GETTING THE STUDENTS READY FOR THEIR FIRST TEST

I teach a course that is generally considered to be extremely difficult.  Our first test is next Friday.  Today’s students are always a bit nervous so the first test in a course that is viewed as tough can push their emotions up to high anxiety.  That is not productive.  I want to keep them emotionally involved, but I don’t want them to get scared and freeze up.  Fear is not the goal.  Learning and understanding are the goals.  If done right, testing can be a big help.  

I always stress to my students that the objective is to have a great semester so any individual day, even a test day, is just a small cog in that overall process.  Obviously, I want them to do great on Friday in order to build confidence, but I don’t want them to become devastated in case they have a bad day.  So, a few days ago, I conveyed the following message to them.  I wanted to provide guidance.  I wanted to provide support.  Most of all, regardless of the grade, I wanted this test to improve the odds that every student was going to have a great semester.  To me, that last sentence is a very important aspect of any course if the teacher really wants to move toward greatness. 

At least in my experience, I have found the psychology of working with a group (I have 71 students this semester) is one of the most beneficial and interesting parts of teaching in college.  What are the magic words, what are the key steps, that turn an average class into something that the students will remember for the rest of their lives.  

Here’s the message I sent (slightly edited).  

**

Our first test is in two weeks (2/14). It will count 20 percent of your overall grade for the semester so it is important, but it is not the end of the world if you do not do as well as you might like. 

As I told some of you who were in one of my earlier courses, I call the first test of the semester “spring training.” It’s a chance to see how you are doing so far. 

--Is your approach to the class working well? 

--Should you have spent more time? 

--Did you spend too much time? 

--What changes should you consider going forward? 

People need a chance to gauge whether their efforts are bringing the desired results.   As I often tell you in class, “perfection is never the goal.”   However, I do firmly believe that, “Evolution is a key goal.”  I always want you to be getting better.  Every single day.  

As I have said to you previously, the test will cover absolutely everything we cover in class (or in any emails that talk about accounting) through the end of class on 2/12. I have a good memory and I keep good notes. I know what we have covered.

I want you to know it or I wouldn’t have mentioned it.   

Here are some questions that you might consider. 

--How many hours should you devote to test preparation? (I’d vote for 10-15, but I’d keep a record just to see – that’s never a bad idea.) 

--When should you start? (I’d shoot for 7 days ahead.) 

--Should you schedule out specific times to prepare? (Yes, that’s a great idea. Set up a calendar with expected days and times and then stick with it.) 

--When should you write your two pages of “cheat sheets?” (I’d keep a rough draft as you study and then recopy it on the night before the test as a last minute reminder of everything.) 

--When should you try the questions on last fall’s test? (I’d probably read the test now just to get a feel for the type of questions.  Maybe more importantly, I’d read the answers especially carefully because they show how I would have worked through the questions. Spend some serious time following the process I used. I’ve never been sure that actually working the previous test is much help. It tends to scare students more than help them but I do like for you to read those answers.) 

--Should you study with other people? (That’s always a wise idea. I’d try to spend 30-50 percent of study time in groups.) 

--Should you look around and ask people to study with you if they don’t seem to have a group? (Yes, please, kindness is so important in life – even more important than accounting. Kindness begins with your opening your eyes and looking around for people who could use some help.)

And, finally, just because it is factual information, here are the first test grades of the students who made an A in this course last fall. As you can see by these numbers, a good grade is nice but it is not essential. 88. 96, 83, 97, 92, 85.   That’s two A’s, three B’s, and one C and all of those students wound up with an A for the semester.  I suspect there was some evolution in their study habits after the first test.  

This test is just spring training to help you get off to a good start and determine what changes you might want to make in how you study every day in this course.

**

And, as you probably can imagine, I follow the test up almost immediately with a another email on how to take what they discovered from the first test and then use it to have a much better semester going forward.  If I can, I will add that email to this blog in a week or two.

**

And as I have mentioned previously, in case you are interested, you can watch my 12 minute TEDxYouth@RVA talk about transformative education at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G20tup61ZxI&t=1s

And, my book on Transformative Education is available as a free download at:

https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/

MARKETING YOUR CLASS TO YOUR STUDENTS

(Before I get started with today’s essay, I want to wish all the readers of my blog a Happy New Year!!  I hope 2025 turns out to be the very best year ever for you, your family, and your students.  Thanks for checking in on my blog now and then.  This is my 337th essay on teaching and we have had more than 790,000 pageviews which is about 786,000 more than I expected when I first started writing this blog.  

I genuinely hope it helps you move toward better teaching!)

