Joe Hoyle: Teaching - Getting the Most from Your Students

My Favorite Quotes about Teaching – Number Five

2012-01-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

This blog went over 45,000 page views (since its inception) this past Monday. As I wish I could do every day, I want to thank everyone who passes along a word to friends and colleagues about the blog. Obviously, there would be no page views at all without you folks. I firmly believe that we need more conversation about teaching, learning, and education if we are going to solve the problems of our world. I appreciate your helping my blog to be a part of that conversation.
**

Here are my previous four favorite quotes about teaching:
“The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."
“The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.”
“Figure it out.”
“If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you have a boss.”

I think those four quotes are very insightful and have led me to think more deeply about my own classes.

However, the quote for today goes beyond that – it is one that has had a genuine impact on my own teaching. I didn’t merely think about this quote; it has changed my way of teaching. Almost nothing else that I have ever read has impacted my teaching more.

I fuss all the time that our educational system is based on a “copy and memorize” philosophy rather than a “learn to think” philosophy. In class, we speak while the students try to stay awake and write down what we say. Superficially, the process is helped if we are amusing or especially dynamic but it is still “copy and memorize.” Then, the night before each test, students try to cram all that written data into their heads.

Usually when I describe traditional education in this way, people quickly nod in agreement. Unfortunately, knowing what we don’t want is not the same as knowing what we do want. If we don’t come up with a viable alternative to a copy and memorize structure, it quickly becomes the fall back position.

My quote for today comes from my favorite book about teaching, the wonderful “What the Best College Teachers Do” by Ken Bain. Bain studies several outstanding classroom teachers in the US in hopes of identifying what they did in their classes and why it worked so well. Here (from page 40 of my edition) is one short discussion.

“One professor explained it this way: ‘It’s sort of Socratic . . . You begin with a puzzle—you get somebody puzzled, and tied in knots, and mixed up.’ Those puzzles and knots generate questions for students, he went on to say, and then you begin to help them untie the knots.”

I cannot think of a more beautiful description of the education process “and then you begin to help them untie the knots.” I couldn’t ask for better words to describe what I want to do in my teaching. After I read those few lines, there has not been a day in my teaching when I didn’t want to puzzle my students and then help them untie those knots.

Yesterday in class, I asked my students to explain the difference in redeeming a gift card from iTunes and a gift card for a massage. They were puzzled. Is this even relevant to accounting? And, then slowly, we worked together to untie the knot.

Last week in class, I asked “if you order 4,000 cakes from a bakery on Monday to be delivered to a large wedding on Saturday, under what condition would you report some liability on Wednesday?” They were puzzled (really puzzled) but slowly we worked together to untie the knot.

Two weeks ago I asked “if you sell a CD player in Year One that has an $8 coupon off the purchase of a CD in Year Two, why can you possibly report this one event in three entirely different ways?” They were puzzled but slowly we worked together to untie the knot.

It is being puzzled enough to want to untie the knots that leads students to do the thinking that is necessary to achieve understanding. The quote from Bain’s book helped me to realize that.

Note to a Former Student

2012-01-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

One of my former students recently earned her Ph. D. and is starting her career as a college professor. My favorite students have always been those who have become teachers.

She taught her first classes this past Thursday. What an exciting time – walking into class for the first time as a member of the university’s faculty. She dropped me a note and mentioned that she wanted her students to talk more than they did in the first class. Most of us seek more interactive education. Students, though, often prefer to sit, listen, take notes, and memorize. That is a less demanding approach to learning. Plus, it is a system that our students have probably experienced often during their years in school. Below is my response to this new faculty member.

**
Here’s one piece of fatherly advice that I would offer, especially if you want to get your students talking more. You may actually remember this strategy from when you were in my class as an undergraduate.

Always use a seating chart and then move everyone around in class every 2-4 weeks. When I started doing this about 10-12 years ago, I was amazed by how much the energy level would improve every time I moved people around in the classroom.

My excuse to the students is that I want them to get to know everyone else in class. And, that is very true (I am going to deliver the sermon at a wedding in April for a couple of former students who met when I changed the seating chart around one day and placed them side by side). I always tell my students that one of their primary goals in college should be to learn as many people as they possibly can and I’m trying to help the cause.

However, there is more to using a seating chart than just that. Students like getting comfortable and, when they get comfortable, they are much more willing to do sloppy work. Some students prefer to sit on the back row where they are protected from you by the distance. Others prefer to cluster into groups of their friends. Put three people from the same sorority or fraternity together and all three will do poorer work.

One of your responsibilities as a teacher is to protect your young students from falling into bad habits.

So, every couple of weeks, I break out a new seating chart and rearrange the entire class. Psychologically, it is helpful to let students know that you have that ability; it reminds them that you are in charge.

If certain students need more attention, you can slide them to the front. If two students spend too much time talking to each other, you can break them up. If all the members of a certain club sit together, you can disperse them throughout the room.

Most of all, it just helps the class avoid falling into a rut. Over the course of the semester, it is easy to have a “same old same old” feeling in a class. Okay, it might not work for you but certainly does for me.

Break a leg (as they say in the theatre).

A Note To My Students

2012-01-15T07:27:00.001-08:00

I started a new semester last week. Last night, at the end of that first week, I sent the following email to my students. Now that they see what we are doing, I want them to understand my goals. I want them to see what I am trying to accomplish. I want them to believe that the work that I am asking them to do is worth the effort. To achieve your ambitions, your students have to buy into the process. If they do the work just because they are scared of you or your tests, the amount they can achieve is truly limited.

To: Accounting Students

From: JH

Okay, you’ve had my class now for a week. It is obviously a different approach. Some people like it and some people hate it. I can live with that. But, I do want you to understand what I’m trying to do. I think you’ll do better if you see what my goals are. I realize that you are more used to lecture and memorization and may not even see what benefit comes from what we are doing.

If you have a free ten minutes this week-end, I’d like for you to watch the following video which comes from one of my all-time favorite movies (The Paper Chase). This is a movie that had a great influence on my thinking about education. (By the way, I have a picture of Professor Kingsfield on the back of my door so it is the last thing I see when I walk out of the room to go teach you accounting.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHV2n4o6J2I&feature=related

There are four things that I want you to notice in particular

---Professor Kingsfield tells the class “never assume anything in my class.” Good advice.

---Professor Kingsfield tells the class “you’ll never get to a right answer because there is always another question. Good advice.

---Professor Kingsfield tells the class “you walk in with a scull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer (well, for us, like an accountant).” That is a goal worth some effort. That is education at its best. That is an experience worth having. That is a priority that can change your life.

---Most importantly, I want you to see the difference in “Mister Hart” from the beginning until the end. When he walks through the door at the end of the video, he has matured in so many ways. And, that is what I want for each of you. You will be a better person if you can learn to think better and the world will also be better. Memorizing accounting will not make you a better person but learning how to think about accounting just might.

My Favorite Quotes about Teaching – Number Four

2012-01-03T18:02:00.000-08:00

Before I write about my next favorite quote about teaching, I have a quick announcement. I know that a lot of the folks who read this blog teach accounting. As most of you probably know, I am the coauthor of an Advanced Accounting textbook (McGraw-Hill) and an Introduction to Financial Accounting textbook (Flat World Knowledge). Over the past 6-8 months, I have spent an incredible amount of time helping to create the second edition of the Financial Accounting textbook (with C.J. Skender of UNC). That second edition will be coming out in the next 4-5 weeks. The book was very successful in the first edition but (as you might imagine) I’d love to increase that adoption rate for the second edition. We didn’t make any huge changes but we must have made 1,000 small tweaks. I was pleased with the first edition but I’m truly ecstatic about the second. I know it is a cliché but we set out to build a better mousetrap. For example, it is the only Socratic Method textbook that you will probably ever see.

