Teachers have the challenging, yet important goal of effectively disseminating what we know about our field to others. In order to meet this goal effectively, it is the instructor’s job to do much more than just present material to students. A quality instructor should convey the following: a. importance or practicality of the material; b. experiences and stories that will make the material more memorable to students; c. a sense of excitement (or at least an appreciation) for the field. As an instructor, I use six guidelines to help me to meet these goals. 1. Be student focused, 2. be a resource for education, 3. lecture effectively, 4. evaluate students’ understanding of deeper meaning, 5. evaluate fairly, and 6. constantly strive to improve as an instructor.
First and foremost, I believe in a student-focused approach to teaching. If the goal of teaching is to convey information, practicality, experience, and excitement to students, it is important that students believe the instructor is interested in their development. Therefore, reaching the students is always my first priority. During the first class, I clearly outline what I want them to take away from the semester. As I go through the syllabus, I not only explain what I expect of them, but also explain why I chose those particular requirements or expectations. Additionally, I take feedback very seriously. I give my students chances throughout the semester to give anonymous feedback about my delivery, the flow of my lecture, the fairness of grading, etc. By getting acquainted with the students, giving detailed explanations, and offering opportunities for them to give me feedback, I develop a sense of trust and rapport with my students.
My second guideline, which is somewhat related to my first, is that I present myself as a resource to my students. Because some of my worst experiences as a student came from instructors who were not interested in helping their students, I strongly believe that no student should ever feel like their instructor is unapproachable. I arrive to class early and am always the last person to leave the room so that students have a chance to approach me with questions. I also constantly remind them of my office hours and encourage struggling students to come see me during those hours. By making myself available to students, I am enhancing their self-efficacy and, frequently, their interest in the subject.
First and foremost, I believe in a student-focused approach to teaching. If the goal of teaching is to convey information, practicality, experience, and excitement to students, it is important that students believe the instructor is interested in their development. Therefore, reaching the students is always my first priority. During the first class, I clearly outline what I want them to take away from the semester. As I go through the syllabus, I not only explain what I expect of them, but also explain why I chose those particular requirements or expectations. Additionally, I take feedback very seriously. I give my students chances throughout the semester to give anonymous feedback about my delivery, the flow of my lecture, the fairness of grading, etc. By getting acquainted with the students, giving detailed explanations, and offering opportunities for them to give me feedback, I develop a sense of trust and rapport with my students.
My second guideline, which is somewhat related to my first, is that I present myself as a resource to my students. Because some of my worst experiences as a student came from instructors who were not interested in helping their students, I strongly believe that no student should ever feel like their instructor is unapproachable. I arrive to class early and am always the last person to leave the room so that students have a chance to approach me with questions. I also constantly remind them of my office hours and encourage struggling students to come see me during those hours. By making myself available to students, I am enhancing their self-efficacy and, frequently, their interest in the subject.
Third, for many reasons, I
believe that a quality lecturing is the cornerstone to a good class. Because
many undergraduate students avoid textbook reading, most of what they will take
away from a semester is going to come from lecture. If a lecture is dull or
uninformative, students will unfortunately get most of their knowledge from
trying to read the slides. This approach inhibits retention of the material and
may lead to lower grades on exams. Therefore, a solid lecture provides much of
the knowledge that most of the students will take away from the course.
Moreover, students that initially seem unreachable due to a lack of interest or
a lack of self-efficacy may start to care if the lectures are interesting and
informative. To reach my students, I fill my lectures with discussion, stories,
jokes, and occasionally videos which help to keep them engaged. Furthermore, I
believe in supplementing definitions with multiple examples to help solidify
the deeper meaning and practicality of concepts. While I use PowerPoint, I do
my best to avoid putting too much information on slides. By delivering
important material verbally, students are more likely to listen to what I have
to say and are less likely to simply copy down slides. Additionally, I try to
engage students by asking questions and letting them work towards the answers
as a class. Diversifying my teaching methods serves multiple purposes. As highlighted
towards the beginning of this paragraph, this approach helps to keep the
attention of the class. By making lectures more dynamic, students are less
likely to get distracted or lose interest. Second, this approach presents the
students with information from multiple perspectives which can aid in
retention.
When evaluating students’ performance, I have two guidelines that I follow. First, grading should not only be based on students’ ability to remember specific facts, but their ability to recognize deeper meaning and practicality in what they have learned through critical thinking. Bloom’s taxonomy identifies six categories of cognitive skills that explain how students understand course material: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis (Bloom, 1956). I attempt to integrate many of these into my tests and assignments. Every semester, I require at least one paper. The topics of this paper usually emphasize creativity and opinion. I believe that the best way to get the most of my students on these papers is to give them some freedom. Thus, I usually give them multiple options for paper topics. My papers require students to critically evaluate a topic and give their supported opinion about that topic. Thus, the papers are a measure of information comprehension, evaluation, and analysis. My second guideline is that student evaluation should be as fair as possible. Evaluation follows a strict grading rubric that I hand out to my students at the beginning of the semester which ensures a fair and unbiased evaluation of their performance. My exams include multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and essays. Each method brings something unique to their evaluation. The multiple choice tests their factual knowledge. The short answer assesses their mastery of the most important concepts. The essay tests their ability to think critically about what they have learned. Thus, my exams measure knowledge, comprehension, application, evaluation, and analysis. To keep the grading fair, I always conduct an item analysis with my multiple choice questions to ensure that most missed questions are missed because of difficulty, not because of poor wording.
My final guideline is to constantly strive toward improvement in my teaching. I consult more experienced individuals on their practices and experiences. To find new and innovative ways of teaching, I read books such as Effective College and University Teaching (Buskist and Benasi, 2012). As a member of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, I also receive journal articles that I use to learn the most up to date proper teaching practices. Using my resources has helped me to become a better teacher and will help me to continue to improve my teaching abilities. As previously stated, I take feedback from students very seriously. Though it is impossible to address every student’s concern, every comment from a student gets considered and I do my best to incorporate necessary changes to my teaching style and course policies. Finally, I seek out resources such as Wayne State’s Office for Teaching and Learning to learn more about effective teaching methods and get useful feedback on my teaching.
I take great pride in the amount of preparation and planning that I put into the classes I teach. Many fellow graduate students often ask me why I spend so much effort make substantial adjustments to slides, practicing my lectures, and writing my own exam questions. Though I rarely say it aloud, my answer is always the same. When I look around my classroom, I see potential. Who knows what the students sitting in my class will accomplish? By delivering the best class that I can deliver, I could be in some way contributing to the success of a future president, a future influential psychologist, or even the person that cures cancer. It is that thought that drives me to give my best every time I teach.
When evaluating students’ performance, I have two guidelines that I follow. First, grading should not only be based on students’ ability to remember specific facts, but their ability to recognize deeper meaning and practicality in what they have learned through critical thinking. Bloom’s taxonomy identifies six categories of cognitive skills that explain how students understand course material: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis (Bloom, 1956). I attempt to integrate many of these into my tests and assignments. Every semester, I require at least one paper. The topics of this paper usually emphasize creativity and opinion. I believe that the best way to get the most of my students on these papers is to give them some freedom. Thus, I usually give them multiple options for paper topics. My papers require students to critically evaluate a topic and give their supported opinion about that topic. Thus, the papers are a measure of information comprehension, evaluation, and analysis. My second guideline is that student evaluation should be as fair as possible. Evaluation follows a strict grading rubric that I hand out to my students at the beginning of the semester which ensures a fair and unbiased evaluation of their performance. My exams include multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and essays. Each method brings something unique to their evaluation. The multiple choice tests their factual knowledge. The short answer assesses their mastery of the most important concepts. The essay tests their ability to think critically about what they have learned. Thus, my exams measure knowledge, comprehension, application, evaluation, and analysis. To keep the grading fair, I always conduct an item analysis with my multiple choice questions to ensure that most missed questions are missed because of difficulty, not because of poor wording.
My final guideline is to constantly strive toward improvement in my teaching. I consult more experienced individuals on their practices and experiences. To find new and innovative ways of teaching, I read books such as Effective College and University Teaching (Buskist and Benasi, 2012). As a member of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, I also receive journal articles that I use to learn the most up to date proper teaching practices. Using my resources has helped me to become a better teacher and will help me to continue to improve my teaching abilities. As previously stated, I take feedback from students very seriously. Though it is impossible to address every student’s concern, every comment from a student gets considered and I do my best to incorporate necessary changes to my teaching style and course policies. Finally, I seek out resources such as Wayne State’s Office for Teaching and Learning to learn more about effective teaching methods and get useful feedback on my teaching.
I take great pride in the amount of preparation and planning that I put into the classes I teach. Many fellow graduate students often ask me why I spend so much effort make substantial adjustments to slides, practicing my lectures, and writing my own exam questions. Though I rarely say it aloud, my answer is always the same. When I look around my classroom, I see potential. Who knows what the students sitting in my class will accomplish? By delivering the best class that I can deliver, I could be in some way contributing to the success of a future president, a future influential psychologist, or even the person that cures cancer. It is that thought that drives me to give my best every time I teach.