**

My classes for the spring semester start in about 10 days.  For years now (I guess ever since email was first invented), I have spent this period of time marketing my class to my students.  I want them to walk in on the first day already looking forward to an exciting challenge.  I think a lot about how to make my class better than any other class they might have ever had.

 

Before he retired, I used to tell one of my marketing professor colleagues that marketing was the most important skill in the entire world – one that we should practice every day in every possible way.  Not surprisingly, he readily agreed with me. 

 

So, I woke up a few days ago and thought, “I need to begin working on my students’ attitudes for the spring semester.”  I hopped up and wrote the email below and sent it to them.  It was basically marketing.  If I am the one professor who writes such things, I will catch their attention and push them to think about what I am trying to do.  

 

Will it help get the semester off to a great start?   Geez, I hope so, but we’ll see.  You can ask me in a couple of weeks, and I’ll let you know whether it was a positive factor or not.  But, it only took me about 20 minutes so I didn’t invest a fortune.  I look around a lot for small teaching investments that can have big returns. 

 

**

(The following is a slightly edited version of the email that I sent to my students for Intermediate Accounting II.  Clearly, I think that class is extremely important and I wanted to convey that opinion to them before I meet them on the first day of class.)

With about two weeks left until the start of the semester, I want you to know that the most important thing you bring into this class is NOT your grade in the previous class or how much material you already know.  The most important thing you bring with you is your attitude toward our class in the spring of 2025.   

So, here’s your assignment for today.  In just three words, describe your attitude toward Accounting 302 as you approach the spring semester.  Don’t just write down the first three words that come to your mind (scary, impossible, challenging, cruel, torturous, sadistic, overwhelming).  Think about it for one solid day.  This is your life.  This is your education.  This is your future.  In three words, what is your attitude toward Accounting 302?

Before we meet on the first day, I want you to have defined YOUR ATTITUDE toward this course.  I think that is very important self-awareness as you get ready to excel in my class.

Okay, so here are my three.  I realize that I have a completely different perspective than you, but we are working together so we might as well understand each other.

NUMBER ONE –  “ENJOY” – I have no interest in being miserable.  I have no interest in dreading coming to class every day.  I want to enjoy working with you this semester.  In reading the course evaluations from last fall, I was interested in how many students seemed mystified when they wrote something like, “This course was actually a lot of fun.  I am going to miss it.”  They had expected to be miserable and they weren't.  I have no reason to want you to be unhappy.   I truly want you to find every single day of our exploration to be enjoyable.

NUMBER TWO – “LEARN” – I am always baffled by students who seem set on staying ignorant.  Learning makes you a better person.  Why wouldn’t you want to learn?   I have long had a class saying, “The more you learn, the more the world opens up to you.”   I want you to learn so much in the spring that your head will feel like it is going to explode.   I talk a lot about the transformative nature of education.  Your learning is the primary driver of that transformation.  Heck, forget your grade – in the long run, who really cares about that?  Focus on setting the world’s record for learning.  That will get you somewhere.

NUMBER THREE – “USEFUL” – In truth, I majored in accounting (in 1967 – or about 1,000 years ago) at least in part because I loved the useful nature of the material.  I could actually look at a set of financial statements and understand what they meant which just amazed me.  Some of you might have used my financial accounting textbook in Accounting 201.  In Chapter Two, I have a quote that I love because I think it is 100 percent true.  It comes from the Wall Street Journal from about 25 years ago.  

       “When the intellectual achievements of the 20th century are tallied, GAAP should be on everyone’s Top 10 list.  The idea of GAAP—so simple yet so radical—is that there should be a standard way of accounting for profit and loss in public businesses, allowing investors to see how a public company manages its money.  This transparency is what allows investors to compare businesses as different as McDonald’s, IBM and Tupperware, and it makes U.S. markets the envy of the world.” 

After you read those three sentences, who wouldn’t want to learn financial accounting because it is so darn useful?

I realize the semester hasn’t yet started so I’ll make this an optional assignment.  Send me the three words in your brain that describe your attitude toward our upcoming class, but you must wait at least one day to let them percolate in your brain.  Three are enough.  This is not a "quantity" assignment.

Or, don’t do the assignment.  You’re adult.  It’s your education.  It’s up to you.

You might start by figuring out your attitude toward the previous course last semester and then decide if you want to stick with those three words or evolve to some new ones.

**

A couple of days later:

I have had quite a number of my students write to tell me their three words.  Some wrote fairly extensive essays which indicated they had spent some serious time thinking about them.  In every case, I wrote back with a quick comment or two about their choices.  I wanted to bring down the wall that might be present between us as far as communications.  I want to feel comfortable with my students.

