course planning
It's important for instructors to get to know the learners in the room, because the learners' prior knowledge and goals play a huge role in determining what they'll learn, and how much they'll learn, and how quickly. Everyone in the room will learn a lot more if the class becomes a community.
In my mind, there are three great ways to use mind maps in the classroom: 1) mastering a lot of new information in an intro class; 2) going beyond rote learning; or 3) planning an essay, paper, project, or complex assignment, especially in a group
When I delved into scholarship on supporting first-gen college students, I thought about Marius and the Roman "new man" trope. They turned a potential deficit into an asset, and a core aspect of their identity.
course planning
By teaching students to pick apart and become conscious of the structures and conventions of scholarly writing, we can help them to absorb those conventions and replicate them.
course planning
UDL can and should include using tech accessibility tools, but also goes much further. At the end of the day, UDL is about getting rid of artificial barriers so that everyone can get on with the business of learning.
graduate education
When I first heard the term "student-centered teaching," I recognized it as an apt description of what I had been doing instinctively. In general, it means shifting your focus from the content you're teaching to what your students are learning.
I think the "Quickfire" is a framework that we can apply to teaching, particularly to active learning in the form of group work, including online breakout rooms. It's something we can do in every class, and we can mix it up to keep it interesting.
As professors and facilitators of discussion, we urgently need more training on what to do when discussion goes off the rails, because it does not feel good to let students down.
Embrace taking breaks during your lectures, even just for a minute or two, and even at the end of the semester when you're exhausted. It's not laziness, it's cognitive science!
graduate education
It's worth reflecting on what assets you bring to the table as a learner, too, as you think about how to make the most of the assets others bring to your classrooms.
course planning
Missed Part I? Read it here. 3. Create community in your classroom I only taught for a few months during the pandemic. It was one of the hardest challenges I’d faced in teaching—like laying railroad tracks while the train was moving—and I know I wasn’t the