching
persona, case studies on college teaching, or discipline- s pecifi c perspectives on
teaching will want to look elsewhere to the many excellent books on these topics.
For example, see, among others, Bain’ s analysis (2004) of the teaching practices of
nearly one hundred college and university instructors; Lang’ s personal week - by -
w eek guide (2008) aimed at those embarking upon their fi rst teaching experience;
Palmer’ s exploration (2007) of a teacher ’s inner landscape and the importance
of emotion and spirit in the educational process; and Kalman (2008) for teaching
science and engineering, Showalter (2003) for teaching literature, or Buskist and
Davis (2005) for teaching psychology.
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