Here is a sample of the attitude some of my students were bringing to our first class.  I was fascinated by how many different words have been put forward.  There are a wide range of good attitudes my students can bring with them to our first class.  What would your students say?

Diligent, Enthusiastic, Challenged 

Curious, Rewarding, Beneficial

Excited, Anxious, Determined

Opportunity, Critical Thinking, Choices

Eager, Open-Minded, Certain

Optimistic, Open-Minded, Hungry

Utility, Resilience, Excitement

Patience, Confidence, Growth

Determined, Cautious, Open-Minded

Perseverance, Open-Mindedness, Learning

Collaborate, Challenge, Enjoy

Discipline, Excel, Growth

Understand, Engage, Progress

Build, Better, Fearless 

**

In case you are interested, you can still watch my 12 minute TEDxYouth@RVA talk about transformative education at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G20tup61ZxI&t=1s

And, my book on Transformative Education is available as a free download at:

https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/

COMMUNICATION!

 

On my previous blog entry from about a month ago, I talked about giving a TEDx talk here in Richmond, Virginia.  At least for part of that talk, I discussed the importance to teachers of having open communications with their students.

--You need to guide them.

--You need to encourage them.

--You need to give them hints.

--You need to explain your actions.

--You need to excite them about the possibilities for what they can get from the course you are offering. 

--You need to help them understand the importance of the material.

--You need to let them know that you care.

People hear that advice, but they don’t necessarily know what it means in practice so here is an example.

I have a holiday tradition where I send my students a quick Christmas morning message.  It doesn’t take long and it is usually based on how I am feeling at the moment.  Here is the one that I sent out this morning.  It is quite short.  What exactly did I intend to accomplish with this message?  I probably could easily list out 5-7 things that I was trying to do in these few words to get the students better ready for the start of the spring semester.  How many can you spot?

By the way, Accounting 302 is my primary course.  It is Intermediate Accounting II, and it is normally viewed as one of the most complex courses in any accounting program.   However, I don’t think that’s terribly relevant to the importance of this type of communication. 

**

12/25/2024

To:  Accounting 302 Students 

From:  JH

Good morning and I hope you will have a happy holiday on this Christmas morning.

I wanted to give you a present. 

This morning, I have been reading a fabulous book, James, by Percival Everett.  I would strongly recommend it.  I have seen more than one “expert” call it the best book of the year and I can easily see why.  It might well be the best book of the past several recent years.

I was reading along this morning and one of the characters said, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning.”  I immediately recognized that those few words were a wonderful secret to success in Accounting 302 and I wanted to pass them along as my present to you.  

Too often students seek perfection in 302 and then get discouraged when I point out that they are wrong.  Once discouraged, they quit trying.   Trust me, you are never going to get much right at first in 302, it is just too darn complicated, so you need to be resilient.   If you work hard and then learn from your mistakes, you can become an A student. 

The key, though, in that this last sentence has not one but two requirements.  First, you have to work hard and, second, you have to learn from your mistakes.  It is as simple as that.  If you can do that and do it consistently, then there is nothing else I can tell you.  You hold the key to your success.   And, as far as I can see, there is no reason why you cannot do both of those requirements.

Have a happy holiday!!!

TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION

I recently had the great honor of being one of eight speakers at the annual TEDxYouth@RVA program at the Collegiate School here in Richmond, Virginia.  I was asked to discuss a topic I was passionate about so, naturally, I chose Transformative Education.  Many thanks go to Rhiannon Boyd and her team (including about 18 senior students at the Collegiate School) for all their help and for creating such a wonderful event.  I can hardly wait until next year so I can go back and sit in the audience and just listen.

(Since I originally published this blog essay, the actual video for the program has been published.  If you have 12 minutes and go to this URL, you can actually watch the entire presentation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G20tup61ZxI&t=1s    )

Here is my speech.

**

I have a quick announcement.  Tomorrow is my birthday.  I will turn 77.  I suspect some of you might think turning 77 sounds old.   But, I’m here to tell you that, if you take care of yourself and if you are lucky, the late 70s can be a fabulous time to be alive.  For one thing, all those years give you a wonderfully unique perspective of life.

As a result of that longevity, I am currently in my 54^th year as a college professor.  54 years!   How could anyone have the same job, day in and day out, for more than half a century?  That’s an easy question for me to answer.

I am a true believer in the importance of education.  More precisely, I’m a strong advocate for education that is transformative.  Every semester, students come into my class over at the University of Richmond and we work together for14 weeks.  If I do my half of the work and the students do their half, the transformation is amazing.  The difference between those students on the first day of the semester and those students on the last day of the semester can be breathtaking.  I very much want them to obtain extensive knowledge about a wide array of topics, but it is more than that.  Just as importantly, I want every student to learn to think more deeply and more critically.  Guiding that transformation is a splendid way to spend a life.  If you have not yet chosen a career, I would urge you to consider becoming a teacher.  The world needs more excellent teachers.

For transformative education to work, it must start as soon as possible.  On the first day of every semester, I explain to my students that I want to work with them as a team to create the greatest educational experience of their lives.  However, I need to help them envision the type of teamwork I want.  So, I talk about dancing.  My wife and I love to dance.  We go to parties and weddings just to dance.  Although I teach accounting, I talk with my students about how two dancers can work together to create something that is spectacular.  If you are older, you might recall Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.  If you are younger, you might think about John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the movie, Grease.  Look those couples up on YouTube and you will see dancing that will blow you away.  The couples work together as a team and create a dance that is full of energy, life, enthusiasm, and joy.  In the same way, I want to work with my students as a team to create a class each day that is full of energy, life, enthusiasm, and joy.  Fred and Ginger couldn’t produce that magic by themselves.  They had to work together.  If my students and I work together, we can create that same type of magic.

Therefore, on that first day of class, I pledge to my students that I will do my half of the work, not just now and then or when I’m in the mood but every single day, but I expect them to do their half of the work as well, not just now and then or when they are in the mood but every single day.  If we both hold up our end of that partnership, there is no limit to what we can accomplish. 

I never lecture.  I give my students all the questions in advance and when they walk into the room I start asking them questions.  I ask one and then another because I want to create a dialogue.  In this way, we can avoid “memorizing solutions” or “taking notes on solutions.”  I want them to learn to “figure out the solution.”  That’s where the magic is.

Why is this important?  What should you even care?

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  I very much want to be part of that change.  You should want to be part of that change.  Most importantly for me, I want my students to be part of that change, and I believe that is where transformative education becomes essential.

How do we create education that is transformative?  I have thought about that a long time, probably 54 years.  I believe it all starts with teamwork so you and the students need to establish a solid foundation on which you can build that transformative education.  However, it can’t float in midair.  It must have support.  To create that foundation, I believe you must have four building blocks.  Transformative education requires teamwork and teamwork requires a foundation and four building blocks.

The foundation for transformative education is one word:  “trust.”   I must trust that my students will do their half of the work by doing what I ask them to do.  At the same time, my students must trust me to do my half of the work—to guide them, to treat them fairly, and to inspire them.  With mutual trust, we can produce miracles.

You can’t create trust by telling students “trust me.”  You must work to earn it.   That leads to the four building blocks. 

The first building block is communication.  Students cannot read my mind.  I certainly cannot read the students’ minds.  If you have no good way to communicate, then you have no way to lead and inspire.  Before the semester begins and then virtually every day during the semester, I email my students to tell them what I want them to do, why it is important, why it is interesting, and how I will help them achieve success.  I want no uncertainty.  I want no confusion.  But communication goes both ways.  I urge my students to email me or come to my office to let me know their problems, their ideas, their future, their suggestions. 

The second building block is ambition.  I don’t think Fred and Ginger would ever have become great if they had not had a burning desire to be great.  It doesn’t work that way.  The best thing about ambition is that I want my students to be so ambitious that they will push me to be a great teacher.  And, that I will be so ambitious that I will push my students to be great learners.  If you are not willing to push your partner to be great, you’re not ambitious enough.

The third building block is the investment of time.  We live in a society that seems to believe that people can accomplish great things by using shortcuts, so they don’t have to spend too much time.  That is utter nonsense.  John and Olivia would never have created those fabulous dances in Grease if they hadn’t been willing to practice for hours and hours.  If the team is not willing to invest sufficient time, then nothing special is ever accomplished. 

The fourth building block is preparation.  When I walk into class every day, I must be totally prepared, or I cannot do my half of the work.  When the students walk into class every day, they must be totally prepared, or they cannot do their half of the work.  Wishing and hoping do not create transformative education.  The Boy Scouts have it right, “Be Prepared.” 

Changing the world is a complicated process.  Learning an exciting dance is a complicated process.  Creating transformative education is a complicated process.  They all require teamwork, and that teamwork requires a foundation built on trust.  To create that trust you need four building blocks:  communications, ambition, the investment of time, and preparation. 

Tomorrow is my birthday.  I turn 77.  I very much hope you will celebrate with me.  At some point tomorrow, grab a partner, turn on a rock and roll radio station and dance as if you are ready to change the world.    

What Does the Word “Teacher” Mean to You?

Yesterday was the 10-Month Anniversary of releasing my new teaching book (Transformative Education) as a free download.  I did not want to hoard my ideas.  Instead, I wanted to encourage every college teacher (including myself) to become better.  I had already provided copies to my friends (both near and far).  I was not sure anyone else would be interested, but I hoped to get a few hundred additional downloads if I was lucky. 

Much to my amazement, Transformative Education has been downloaded 2,865 times over the past 10 months (without the benefit of an advertising campaign).  Mathematically, that works out to a new download every 2 hours and 33 minutes around the clock for the past 10 months.  I can only assume I have benefited from an awful lot of word-of-mouth messaging.  If that was you, thanks a million for the help.  I am truly grateful. 

I am convinced that most college teachers want to get better.  You can do that.  It is not an impossible dream.  It starts with thinking and experimenting.  That is my central message.  Here is the URL for the free download.

https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/

Below I have cut and pasted in the first 779 words of Transformative Education.  Those few paragraphs will take you about 4 minutes to read.  At the end, you will either say, “I’d like to read more and see what ideas this guy has,” or you will say “This is just not my style.”  If you want to read more, the link is waiting for you.  If these 779 words don’t intrigue you, go find something else to read (I recently finished East of Eden by John Steinbeck and would recommend that novel highly). 

**

Teaching Is Personal.  Fair warning:  This book will be personal because teaching is such a personal experience.  Some books about teaching have a clinical structure like the description of a controlled laboratory experiment involving rats and mazes.  Those works can be quite beneficial, but my writings will sound different.  For me, improving the educational experience for every student is a personal goal, probably bordering on an obsession.  I want to encourage, guide, and assist college teachers in their quest to become better.  I never camouflage my mission. 

I do not want to overanalyze myself, but I suspect that my desire to improve as a teacher comes, in part, from my regret that I did not have better teachers in college.  A few were good.  Several were awful.  Most were average.  None were great.  I was frustrated that the bad ones did not try harder.  My parents paid a significant amount of their hard-earned money to a major university, but many of my teachers did not seem to care whether I learned one iota.  How could they settle for being mediocre at such a vitally important responsibility?  At 18, I did not understand their lackadaisical attitude.  I do not understand it any better now that I am well past 70.

I simply want every student to have a legitimate opportunity to earn an excellent education.  I have a great appreciation for teachers who work hard to help students think, learn, and understand.  Our schools can achieve better, more in-depth results if teachers are both willing and able to assist students in maximizing their potential.  I am always distressed when I read of educational inefficiencies.  “At some of the most prestigious flagship universities, test results indicate the average graduate shows little or no improvement in critical thinking over four years.”  (“Many Colleges Fail in Teaching How to Think,” Douglas Belkin, Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2017).  Such failure should be unacceptable to every person involved with college education but also to our society as a whole.  Such indictments should lead citizens to mass at the college gates with torches and pitchforks demanding better from us.

An Opening Reading.  I grew up in a tiny mountain town in North Carolina and attended the local Southern Baptist church.  Before every service, the pastor or a member of the congregation would stand before the assembled group and read a few verses, usually from the Bible.  These words often served as the basis for the comments that were to follow.  At other times, the selected reading provided inspiration or helped listeners get into the proper frame of mind to receive the speaker’s message.

In this book, I plan to examine the day-to-day activities of teaching.  How can you improve the learning process in your classes, not in a year or two, but right now?  How can you better educate your students, not a few of them, but 100 percent?  Just as importantly, why does it even matter? 

Given my background, I want to open this book with a reading.  I have selected a few lines from Pat Conroy’s novel The Prince of Tides.  It tells the story of Savannah and Tom Wingo, twins who grew up in a dysfunctional family in the low country near Charleston, South Carolina.  The epilogue to this book provides the following interaction.  Savannah speaks first and Tom replies. 

She took my hand and squeezed it.  “You sold yourself short.  You could’ve been more than a teacher and a coach.”

I returned the squeeze and said, “Listen to me, Savannah.  There’s no word in the language I revere more than teacher.  None.  My heart sings when a kid refers to me as his teacher and it always has.  I’ve honored myself and the entire family of man by becoming one.”

Conroy died in 2016 after a prolific career.  I doubt he ever wrote other words that were better than these.  I am not here to judge, but if Tom’s response does not pull your heart into your throat, then reading my book is probably not a good use of your time.

Why are you reading this book?  What do you hope to gain?  When you read the above conversation in Pat Conroy’s novel, is it more than just mere words to you?  Is the message personal?  I will provide you with scores of ideas and suggestions that I believe can lead to improved education.  The goal is simple.  I want teachers everywhere to get excited about their careers, about the effect they have on so many college students.  I believe that you can become a better teacher and with work eventually a great teacher.  My advice is simple:  Go for it!

**

Thanks for reading this far.  Now, it is up to you as to whether you read more.  That seems fair.

One additional message.  I have a podcast titled Transformative Teaching – Stories That Inspire.   It is available wherever podcasts are available.  I have two episodes already up with three more in process to be released soon.  I hope to do 5 or 10 more over the summer.  They are each about 10-15 minutes in length.  I hope you will tune in.  

SIX STEPS FOR CREATING A BETTER LECTURE

Just a reminder that my new teaching book (Transformative Education – How Can You Become a Better College Teacher?) can be downloaded for free (for FREE) at the University of Richmond Scholarship Repository.  Since being issued a few months ago, it has been downloaded more than 2,600 times. 

          https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/

And, if you want to read about the book, here is a story from Inside Higher Ed. 

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/academic-life/2023/08/30/why-one-professor-makes-time-take-classes-himself

**

Summer is here!!  It is a time for resting, of course, but also an opportunity to reflect on how you can become a better teacher.  I want to present one thought today that might be worth pondering over the summer break as you plan for your classes in the fall. 

I am currently taking an online course on British literature.  This week, the professor was discussing Shakespeare and made the obvious observation that we all have trouble following the words that we hear in those plays.  The professor then explained (more than once) that until the last 100 years or so people were much more adept at listening for information than they are now.  Today, most information comes in through our eyes, but in Shakespeare’s day few people could read and even those had little material available to read.  A vast majority of information was conveyed orally.

Thus, over the centuries, people became well trained in listening and comprehending.  Storytelling, as in the works of Homer, served as a primary form of entertainment for thousands of years.  People sat around in the evening and listened to stories for hours.  A sermon in a Puritan church could last up to five hours.  In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, one candidate spoke for 60 minutes.  Then the other responded for 90 minutes before the first person used the final 30 minutes as a conclusion.  Could you imagine a debate today where the contestants talked for three solid hours?  The audience would be lost.

The professor’s point is that much of current humanity has lost the knack of careful listening.  Today, after a mere 15-minute sermon, an after-dinner talk, or a graduation speech, audience members often are unable to recall one memorable fact.  Many college teachers (although certainly not all) use lecturing at least some of the time.  How should we deal with our students’ inability to listen well?  They are not bad students.  Our society has simply moved away from an intense need for careful listening.

When I raise this question to faculty, they sometimes respond that they expect their students to take careful notes of what is being said.  I often refer to this as “learning through stenography.”  Students are not so much learning as they are transcribing (and then memorizing).  After middle school and high school, many have clearly become talented at the task.  Every semester, I have students who literally write down each word I say.  However, if I ask them a question, they are often unable to tell me a single thing I have said.  They are writing but not listening.

Teachers need to acknowledge the environment that they face.  A smart football team will play differently in the rain or snow than it does in sunny weather.  The coach helps them adapt.  Teachers need to recognize that keen listening is not a skill that many people under the age of 100 possess today.

I define lecturing as doing more than 50 percent of the talking because that indicates a majority of the information is coming directly from the teacher. 

If you are going to lecture, I believe it is essential to structure that process carefully to help your students listen and retain the information effectively.  Here are six suggestions that I think can help.

1—Start by letting your students know what you are planning to convey.  What is the end-message you want them to understand?   Without guidance, listening to a lecture can feel like walking through a forest path with no idea of where you are going.  Consequently, as the listener wanders along, it is hard to judge what is important.  For example, in one of my classes, I might start by informing my students, “I want to explain the three reasons a manufacturer who is a lessor would prefer a new lease contract to qualify as a financing lease.”  That one sentence provides several learning clues (manufacturer, lessor, prefers a financing lease) that the students can watch for as my story unfolds.

2—Include numbers as often as possible.  “Here are three examples.”   “Here are five rules.”  “Here are two exceptions.”  That clue provides each listener with an organizational structure.   Once again, the listener is being guided.  “Over the next few minutes, I will discuss debt instruments and there will be three primary types.”  You are enlightening the students as to what they should listen for as you lead them along the path of your topic.  (The next time you go to a graduation ceremony see if the speaker begins with, “I want to suggest three things you should achieve after graduation.”  If some type of guidance like that is not provided, you may be in for a rambling speech.)

3—Start each new section of the lecture (maybe every 5 or 10 minutes or so) by posing a question.  Then, carefully work your way to the answer.  When I give teaching presentations, I often create a short PowerPoint presentation that is no more than five or six slides, each containing a single question.  I pose the first question to my audience (hopefully to get them intrigued).  Then, I spend the next few minutes explaining my response to that question.  Who should care about this question?  What are the key elements we should investigate?  How do we begin our quest for an answer?  A good introductory question sounds like a mystery, and everyone loves a mystery.  (“Why in the world would a company even care whether interest expense was judged to be an operating cash flow or a financing cash flow?”)   With a starter question, both the teacher and the audience automatically know the purpose of the next part of the lecture.

4—When you write and then repeat something, it seems like wasted words.  When you write and then repeat something, it seems like wasted words.  The first sentence continues to be visible so why would you need the second?  In an oral presentation, however, the words vanish as soon as they are spoken.  If a student is distracted for even a second or fails to hear a word, the logical framework being constructed is damaged.  A gap appears in the student’s understanding.  Consequently, redundancy is never a bad idea.  Obviously, no one wants to hear the same words repeated verbatim.  However, going over a concept and then providing a quick summary is never a bad idea.  Giving an example and then explaining how it relates to what you have just said should help your listeners keep up with the flow of the message.  Always keep the idea of “vanishing words” in your mind and you are less likely to rush through a topic.

5—Be very careful with the sequencing of your message.  Because the student might be struggling to follow along, you want to make sure you make the presentation as logical as possible.  If a speaker talks about the knee bone and then jump to the neck bone and then drop back to the ankle bone, the structure is not readily obvious to anyone but the speaker.  Thus, as you prepare for class, think carefully about the sequencing.  Which concept should be discussed first and what is the most logical aspect of the topic that should come second?  In my own preparation, I’m always amazed by how much time I spend on sequencing.

6—Provide the students in advance with a barebones outline of the upcoming lecture.  Although they are popular with students, I am against providing extensive PowerPoint notes for three reasons.  First, it is just a different version of conveying information for them to memorize.  You are merely doing the transcribing for them.  Second, I don’t want to spend my time typing up those notes.  I have better things to do than be a typist for my students.  Third, once typed, the notes have a tendency to become frozen over time.  I like for my classes to evolve each semester as my thoughts about various topics change.  Typed notes have a way of becoming permanent notes.  Instead, a quick outline just to show (visually) the structure of the coverage and how you are moving from one step to the next can be helpful and not take that much of your time.

I hope this helps.  Simply recognizing how difficult it is in 2024 for students to listen and comprehend a 50-75 minute lecture will make you more aware of the need to help them.  Remember this is not 1606 when Shakespeare wrote MacBeth.  Students at that time were probably better prepared to listen to a lecture and understand it without prompts or assistance.  Times have, indeed, changed and it is important to acknowledge that. 

WHAT DO COLLEGE STUDENTS REALLY WANT FROM THEIR TEACHERS?

Just a reminder that my new teaching book (Transformative Education – How Can You Become a Better College Teacher?) can be downloaded for free at the University of Richmond Scholarship Repository.  The book has been downloaded (on the average) every 2 hours and 47 minutes since being made available on August 23, 2023.

          https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/

In addition, I have started a podcast that you can listen to wherever you go for your podcasts.  It is titled, Transformative Teaching—Stories That Inspire.

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As I travel around speaking with college teachers, I often hear a lot of cynicism.  “Students don’t want to work.”  “Students don’t want to be pushed.”   “Students don’t want to think.”  “Students are only interested in grades especially if they don’t require effort.”

Last week, I decided to see if those assertions were true.  Do my students prefer an easy experience?  To find out, I assigned them to write a paragraph describing their best college teacher so far in their educational journey.   I asked them to tell me who had been their best (not favorite, but best) teacher and why they made that choice.

The only rule was that they could not choose me.  At 76, I hope I am not in need of obsequious flattery.

The assignment was not graded.  The students received no credit.  (I will explain the rationale for the assignment at the end of this post.)   I just asked them to write a paragraph.  In response, most of them wrote several paragraphs if not pages about one teacher or another and why that student found the teacher so inspiring.  

Here are several very typical examples of the descriptions that I received.  IF YOU WANT TO BECOME A BETTER TEACHER, LOOK FOR THE WORDS AND SENTIMENTS THAT GET MENTIONED MOST FREQUENTLY.   You'll be surprised by how much this tells you about what students want.  

Try this with your own students.  They will literally tell you what they prefer in a teacher.   They will provide you with excellent guidance.  Because of confidentiality, I have disguised the identity of the professors and their courses.

“(Professor X) turned what could have been a boring class into a class I will never forget.  …  Not only did (Professor X) make these classes more fun and interactive, but she also gave really good feedback on every single little assignment I turned it.  I could tell she was passionate about the material she was teaching, and she was also passionate about her students learning and improving.”

“(Professor X) has had a great impact on my academic journey and career goals.  He teaches in a way that ignites a sense of enthusiasm for (the subject matter), transforming what could have been mere coursework into a genuine passion.  He organizes and presents complex information in a digestible manner.  He is dedicated to facilitating comprehension while simultaneously fostering an environment of active learning.”

“I loved every moment of her class.  I attribute this to how interactive she made every single class.  …  Additionally, she cared for every student.” 

“(Professor X) held review sessions every Sunday before our weekly quizzes and refused to leave until every student was confident in their ability to get an A the following day.  Each day that I walked into his class I was excited to learn something new about (the subject matter) and apply it to the real world.”

“His enthusiasm ignited a newfound interest in exploring (the subject matter) from unconventional angles, sparking my own interpretations and theories.  Over time, I eagerly contributed to class discussions and developed the ability to articulate my thoughts effectively.  …  Remarkably, what began as a compulsory course evolved into a transformative experience, reshaping my attitude toward (the subject matter).”

“The assignments in the class are fun to complete and have helped me to retain the concepts far better than if I had just read them on a powerpoint.  It is also apparent that she loves what she teaches and as a student it is obvious when a professor does not love the subject they teach and it reflects in their teaching.”

“Rather than just lecture and have us do readings about what it is like to be of a certain demographic in the United States, she sent us out into the greater Richmond area to witness it ourselves.  …  She taught us how to expand our view on the human condition and to use our time wisely.”

“(Professor X’s) never-give-up attitude turned what could have a stressful class into a fun learning experience.  Instead of spoon-feeding us, he’d give us just enough info in his notes to figure things out on our own.  Under his guidance, I not only nailed (the subject matter) but also learned a ton about bouncing back from setbacks.”

“He fostered an environment where students actually learned.  Many college classes have become rote memorization and regurgitation.   As a student who does not enjoy writing, (Professor X) found a way for me to grow as a writer and enjoy doing it.” 

“This class truly challenged me to think differently.  It allowed me to understand what the true reason for coming to college is.  I was challenged not just to take basic notes in class, but to question the readings we did to succeed.  …  (Professor X) was an important figure in my college career as he pushed me to understand what a college education should really look like.”

I could include many more excerpts but I suspect you get the point.  What descriptors do you notice being used by these students:  caring, enthusiastic, exciting, passionate, interactive, transformative.  Students certainly do know when a teacher is having a positive effect on their lives and appreciate what they are getting. 

Want to be better teacher?  Here's an idea.  Pick one of these characteristics that appeals to you and work to be better at it.  Make it a constant focus.  Don’t try to be all things to all students.  Pick one positive characteristic this semester and spend some time thinking how you can be better at it.  Your students will appreciate the effort.

**

One final thing.  How did I justify this assignment to my students?   I asked the students to spend their time picking their best teacher and writing the paragraph.  I did not want to waste their time.  Because I did not want to influence their selections, I told them that I would explain my reasoning after the assignments had been turned in.  I felt they deserved to know.  Here is what I wrote to them.

“In a couple of years, you will be out of college and, more than likely, in an adult job.  It is not a long time.  I would love for you to be just as successful in your career as you want to be.  I truly want you to succeed or I wouldn’t waste my time pushing you so hard in this course.

 "You will need to know (the subject matter) in order to succeed in the world after college no matter what you eventually do.  You don’t have to be an A+ student, but you do need to know a good amount of (subject matter) knowledge.  However, I am convinced that each of you will leave this class with, at least, a decent understanding of (the subject matter).   No one this semester seems intent on not learning.

"But, you need more than a knowledge of (subject matter) to succeed.  You need to know how to be a leader, because before you know it, you will have 1-4 people reporting to you and then 10 and then more and more.  Success goes beyond mere knowledge.  It is also about leadership.   In fact, the ability to be a good leader might be the key ingredient in success.

"You have had many teachers over the years.  In my mind, teaching is about leadership.  The teacher takes a group of students who might not actually want to learn and marches them to a goal of actual learning.  I gave this assignment because I wanted you to think about how those teachers manage to do this.  How do those teachers lead a class into doing what works best for them?  If you can figure out their magic, it will show you a type of leadership that works and, maybe more importantly, shows you a type of leadership that appeals to you.  Most people become a type of leader that resembles what they themselves like. 

"I want you to think about (the subject matter) and come to understand it all.  Trust me on that.  But, I also feel that developing leadership skills will be important if your career is going to be what you want it to be.  So, think about the paragraph you wrote and what you can learn from it about leadership – literally from your own words."

**

In case you want to hear more of my thoughts, I recently appeared in the 514th episode of the fabulous podcast, Teaching in Higher Ed.   Here is the URL:

https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/transformative-education-lessons-from-more-than-50-years-of-teaching/