Teaching Tips
Syllabus Related
- Include guidelines of your expectations
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- Include guidelines for behaviors expected in class
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- Encourage respect for diverse perspectives
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- Discuss the syllabus more than once
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- Consider a syllabus "quiz"
Welcome Student Participation
- Add a welcome announcement to each course on MyGateway
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- Help students meet one another as you learn their names
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- Welcome latecomers and gently urge them to catch up by conferring with a classmate.
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- Use "Wait Time". That is, offer time to think about a question before calling on someone to respond to it
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- Reduce the anxiety of responding by first "talking to a neighbor"
Make Course Organization Public
- Include a semester schedule with due dates, test dates, academic calendar dates (e.g. last day to withdraw, etc.)
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- Note that the calendar is "subject to modification"
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- Post an agenda for class meetings: students want to know your plan
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- Take a restroom break in classes which meet for more than 75 minutes
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- Present material that is already well organized: charts and graphs help illustrate complex concepts
Effective Learning is Engaging for Students and Professors
- Plan a variety of activities to illustrate concepts and ideas: discussion, small groups, videos, in-class exercises, on-line discussions
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- Project slides and read them aloud
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- Limit the messages you send each half hour - check for student understanding
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- Listen to students' questions, comments, interpretations, misconceptions
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- Refer students to UMSL resources designed to support their academic success
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- Rely on campus resources that support instruction
Updated 07/2012
Center for Teaching and Learning
519 Lucas Hall, 314-516-4508
Margaret W. Cohen, Director
www.umsl.edu/services/ctl