We wanted to produce a book that would interest and excite every student who was studying accounting. If a student gets interested and excited about any topic, the learning process becomes so much easier. The textbook is free online while the paperback version only costs students about $40.

If you would like to receive a copy of the second edition when it comes out, drop me an email at Jhoyle@richmond.edu. Give me your name, your mailing address, your school, and when you will be teaching Financial Accounting. I’ll make sure you get one of the first copies of the second edition when it rolls off the press.
**

I seem to pick up quotes about teaching everywhere I go. My fourth favorite quote comes from a very unlikely source. I eat lunch occasionally at the Jimmy John’s deli that is near my campus. They have a lot of interesting signs on the walls but one always catches my attention:
“If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you have a boss.”
I will sit and think about that quote for an entire turkey sub.

I don’t think you should ever be rude or mean to students. That is not appropriate behavior. I also don’t believe that meanness helps the learning process. However, I don’t think you have to treat students like delicate flowers either. I feel that one of the kindest things you can do is to be truly tough on your students. Don’t you want to make them better? How do you make them better without challenging them?

When a student is wrong, I don’t see any reason not to say so.
When a student seems to be loafing, I don’t see any reason not to say so.
When a student is not thinking deeply enough, I don’t see any reason not to say so.
When a student is not giving you their best, I don’t see any reason not to say so.

I know teachers who will tell me “I could never be too critical of a student; I might hurt their feelings.”

Bah, humbug.

Again, I don’t see any reason to be mean but if a student gives me a dumb answer, I don’t see any reason not to tell them right then that I think it is dumb. Or, at least, tell them they can do better. Or, challenge them to think harder.

We often seem to forget that the students who are under our charge will be out in the real world in 1-4 years and the real world can be completely unmerciful. I’m not in the least bit sure we are doing our students a favor if we treat them too kindly.

When I think about my 41 year career, I have never once wanted to be considered “a kindly old professor” or “a swell guy.” Instead, I’ve always wanted my students to believe “he was always fair but he sure as heck did push and challenge us every minute of every class to do better. He was really tough and demanded our best.”

I simply believe our entire school system would be better off if every teacher was tougher.

One of my favorite questions in class is “if you had a job and you were in a business meeting and you gave that last answer, what would your boss say?” I think that is a very legitimate question for college students. And, most students will look extremely sheepish when you ask them that. Most of the time, they know when they have handed you a dumb or unprepared answer.

If a student gives you a bad answer and you smile politely and nod, what has that student learned from you? They have learned that lack of preparation and shallow thinking are adequate for success. Is that really the lesson that we want our students to take from our classes into the real world?

So, the next time you get an answer in class that you don’t like, ask yourself: How is the best way to push this student to do better as they move toward the real world? Just remember - if you accept dumb answers in class, don’t be surprised by the sheer quantity of dumb answers that you start to receive.

Jimmy John’s says: “If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you have a boss.” What I would like to see that quote change to is: “When you eventually have a boss, you’ll be so happy that you had that truly challenging teacher.”

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number Three

2011-12-21T05:17:00.000-08:00

As my friends will tell you (or my wife, for that matter), I’m not a terribly modest person. It is a fault of which I am aware. So, I am a bit embarrassed by my third favorite quotation about teaching because it comes from, well, me. Yes, I am quoting myself. But, in truth, it is a quote that I like. And, it is a quote that I genuinely believe can help make any person a better classroom teacher.

I was reminded of this yesterday in two emails that I received from former students. This past semester, I worked with 65 students and 11 of them earned the grade of A. As I mentioned in a recent blog entry, I wrote each of those 11 to pass along my congratulations and to ask them to write a short essay on how they earned that A, an essay that I will pass along as guidance to my class in the spring.

Yesterday, two of those students separately mentioned my tendency in class to throw out random questions and then direct them to “figure it out.” (They both said something like “when Professor Hoyle tells you to ‘figure it out’ you really do need to figure out how to figure it out.”)

I think you can make any class better by simply uttering those three words (“figure it out”) as many times as possible during class. In fact, if you don’t need to provide that instruction at least once every day, I think you are missing a wonderful opportunity to engage the students. After all, what are critical thinking skills but the ability to take a quantity of information and then use it to figure something else out? And, a student's critical thinking skills are made sharper and sharper as you ask students to figure out more complex issues.

I believe every class should have numerous times where the “teacher” throws out seemingly random bits of data and asks the students to assimilate that information in some logical form to figure out some other result or consequence. That is true, I feel, whether you are teaching biology or religion or Shakespeare or, like me, accounting.

--Here’s what we are facing. What should we do? Figure it out.
--Here’s what just happened. Why did it happen? Figure it out.
--This work is considered one of the most important in history. Why is that the case? Figure it out.

What I like about “figure it out” is that it clearly sends a signal to the students that you are not interested in having them regurgitate memorized lines. You really are interested in making use of what has previously been covered.

Nothing does that better than turning to a student and saying “you don’t need me to tell you the answer. You’ve already got the information you need to come to a logical conclusion. Figure it out.”

And, now, to reiterate, here are the first three of my favorite quotes about teaching:

“The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."
“The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.”
“Figure it out.”

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number Two

2011-12-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

In 1980, I started writing my Advanced Accounting textbook. I was so young and innocent that I really didn’t understand that writing a textbook by myself of that size and complexity was almost impossible. However, after 3-4 years of intense writing (I remember one Christmas day when I sat typing on my little blue portable typewriter trying desperately to finish the project before it was out of date), I managed to complete the book. Several editions later, I added two wonderful co-authors and the book is now going into its 11th edition as the market leader.

When I finished the first edition of this textbook, I wanted to add a quote at the beginning to put forth my feeling about textbooks and education in general. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find a quote that I liked. I was about ready to give up on the quest. One day I went to get my hair cut and was talking to the young woman who was cutting my hair. I told her about my search for the perfect quote and she casually responded “I have a quotation calendar on my table – why don’t you see what the quote is for today?”

I glanced over and was just stunned to read a sentence from the writer Christopher Morley:

“The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.”

That was exactly how I felt about the textbook that I had just written and that was how I felt about education as a whole. I copied the quote down and it has appeared at the beginning of every edition of Advanced Accounting over the past 28 years.

I am a big believer that colleges and other schools have a bad obsession with teaching “stuff.” In class, we just pour out facts and figures and the poor student can’t write fast enough to get it all down. We like to teach “stuff” because it is easy to test and easy to grade. There are never any arguments; students either know the stuff or they don’t. Consequently, we graduate students with heads crammed full of stuff who cannot always do the thinking necessary to make use of that stuff. I think the world suffers a bit as a result (maybe more than a bit).

I’m in my 41st year as a college teacher and, year by year, I get less interested in teaching stuff. However, I get more interested (my students might say obsessed) with trying to get them to do their own thinking. They are bright folks – if they learn to think clearly and logically, they can figure the stuff out for themselves. That's exactly what I want for them.

How do you get away from teaching “stuff?” How do you encourage students to do their own thinking? Well, you probably already know my answer: Ask them questions and keep at them until they come up with reasonable answers.

--What is going on in this situation?
--How did we get into this mess?
--What are our alternatives?
--Which option would you pick?
--What are the potential benefits and problems?
--What information do you have available and what use can you make of it?
--What have we done before that might be helpful here?

The questions can go on forever and (trust me) they can make your students very frustrated. But that just means they have hit a wall that they need to break through if they are ever going to think for themselves. I have a saying that drives my students crazy when I respond to their queries: “I’m paid enough to ask questions; I’m not paid enough to provide any answers. That’s your problem.”

And, over the years, my students have come back over and over and said "I'm so glad you taught us in that intense questioning style because it has helped me so much in life after school."

Go through your class materials day by day and be brutally honest – how much of it is just teaching “stuff?” Is that what you really want to do? Is that really what your students need from their classes?

If I can paraphrase Christopher Morley, I can’t think of a better education quote than: The real purpose of my class is to trap the student’s mind into doing its own thinking.

A Real Loss

2011-12-12T13:42:00.000-08:00

The world of education lost a truly wonderful teacher this past week. I had only known Tom Hindelang for a year or so but I cannot remember meeting another person who so loved teaching. He truly understood the power and importance of education and my life is better for having had the opportunity just to be around his enormous enthusiasm. You could not talk with Tom for long without getting excited yourself and wanting to be a better teacher.

This article gives you a sense of this man and his love for students. He was truly a wonderful human being.

https://www.lebow.drexel.edu/hindelang

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number One

2011-12-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number One

(I’m writing this in the middle of a final exam. I figured I might as well do something useful while I sit here.)

I am a person who likes quotes. I have numerous books of famous quotations and I’m surprised by how often I read through them. They can be inspirational; they can make you think. In each book, there are always several quotes that I find touching or meaningful. Certain of those thoughts seem to have been lifted directly from my brain without me ever having formed them consciously. I am surprised by how often I find myself muttering “oh, yeah, that’s what I believe.”

There are a number of quotes about teaching that I really like. Over the years, they have come to mean something special to me as I try to do my job well each day. They have helped me better consider what I am attempting to do in this life as a teacher. Several days ago, I decided to write a blog entry about several of my favorite quotes on teaching. After some consideration, I decided that entry might well be far too long. I’m not trying to create Hamlet here. As a result, I decided to write short essays on each of my favorite teaching quotes. Please feel free in the “comments” below to add your own favorites.

As everyone who reads this blog must know by now, I teach using the Socratic Method. I love to structure my classes around questions, questions, questions, and more questions. In fact, my Financial Accounting textbook is written entirely in a Socratic Method style. I find that if I ask questions (in class and in the textbook) students are able to get away from trying to memorize and start to ask their own questions. Through the learning process, they come to the point where they know enough to pose really insightful questions. And, hopefully, they become curious enough about what we are doing so that they actually start to ask those questions and seek the answers themselves.

Knowledge plus curiosity equals questions. (Joe Hoyle’s formula for learning.)

Each semester, I know that my class is moving in the direction that I want when I walk in and hands all over the room are raised to ask questions. The questions that really impress me are those that take what we have covered in class or in the textbook and move forward. The students are taking the next step on their own: Where does this topic go from here? How can I use this information to solve some problem?

If the questions are basic and easily figured out, that is still okay because it is a step in the right direction. However, what I want is the question that begins “We covered this in our last class and I was wondering if we can use that same logic to ….”

So, here is my first favorite quote. About two months ago, my elder son sent me an email saying that he had read a quote in a blog about home schooling that he thought I would like. Sure enough, I loved the insight:

“The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."

Notice that the word here is “learning” and not “teaching” which is, I think, the key to the quote.

We traditionally think about the learning process from the perspective of the teacher but this quote focuses the emphasis where it should be: on the learner. What do I want from my students? I want them to be so curious that they can and will ask sharper and sharper questions as they learn more about each topic. If they become genuinely curious about the topic, everything else kind of takes care of itself.

The quote here is not about the teacher; it is about the student. I ask questions in my classes to prime the pump. A questioning atmosphere leads students to start asking their own questions. When that happens, the learning process can quickly evolve from memorization to something quite wonderful.

Favorite Quote Number One: “The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."

One of My Favorite Days

2011-12-08T12:55:00.000-08:00

Okay, I post a blog entry like this about every six months but I think it is important enough to be redundant. If you ask your students to leap tall buildings in a single bound and they manage to do it, I think you owe it to them to acknowledge what they have accomplished. Simply putting an anonymous A on a grade report doesn't seem to properly recognize those students who have done truly outstanding work.

Every semester, when I finish my grading and I sit down and write this note, I am amazed by how good it makes me feel. I had several truly outstanding students this semester and I wanted them to know that I did notice. I did recognize that they worked incredibly hard and learned an amazed amount. I noticed and I wanted them to know that I noticed.

Thursday

Dear Mr./Ms. XX,

I just wanted to let you know that I have finished grading the final examination and computing course averages. Only six students in my two Accounting 201 classes earned the overall grade of A for the semester and you were one of those six. Congratulations!! I am very pleased for you. It was a very difficult class (and a tough final exam) but your work was really outstanding. You very much deserved the A grade. I had 47 students in Accounting 201 this semester but only 13 percent managed to earn an A. I really believe that every student in these two classes was capable of making that grade but it did take a consistently strong effort throughout the semester and you accomplished that. Good for you! I’m very pleased. You should be proud of yourself. You managed to get the grade. Many came close but you earned it with your excellent work.

As you might know, I would like for you to do me a favor. I always want more of my students to shoot for the A and make it. Frequently, though, they seem mystified by the challenge. They are never really sure what I want from them. Too often, students take an entire semester simply trying to understand what I want them to do. What does it take to be great? I will have another Accounting 201 class in the spring. I’d like for you to tell those students how you managed to earn your A when so many others did not. What did you do that set your work apart? I would very much appreciate your writing me a paragraph or two (as soon as you can) on the topic – how I made an A in Professor Hoyle’s class. What was your secret? What worked for you? What information can you pass along to the next group of students that will help them do better? I really want more than 13 percent of my students in the spring to make an A and you can help. I'll pass along your advice and, hopefully, it will make a big difference.

I’d like your paragraph as soon as possible. There are only two rules: take it serious and be totally honest. Beyond that, what else could I want?

Again, congratulations!!! You did the work and you did it well. I enjoyed having the opportunity of working with you and I very much appreciate your excellent effort. I hope to work with you again at some point in the future.

Putting on a Last Minute Push

2011-11-25T06:52:00.000-08:00

Football coaches across the country work constantly on getting their players to play especially hard at the end of each game. Often, the difference between winning and losing is based on who can put on the strongest push in the final moments. One last valiant effort can lead to a victory that will be remembered with fondness for years to come.

When my students return from Thanksgiving break, they will have one more week of classes and then final exams. In less than 2 weeks, it will be all over. They can be lethargic or they can be energized. I know what I want. I don’t want them to coast out. I want them to finish strong. Why do all this work throughout the semester only to fade out at the very end? If the material is worth learning, now is the time to put on that push to add even more knowledge and understanding.

Here at the end of the semester, I like to challenge my students to keep pushing forward. I think it is human nature; people need motivation. For students, it is quite easy to start operating on auto-pilot and just coast out. I don’t want that.

So, this morning, I went through my grade book and divided my students into six groups depending on their grade so far this semester: A students, high B students, mid-range B students, high C students, mid-range C students, and students with averages lower than C.

For each group, I composed a general email where I first reminded them of where they stood going into the last few days of the semester. I didn’t want anyone to be delusional about their grades at this point. I think students can get used to “Santa Claus graders” – teachers who give them better grades for a course despite their averages. They need to know that I am not going to play Santa Claus. You can catch a student’s attention very quickly by simply reminding them: “If you don’t do better on the final exam, you are going to get a C in this course.” Reality sets in, or maybe panic.

Through these emails, I hope to challenge every student to give their very best efforts here at the end of the semester. Below is the email that I sent out to the students who were in the high B range. I really want to see if I can’t get many of these students to step up and go for the A rather than settle for the B. I always say that I like aggressive, ambitious students who play for the win. I think they’ll remember this course with pride for a long, long time if they are able to do well on the final exam and turn that B into an A.

“I am writing this note to the students who have a relatively high B average (84.5 – 89.4) going into the final week of classes. First, let me congratulate you on a very good effort this semester. You have done well and I’m quite pleased with your effort throughout this semester. This is a challenging class and you've done well.

“I am writing, though, to urge you to put on a good push here at the end of the semester and shoot for the A. It won’t be easy but you do have the chance. Every semester, I have students who move into the A range by doing a great job on the final examination. It is the biggest part of your course grade. It can make a big difference. You are capable of that. I’m always so very pleased when a student hits a home run on the final exam and goes from B to A.

“And, I do give grades of B+ and A- so even if you don’t quite make an A, you can still improve your grade.

“There’s no shame in making a B in Accounting 201. I actually made that grade myself when I was a sophomore in 1967 and my life hasn’t been ruined. But you’ve worked so hard. I would love to see you make it all the way.

“Good luck. I’ll be cheering for you. Win, lose, or draw – it has been a pleasure working with you in class this semester. You really should consider taking more accounting. As I like to say – you seem to have the knack for it.”

How to Read a Student Evaluation

2011-11-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

Interesting article in The Chronicle of Higher Education on what a professor can learn from student evaluations. The article is insightful as are a lot of the numerous comments that were left by readers.

http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Read-a-Student/129553/

What Would You Have Done?

2011-10-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Last week, I encountered a problem with one of my students. I wasn’t sure what I ought to do so I turned to my colleagues here at the Robins School of Business and emailed them a cry for guidance.
**

To: Fellow Faculty Members

For the first time in (at least) 25 years, I had a student sleep through a test. The test was at 10:30 on Friday and I got an email at 12:30 that he had stayed up late on Thursday studying and just slept through his alarm. He was hysterical, begging for mercy.

If you have ever had this happen, what do you do that makes sense?

Here are the factors:

1 – I absolutely do not want to set a precedent that I cannot live with in the future. I don’t want “I slept through the alarm” to become a common occurrence in my classes.
2 – I don’t want to ruin the young man’s life. He just overslept – he didn’t rob a bank. I’ve overslept.
3 – There were students who showed up for the test and failed (and will probably fail the course). I’m very concerned about being fair to them. I don’t want to penalize “showing up.”
4 – I think he is telling me the truth but I don’t know that for sure.
5 – I give three tests and a final exam. This test will be approximately 22 percent of his overall grade.
6 – Although I do not know that it is relevant information, he made a solid D on the first test.
7 – Although I do not know that it is relevant information, he has missed a few classes along the way this semester.

If you have ever faced this type of situation, what would you do? I’m really curious as to how people handle this kind of problem – other than a public beheading in the Atrium.
**

I sent out this plea on a Saturday morning and within a very few hours I had received 24 different responses. I was very interested in two things: (1) the thoughtful nature of the responses and (2) the wide variety of suggestions. Everyone understood the situation and had some strong feelings about what was appropriate. How do you treat a student who has messed up? Should the punishment be harsh or nonexistent?

A few days later, I shared the responses with the faculty (anonymously) as well as my own final decision. I am not going to list all 24 responses here (but contact me at jhoyle@richmond.edu if you have an interest in seeing the entire list) but I have picked out several that I thought were fairly representative of the group. And, at the end, I explain what I did and why.

It was not an unbelievable situation.

What would you have done?
**

Professor A - I have made the mistake of giving some students "a break" and I have regretted the decision. Here is my take. At the age of 20 - 21 some of our students are mature, responsible adults. Others are still in the process of growing up and learning to be responsible. The mature students never ask me to give them a break...they never seem to need one. The immature students ask and then ask again. In your situation I would give the student a zero. Given his performance thus far he will likely fail the class. However, I believe the University will let any student retake a course and the new grade appears on the transcript as well. It is better for this student to learn that actions have serious consequences while he is still in school. Better to fail a class than get fired. You can always tell him that he may not have learned Accounting, but he did learn Accountability.

Professor B - This is difficult. On one hand you don't want to reward the behavior, but it is also harsh to deal out such a stiff penalty. So here is what I normally do in something like this. I would have the student put the exam points toward the final. This is a penalty in that most students don't want to have so much riding on the final. But, if the student can perform on the final they have the opportunity to wipe out the mistake.

We live in an imperfect world and there is probably something wrong with whatever attempt we make to address a problem like this.

Professor C - I tell the students at the beginning of the semester that a missed test is a zero regardless of the situation. However, I did have one student have a family medical emergency and notify me before the exam. When exceptions absolutely must be made, I ask the student if they are willing to distribute the weight of the exam missed across all other assignments and exams. In every case, they have happily agreed. So for these students, I grade them in a way that essentially assumes they were not required to take the exam missed.

However, if this particular student were in my class I would not extend this option to him. If he is a D student that often misses classes and simply slept in, I would think that he needs a wakeup call to be more responsible. I would likely talk to him during my office hours and tell him this while giving him advice on how to improve his performance from here on out and probably require him to check in with me every week to make sure he's on top of his assignments. It is my opinion that allowing him to make up the exam in any way would just be enabling his bad habits to continue.

I would not view this as ruining his life. Rather, this is likely the wakeup call he needs. Better now by failing an exam/class than in the future by losing his job for similar behavior.

Professor D - I give a comprehensive final. If a student misses a test for any reason (this is not an opt out) that percentage goes to the final exam. That way they are tested on the material and I do not have to play judge or truth teller regarding the excuse. There are no "make up tests". In the past this has not proven to be a great option for the students grade wise and I let them know this up front. The policy is on the syllabus and seems to work well with regard to them making every effort to attend. This is especially true for MBA's.

Professor E - I usually offer the student two options: take the exam with a penalty applied to the grade (for example, 10 points off), or put the weight on the final or the other exams already taken.

Professor F - It sounds like he is having personal problems. I would talk with him and maybe make his being able to take the test contingent on him seeing someone in counseling or the Dean's office.

Or let him take the test and let him know you are concerned about him and are going to let the Dean's office know.

I am always dismayed by the number of kids who get transported to the hospital for alcohol overdoses, each week. I guess this is a nationwide problem, but it just reminds me of how vulnerable some of these kids are.

Professor G - If the public beheading really isn't an option, then I would say that points #6 & 7 absolutely are relevant. Were he a stellar student, I would feel more inclined to help. Failing a class will not ruin his life. In fact, it may enhance it. It is part of the educational experience to learn that most of life is about (1) being where you're supposed to be and (2) doing what you're supposed to do. But it's important to determine whether he's the kind of student that will benefit more in the long run from an act of grace or of justice.

With all that said, you could (privately) give him the option of dropping the course or count the final twice. I would never offer a make-up exam.

**
Okay, here is what I did and I don’t know that I like this resolution at all but it’s done and I’ll stick with it.

If I had gotten the student’s email in time, I would have had him take the test on Friday afternoon with a 15-20 point penalty. However, I didn’t get the message until fairly late on Friday and I’m always a bit concerned about cheating. Once the exam was over, the other students had no reason not to talk about what was on the exam. The student grapevine is amazingly efficient.

If the student had an excused absence (health reasons, athletics, school activity, or the like), I might have given a makeup. However, I hate makeup exams because I find it very difficult to look at one set of answers all by themselves and know what that means. An N of 1 is always a problem. So, I prefer to simply give more weight to the other tests. That increases the risk but there is no penalty.

This was not excused, though. For this student, I would never give a makeup exam because I would have to do more work which makes no sense to me and I’m back to the problem of an N of 1.

I could have increased the weight on the other tests but that might actually be a reward. “I’ll have more time to study for the next test so I’ll just conveniently oversleep for this exam.” I thought there should be a real penalty but how serious should the penalty be for oversleeping?

Here was the major factor for me: I could not see giving him any chance at all of having a higher grade on this material than a student who actually showed up. That just seemed wrong to me. So, I told him that I would give him a grade of one point below the lowest test grade. That turned out to be a relatively high F.

But, and here is the point that I argued with to myself, I told him that I would only count this as half of an exam grade. I thought that was still a severe enough penalty that no one would ever want it. But it wasn’t crushing. I very much agree with what Professor F above says: “it just reminds me of how vulnerable some of these kids are.”

All Time Top Ten

2011-10-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

This blog went over a total of 40,000 pageviews about two days ago. I continue to be amazed by that number. However, I find that when a teacher contacts me about my writings, they almost invariably make the statement “Someone told me about your blog on teaching.” So, as always, I want to thank you for passing along the message. My guess is that I would have had about 4 pageviews in the last 22 months without your willingness to tell others. Thanks!!! That’s one of the great things about the Internet, people can spread the word.

As I occasionally do, here are my all time top ten blog entries based on readership. I am not sure they are the most interesting or the most clever or the most innovative. But the most people have read these ten.

1 – What Do We Add? – July 22, 2010
2 – What the Catcher Tells the Pitcher – August 21, 2011
3 – Big Mistakes – March 26, 2011
4 – Introduction – Teaching (Financial Accounting) – January 7, 2010
5 – Need Some Inspiration? – September 13, 2010
6 – What Do You Tell Your Students? – August 19, 2010
7 – The $10 Million Question – January 16, 2011
8 – Lessons From Dilbert – September 28, 2011
9 – 14 Questions to Introduce Present Value – April 10, 2010
10 – An Idea From My Boss – September 2, 2011

The Ten Commandments for Taking a Test

2011-10-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

As I have written a number of times on this blog, I like to think of myself as a mentor as well as a teacher. I’m hoping that my students walk away more thoughtful and wise on top of knowing more accounting. I think if all I was doing was teaching accounting and its rules I would have retired years ago.

I gave my first test of the fall semester several weeks ago. I really did want my students to succeed. They are capable people and I’d like to see them make the best possible use of those talents. A good grade on the first test is a wonderful way to get a semester started.

So, during the class immediately preceding this test, I talked with them about my Ten Commandments for Taking a Test. Hopefully, this helped them be (a) properly prepared and (b) able to show me what they really did know.

Of course, what I want is for the test to be fair and properly challenging and for them to prove to me that they have mastered the material and understand how to make use of that knowledge. Here’s what I told them.

To my students: My Ten Commandments for Taking a Test
1 – Read the darn question. I realize you are nervous but you have to read each word and each sentence carefully in order to give me an answer that actually addresses the question that I am asking. Because you are a bit tense, you probably want to get started answering as quickly as possible. It is easy to skim the question and start guessing at what is being asked. I sometimes refer to that as “shotgun reading” where you pick a word from here and a word from there and a word for somewhere else on the page and assume you know what the question really asks. Do not do that. If necessary, put your finger on each word and force yourself to read everything in the question. It is hard to get a question correct if you do not know what the question is asking.

2 – Stay calm. We have three tests this semester and a final examination. Yes, this test is important but you’ll do better if you stay calm. A little tension probably keeps you focused but more than a little tension can make you hyperventilate. Don’t get excited. If you tense a muscle enough, you can hardly move it. To get maximum movement, you have to let it get loose. The brain works the same way. You’ve taken tests since you were in kindergarten or the first grade. You should be an expert at test taking by now. If you have done the work that I’ve asked, you have no reason to lose your calm. I want to see what you know and letting your adrenaline get too pumped up keeps you from showing me what you know.

3 – Think. The questions are not written to see what you have memorized. The questions are written to test your ability to use your understanding. So I expect you to think. I am not training parrots to repeat back to me what I have told them. I expect you to read the question and think about what it is asking and what a reasonable solution would be. If the answer is not immediately obvious (trust me, it won’t be), it is because I expect you to think about it.

4 – Hours = Points. The more time you spend studying for this test, the better. Ten hours is better than five hours. However, the equation Hours = Points is really taking in all the time you have spent since our first class. If you have spent sufficient time on a regular basis since we began this course, you’ve already put in most of the hours that you need. That is what I really want. But, you need to avoid being naïve – either as we have covered the material or as you prepare for this test, nothing replaces studying enough hours.

5 – Figure it out. We have covered a lot of material since the semester began. Every question goes back in some way to what we have covered: a rule, an example, a principle, a discussion. The questions are not random (no matter how they look at first glance). I expect you to figure out how each question ties into what we have covered and then figure out how you can use that knowledge to come up with a reasonable resolution. As you and I both know, my three favorite words are “figure it out.”

6 – Good start. The first test is only a small part of your grade – about 20 percent. However, I would love for you to get off to a great start. A good grade on this first test doesn’t ensure a life of wealth and happiness but I do think it tends to make the semester go well. I’ve probably already got your full attention but, if not, I’d urge you one last time to put in a good effort in getting ready. Students almost invariably do better if they do a good job on their first test of the semester. Everything gets easier after that.

7 – Office hours. There is a famous line from the Watergate hearings back in the 1970s. When someone asked one of the attorneys for a witness why he was raising so many objections, he responded "Well, sir, I'm not a potted plant. I'm here as the lawyer. That's my job." So, if you ask, why do I spend 6-8 hours in my office each and every week, the answer is – Well, I’m not there as a potted plant. I’m your teacher. That’s my job. In other words, make good use of me as a resource. I didn’t get into teaching because I didn’t want you to learn. I got into teaching because I genuinely like young people and enjoy seeing them come to learn and understand the material we cover. Some students make great use of my office hours. Others wouldn’t walk into my office if they were bleeding to death. That’s dumb. You (or someone else) is paying a lot of money for your education. I have a lot of office hours. Come in and ask questions. Make use of me. I am not a potted plant. It is my job.

8 – Fair. As you are reading each question, I think it is helpful to realize that I am trying to be fair. There is no reason for me to ask you a question that you cannot figure out. That doesn’t prove anything. If you have done the work that I have asked, I think you have a wonderful shot at getting every question correct. I think that is fair. If you have not done the work that I have asked or if you’ve not been able to learn the material for whatever reason, I think you have a wonderful shot at missing every question. That is the purpose of a test – to allow me to see what you have learned and understand. I will never ask you a question that I don’t think you can answer if you have attended class and done the work. I am not sadistic; I’m just trying to figure out what you know.

9 – The first test is not life or death. Obviously, it is nice if you do well on this first test. But, I don’t want you to put a huge amount of pressure on yourself. Study as much as you can, come by and see me if I can help, stay calm, think about the questions. However, after it is over, walk away and—for the time being—forget about it completely. It is just one test in one course in a long life of education. Some students put so much pressure on themselves that it is hard to keep things in perspective. If you don’t do well on this first test, then you and I can sit down and plot out a good strategy to do better on the next test.

10 – Have confidence. In life, whether you are shooting a basketball or putting a golf ball or taking a test, things go better if you believe in yourself. You are bright folks—you made it through high school, you made it through other courses at this school, you’ve been working in my class for weeks. We've worked hard; you've done well. You are more than bright enough to do well on this test. I believe in you and you should believe in yourself. You have a wonderful mind. That mind is more than capable of answering any question that I might throw at you in this course. Don’t come in expecting the worst. Come in with a belief that you’ve done the work and you have the ability to take on the challenge of this test.

Good luck – absolutely nothing will please me more than giving 100 percent A’s. You CAN do it!!!

LESSONS FROM DILBERT

2011-09-28T05:52:00.001-07:00

This week-end I have the great honor and pleasure of driving to Raleigh to speak at the North Carolina Accounting Education Forum. There is nothing I enjoy more than speaking with a group of teachers about education—what works, what doesn’t work and how we can go about making a difference in the lives of our students.

This morning I had a wake up warning about my presentation. As I ate my Special K, I read the comic strip Dilbert. In it, Dilbert is talking with the garbage man and he asks this very pertinent question: “Wise Garbage Man, why are Power Point slides so boring?”

Well, that question certainly gets right to the point.

Now, if you have followed this blog for long, you have heard me fuss about the use of Power Point in a college classroom. My main argument is that the slides encourage the students’ strong tendency to copy and memorize. Okay, I already know all the justifications for using Power Point. But, if we are going to be truthful, the number one reason that teachers like to use these slides is that it makes teaching easier—not better but certainly easier. Power Point reduces preparation time significantly. Instead of planning out and writing an outline, you simply follow along with the slides. They can save a huge amount of time. And, in 2011, most teachers don’t have enough time.

Well, we’ve well established that I am a critic. However, this Saturday, when I speak in North Carolina (to a bunch of teachers), I will be using Power Point slides. Yes, I confess. In fact, I have 56 slides and I hope to get through quite a number of them. I justify this heresy in my own mind because it is difficult to walk into a room with 50 people you don’t know and get a conversation going quickly.

But Dilbert’s question (“why are Power Point slides so boring?”) got me to thinking: how can a teacher make good use of the advantages of Power Point without boring people to death and without encouraging copying and memorizing?

Here are my two suggestions for using Power Point. And, I actually worked on both of these myself this morning immediately after reading Dilbert.

1 – Never have more than 10 words on a slide. If you limit yourself to 10 words or less, the slide is a prompt and not a crutch. Make that an absolute rule. If you put more than 10 words on a slide, both teacher and student wind up reading. I think we stopped having class readings in the 2nd grade.

2 – On as many slides as possible, ask a question. Questions are always good – so use the Power Point slides to put out the questions you want students to consider.

If you follow both of these rules, I think you will find that Power Point really does provide a great class. Students get away from reading the slide and get into the thinking that you really want them to do. It is not Power Point slides that I am against; it is the use that is too often made of them in our college classrooms today.

Hopefully, it will work for me on Saturday in Raleigh.

PS - If you would like to get a copy of the slides that I use at the presentation in Raleigh, drop me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu

Who Are YOU?

2011-09-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

As we start a new semester, I think it is an important idea to stop and think about who we are as teachers. The word "teacher" can mean a lot of things -- as a teacher, who do you really want to be? Below is an essay from my teaching tips book that talks about making that determination. I've always thought it was helpful to actually know who you wanted to be.
**

As a teacher, I think it is important to have a clear self-concept of your own “teaching personality.” Who are you? Maybe more to the point, who do you really want to be at key moments? Do you have what I occasionally refer to as a “personality role model?”

That term does not allude to a teacher whom you have known, as in the preliminar exercise at the start of this book, but an actual role model for your teaching style. For example, when making presentations to fellow educators, I often distribute a list of names such as the following and ask the participants to select the one individual with whom they most closely identify when it comes to their teaching personality. Or, better still, if none of these names suits them, they can come up with a personal choice. This can provide excellent insight as they tread the steps of their teaching journey. So, with whom do you identify as an educator?

---Attila the Hun – a cruel but victorious warrior
---Billy Graham – a fiery orator who shows Heaven and Hell to his listeners
---Dr. Dolittle – a learned man who talks to the animals every day
---Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – a person with multiple personalities, some good and some
evil
---Florence Nightingale – a person dedicated to healing the afflicted
---General Patton – a dynamic, charismatic soldier and leader
---Gil Favor – on the 1960s television series “Rawhide,” he was the trail boss who was in charge of moving the cattle to market
---Jay Leno – a comedian who keeps his audience constantly entertained
---Leonard Bernstein – a conductor who brings the entire orchestra together to make beautiful music
---Martin Luther King Jr. – a leader who truly made a difference in society as we know it
---Meryl Streep – a talented actress, always playing different roles
---Moses – the man who led the children of Israel out of the wilderness
---Mother Teresa – a saintly person who cared deeply about every individual, especially the afflicted
---Mr. Wizard – in early television, a character who seemed to have the answer to every possible question
---Santa Claus – a kindly fellow who gives out gifts to good boys and girls
---Socrates – a wise person who guides students to understanding by means of questions
---The Marquis de Sade – a sadist who enjoyed the pain of others
---Vince Lombardi – a championship football coach known for motivating his players to
do their best

Most people who have been students in college can probably recollect certain of these characters as being among their own teachers. I know, for certain, that my education included a Mr. Wizard and a Jay Leno, not to mention a couple versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I only wish that I had experienced a Santa Claus or, perhaps, a Mother Teresa.

With whom do you identify? I feel that being a teacher becomes a bit more directed when a person has a personality role model. For me, that one individual has always been Vince Lombardi. During his years as the football coach of the Green Bay Packers, his teams seemed to win the championship game virtually every year. He was probably best known for taking average players and turning them into winners. This concept greatly appeals to me: working with average people to achieve outstanding
results. One of Lombardi’s quotes has often guided me both personally and in the manner in which I interact with my students: “A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.” That seems to be excellent advice for both teacher and student.

Over the years of my teaching career, there have been a seemingly infinite number of times when I have been thoroughly stuck as to what action to take when faced with a troubling situation. After running out of easy options, I inevitably scratch my head and ask myself: “Wonder what Vince Lombardi would do in this case?” In all honesty, I do not always follow the path to resolution that he probably would have taken. However, simply framing the question in this manner helps me organize and direct my often scattered thinking. The real question, of course, is: What action is really appropriate for me here? Even as I near age 60, I think it is great to have role model to provide guidance.

The Vince Lombardi personality model has guided my teaching in other ways. For example, he never seemed to over-emphasize individual games during the season but,rather, focused on winning championships at the end of the year. Likewise, I attempt to keep my eye directed toward the desired end-results. As much as possible, my concentration is solely on the potential positive changes that can be engendered in my students by the conclusion of the term. How will a particular action today impact their overall long-term development? I have never been much interested in short-term results but, rather, my priority is in maximizing the amount of progress achieved by each student from the beginning of the semester to the end.

But the goal here is not to follow me. Consider your own personality and teaching style. Everyone is unique. Are you more like General Patton or Florence Nightingale when you slip into your “teacher mode?” Had they been educators, those two would have probably approached their classes with widely different tactics and strategies. Yet, my guess is that each would have achieved significant success.

I often tell my students that “nothing in this class ever happens by accident.” Good
teaching is not a random series of unfortunate events; it is a logically thought-out process based on the teacher’s vision of education. Having a personality role model can help guide the design and creation of the structure that anchors your classes. The essential question comes back to: Who do you really want to be when it comes to orchestrating the education of your students?

Open Letter to My Students

2011-09-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

If you have followed this blog for long, you probably know that I use the Socratic Method to teach Financial Accounting (sophomores) and Intermediate Accounting (juniors). My students are stunned at first when I start asking them questions. Most of them have never experienced anything like this. My goal is to get them comfortable (but not too comfortable) after the first 2-3 classes.

We have now had 8 classes (we start early). Class is moving along nicely (I think). I really want them to enjoy the give and take of learning. A roller coaster will scare you to death the first time you ride it but about the third time “scary” becomes “fun.” I am not interested in scaring anyone but I do want to help them develop their critical thinking skills. That is rarely easy. So, I like to get them to buy into what we are doing.

I also believe in being totally honest and open with my students as to what I am doing and why. I think they deserve to know the why. After all, it is their life; it is their education. I think we should all talk more with students about what we are doing in class and why. Verbalizing the goals can be helpful to you as well as to them.

Therefore, after class today, I sent the following email to my students just to explain what I was doing.

“I often have students ask me why I teach so differently. I could have explained this on Day One but you wouldn’t have understood. For the first 20 years of my career, I was a lecturer and I was good at it. I was as good at teaching copying and memorizing as a person could possibly be.

“And I was very disillusioned – I was ready to quit and go get a real job and make a lot of money. If that was teaching, I wasn’t interested. That wasn’t how I wanted to spend my life. I wasn’t changing anyone in the way I wanted.

“Two things happened that changed me. People can change. That alone is something to remember.

“The Youtube video below is one of the two things that changed me – it comes from a movie of that time. My guess is that a lot of students would watch this video and claim that it demonstrates cruel and unusual punishment (I have a friend here at Richmond who believes that). Hopefully, you’ll have a different view of it. Three things to pay special attention to as you watch.
***First, at about the 3:35 mark, the teacher talks about what he is doing. I wish I could have said it that well.
***Second, it’s all about preparation and thinking. That’s it; there are no short cuts. You either prepare to learn or you don’t learn.
***Third, compare “Mister Hart” at the beginning to “Mister Hart” at the end. That class has changed him and made him a smarter, more confident, much better educated person. That is a class worth having. That’s a learning experience that is worth doing.

“That is exactly what I want for each of you. I promise you that I never call on you where I’m not trying to get you to the point that he experiences at the end of this video. 50 minutes per class – that is the goal."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHV2n4o6J2I&feature=related

An Idea from My Boss

2011-09-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

If you read much about education, you will quickly see many of the same general ideas suggested over and over as beneficial. “Create teams” is one that many experts recommend. “Use the last few minutes of class to review and tie concepts together” is another. “Stress peer education – encourage students to teach each other” is a third that I often read. “End your class with a positive experience” is also common advice.

However, one of the problems of teaching is that turning general ideas into practical classroom activities is often harder than it sounds.

My boss here at the Robins School of Business is Dean Nancy Bagranoff. For the first time in a few years, Dean Bagranoff is teaching a class this semester. She has an “Introduction to Financial Accounting” section every Tuesday and Thursday morning with about 25 sophomores.

Because she has been out of the classroom for a while, Dean Bagranoff and I have been having a few conversations about teaching and how to help students learn. As is often the case, I’m probably learning more from these conversations than she is.

Recently, she described an idea that she uses in her classes. It was one of those epiphanies I love to have. As soon as she described the idea to me, I knew that it ought to work quite well in virtually any class. I’m a strong advocate that we need to pass along excellent teaching ideas so that they get wide exposure. So, here goes.

--Occasionally, with about 10-15 minutes left in the class period, hand out a short quiz with questions covering the current class material. Give each student 6-7 minutes to provide answers and then take up those answers.
--Immediately, pass out the exact same quiz questions again and put the students into teams of 2-3. Each team has to come to a consensus answer for every question. After a few minutes, take up only one answer sheet from each team.
--Half of the quiz grade comes from the individual answers. Half of the quiz grade comes from the group answers.
--Each time you do this end-of-class exercise place the students into different teams.

There are so many good things about this assignment that I am not sure where to begin.
--Students are rewarded for their own personal learning because their individual quizzes count as half of the grade. No one can just coast on the work of a teammate.
--Students must operate as a team and help each other learn in order to come up with their group’s answers. The members of the team have to arrive at a consensus answer. If one student believes the answer is True and the other believes it is False, they have to work as a team to arrive at one answer.
--The students who do poorly on the individual quizzes don't just walk out of class feeling stupid. They have the chance to improve their grade in the group exercise and will probably be very engaged.
--Because the group answers will hopefully be better than the individual answers (two heads should be better than one), students leave the class with a positive feeling--toward the class and toward themselves. There is a lot of “ah, now I see what is happening here.”
--The quizzes serve as an overview of what was covered that day. The quizzes provide an end-of-class review for that day’s class.

Whether you are teaching anthropology or zoology or anything in between, this is an exercise that should prove to be beneficial. Try it.

Even bosses can have good ideas.
**

A quick personal note – three days ago this blog site went over 37,500 page views since it started early in 2010. I just want to thank everyone who has mentioned this blog over the past 20 months to friends, relatives, acquaintances, coworkers, bosses, enemies, and total strangers. Without having your help in spreading the word, my guess is that no one would have ever seen this blog. Thanks! Truly!

Addressing Bad Habits

2011-08-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

A lot of your college students have been students for most of their lives. They have been trained by all of the teachers who came before you. Unfortunately, the students have not always been well-trained. They pick up bad habits. And, they don’t even realize they have those bad habits.

So, on my first day of class (this past Monday), I tried to alert my students that I wanted something very specific from them and what I wanted might just be different from what previous teachers had wanted. No matter how successful they had been in the past, they needed to realize that they might have to adapt.

“Here’s exactly what I want from you this semester. I want you to get to a point where you can be presented with a fresh and unique situation and then figure out how to respond or act based on what we’ve learned previously or what you have uncovered in your studies. It seems so simple: (a) fresh situation, (b) figure it out, (c) based on what we have learned or you’ve found. However, most students have been brought up in an educational system that often rewards a ‘copy and memorize’ mentality. I have students with 4.00 GPA’s who become very frustrated with me because they copy down every word in class and memorize them all and then cannot figure stuff out on a test and do poorly. They are frustrated because copy and memorize has worked so well for them in the past. And, maybe, in the 4th grade, that was appropriate. But, this is a college education.

“Students who stress copy and memorize often prepare too little for class. Why prepare if you are just going to write everything down? They want to learn by following along. They come to class a blank slate—ready to be inscribed. I don’t think that’s what a college education should be. You’ll be in the ‘real world’ in another 18 months. Nothing in the real world as far as I know is copy and memorize so I see no reason for my class to be that.

“If I am going to give you a completely fresh situation to figure out on a test, then I need to help you learn how to do that before the test. That’s only fair. So, every day I’ll try to present you with some new stuff and we’ll try to reason it out together based on your preparation and what we have already learned. In fact, if we are successful, you’ll get pretty darn good at this before the end of the semester and you’ll wonder why you ever copied stuff down for memorization purposes.

“But, you have to be willing to walk into class very prepared and you have to be willing to try to use what we have studied to come up with viable solutions. 'Figure it out' are my three favorite words in education. You can’t tell me ‘this makes my brain hurt.’ You can’t beg ‘just give me the answers.’ In fact, most of the time, there are no ultimate answers. Most of the time, you and I (hopefully, mostly you) will be coming up with logical and reasonable possibilities.

“To me, that’s what a college education should be.”

What the Catcher Tells the Pitcher

2011-08-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, when I am driving home from work, I’m able to listen to a show called “Fresh Air” which is on NPR (National Public Radio). In it, Terry Gross (or an associate) will interview some interesting person. The discussions are often fabulous.

One day last week, I was able to listen to the show for just 4-5 minutes but, during that time, I heard something that really caught my attention. I have thought a lot about what I heard ever since that time and pondered its connection with my dealings with students. The person being interviewed was Brad Ausmus who retired recently as a catcher in baseball. He played in the major leagues for 18 years and is 7th on the all-time list for the number of games caught by one person.

If you follow baseball at all, you know that occasionally (especially when things are going badly) the catcher runs out to the mound for a quick talk with the pitcher. Probably like every other baseball fan, I’ve always wondered what the catcher can possibly be saying. Well, the person doing the interview on Fresh Air asked that specific question: “When you go out to talk with the pitcher, what do you tell him?”

Unfortunately, I was driving in my car so I couldn’t write down the words verbatim but here is the gist of what Ausmus said. “I always had only one goal in mind when I went out to talk with the pitcher. When I left him, I wanted the pitcher to absolutely believe that he was capable of getting out of the situation that he was facing. If he didn’t believe he was capable of taking care of the problem, we didn’t have much chance.”

What a fascinating lesson: I only had one goal. When I left him, I wanted him to believe that he was capable of getting out of the problem.

No wonder the guy stayed in the major leagues for 18 years.

We talk with our students all the time. Often, they have a problem – they have failed a test or they don’t understand what’s been covered or they have been lazy or busy and fallen behind. Frequently, it is their fault entirely.

It is easy to get really frustrated with students. There are times when I want to look into the student’s eyes and say “you messed up. This is all your fault. You’re an adult; let’s see how you get yourself out of this problem.”

That might well make me feel good (maybe we are all a bit sadistic) but I’m paid to teach students not to put them in their place. I didn’t become a teacher to berate young people for the mistakes they make. I became a teacher to help them succeed – not half of them, all of them. Over the years, I’ve talked with hundreds of teachers. One thing I have noticed is that, if you are not careful, it is easy for teachers to get into an “us versus them” mentality. “Students are lazy.” “Students have to be told everything.” “Students will cheat if you don’t watch them every second.” But in teaching, we are all on the same team. The catcher may be really upset at the pitcher but he still wants the pitcher to do well and win.

As a new semester begins, I’m going to try to be a bit more like Ausmus. When I talk with students, I’m going to think of them as pitchers and me as the catcher trying to get them back on top of their game so we can both win.

When students come to me with issues/challenges/problems, I’m going to attempt to (a) define the problem so we all understand, (b) tell them how I think they can and should resolve the problem, and (c) make sure they believe they are capable of fixing the problem. When they walk out of my office, I want them to believe they are capable of solving the problem. That certainly doesn’t mean that I’m going to do the work for them. The catcher doesn’t go out and offer to pitch.

In baseball, the goal is so obvious: we want our team to score more runs than the other team. In education, the goal may vary somewhat from person to person but it usually is pretty close to: we want every single student to learn the material and understand how to use that knowledge to have a better and more fulfilled life. When a student gets off the track to that goal, it is our job to show them how to get back on the track and leave them believing that they are capable of doing just that.

The Very First Question

2011-08-17T12:02:00.000-07:00

My first class of the 2011-2012 academic year will be next Monday at 9 a.m. If you have followed this blog for long, you know that I only teach by using a Socratic Method approach. I distribute questions in advance and then discuss those or related questions for the entire class time. I want a thoughtful conversation. This allows me to stick with my 50-50 goal (I do 50 percent of the talking and they do 50 percent of the talking).

I am a big believer that it is important to get each new class off to the proper start. You set a tone at the beginning that carries through for the entire semester. If you are funny, they’ll expect you to be funny from now on. If you do 100 percent of the talking, they’ll assume that this is the way you teach every single day.

Consequently, I spend a lot of time thinking about the tone I am creating during that first class. By now, I have already sent my students 4-5 emails so I fully expect them to be prepared on Monday morning and ready to go. I like creating a bit of urgency right from the beginning – this is important stuff and we cannot afford to waste our time. I believe that myself so why not convey this message.

This semester I have focused a lot of my attention on the very first question that I am going to ask. What do I want my students to think about immediately starting right at 9:00 a.m.?

I may change my mind by Monday but the question I plan to ask (as I type this) is: “if our class works perfectly this semester, if you and I both do all that we can possibly do and things go great, how will you be different at the end of the semester?”

Only a very few words but I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this question. Why do I like it?

--First and foremost, it focuses on the change that can occur in them. Students typically think about class in terms of learning. I’m not nearly as interested in learning (which can sound like the memorization of the Gettysburg Address). I want them to think about class in terms of how it will change them. In December, as a result of this class, I want them to walk out as different people. How is my class going to make that happen? I think “learning” simply understates the potential impact of a college class. I want them to be different; I want them to be better people in some definable way. And, I think they are more likely to get there if they consider what that change may be.

--Second, I want them to connect what they do with that change. Benefits don't happen by accident I want the students to realize that their “work” and their “change” are closely related. It is not just the passage of time that counts. That only makes you older. It is the work carried out during the semester that creates change in the student. I want them to realize that the more they work, the more they will change (and grow).

--Third, I definitely want my students to understand that the learning process is a team effort. It is not my job alone. Likewise, it is not just them operating by themselves. “If you AND I both do all that we can possibly do . . .” I often tell my students that class is like performing a dance such as the waltz. One party leads but both parties have to do an equal share of the work. A dance where only one person does any real work is an awkward mess. However, a dance where both people work together can lead to wonderful results. I inform students that I will do my half of the work but I will absolutely not do more than my half. It is their education and they have to be willing to do their share of the work.

--Fourth, I want the students to know that there is risk involved. I never never never take it for granted that a class will be a success. For me, “if” is always a scary word. “If this class works perfectly this semester,” sends the message that things might not work well. Benefit is not guaranteed. Students often seem to feel that if they merely persevere until the last day, they will accrue whatever benefit that is available. School = Perseverance = Success. No, some students gain immensely in my class whereas others obtain literally no benefit. I want to show students the opportunity that is available to them. But it may not happen There is a great benefit to be gained but only if we both do the work necessary.

Now, I have a question for you. And, I’d love to hear your response: When you walk into class on the first day of the semester and you are ready to get started (you’ve gone over the course outline or whatever housekeeping you have to do), what is the very first question that you ask your students. I’m definitely curious. Let me know – I might change. Send me your “first question” at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

Buck

2011-08-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

In 9 days, I will begin my 41st year in the classroom. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to do it all once again. Teaching is just the greatest profession.

One of the things that I love about teaching is that there is always more to learn. It is such a complex art. No matter how long you’ve done it, there are insights that suddenly seem brand new. At this time of year, even things you’ve thought about before suddenly seem totally fresh and invigorating. Unless you just let yourself, there’s never a reason for a teacher to fall back on auto-pilot.

As the new academic year is set to begin, it is not a bad idea for every teacher to pause and consider what actually makes up good teaching. Not “average” teaching or “mediocre” teaching or “getting by” teaching but good teaching where you make a real difference in the lives of your students.

I went to a movie today with my daughters. The movie was titled “Buck” and was about a man who has spent his life training horses, especially challenging horses that didn’t want to be trained.

As I watched the movie, I was struck by what a great teacher this man is. He was marvelous at getting his “student” (the horse) to learn what he thought they needed to know. He made the process look simple.

You can learn so much from teachers like that. If nothing else, it reminds you of how good it feels to be a teacher.

As I watched the movie, I tried to analyze what he was doing and why it worked so well for him. I actually tried to memorize as much from the movie as I could. As soon as I got home, I wrote down everything I could remember about his teaching methodology because I wanted to see what I could learn.

The movie was a wonderful lesson on good teaching. I’m sure I forgot a ton but here is what I wrote down.

--The “student” has to trust the teacher or the student will simply not want to do what is being asked. