Readings for October 1

The excerpt from What the Best Teachers Do (Bain, 2004) can be viewed or downloaded here.

We will also be reading pages 74 to 112 in Teaching Tips.

Guidelines for teaching observation

Here are a few questions to guide your writing / give you a better idea of what I am looking for:

• Does the paper discuss the pedagogical goals/outcomes that the instructor is trying to achieve?
• Does the paper discuss the teaching techniques used to achieve these goals/outcomes?
• Does the paper assess whether or not the instructor met his or her goals (and consider why/why not)?

• Is the paper sufficiently critical (i.e., discusses both what worked and what could be improved)?
• Is the assessment of teaching based on course theory?
• Does the paper make sufficient and specific reference to the readings?
• Does the paper discuss what can be learned from this observation for one's own teaching?
• Does the paper include a comparison/contrast of the two instructors? [second paper only]

• Is the paper well organized (through clearly defined paragraphs or use of headings)?
• Is the paper free from typos, grammatical errors, and other writing problems?
• Does the paper adhere to the mechanics of the assignment (as outlined in the syllabus)?

In terms of length, I recommend 3 to 5 double-spaced pages. Generally, solid observations are characterized by lots of detail.

Teaching blog directions (revised)

Each entry in the teaching blog should:

• Identify the 3 to 5 ideas that you found most useful in this week's reading
• Offer a brief (just one or two sentences) summary of each idea
• Explain why you thought it was useful
• Talk about how you might implement it in your own teaching
• Include a set of (embedded) links to relevant additional resources

"A" level entries also incorporate personal experience and consider disciplinary context when discussing the usefulness of particular ideas. Think about what your own experience (as either a teacher or a student) has taught you about what works and what doesn't. The following statements might also be helpful for incorporating disciplinary considerations in your entry:

• “This technique would be helpful in my field because…” or 
• “This technique would not work in my field because…”

Changing classroom norms

From the Chicago Tribune (September 6, 2009 Edition):

Rude behavior in college classrooms is often a matter of course: College students more disrespectful, professors find

As the article states, the "decline in classroom manners" is based on anecdotal evidence, rather than empirical studies. What do you think about the validity of this claim?

[Thanks to Kate for sharing this article]

Welcome to the future

Help with syllabus construction

What to include:

Minimum Requirements for NDSU Syllabi

See our course syllabus for course policy examples:

COMM 702 Syllabus

Generating course objectives:

Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning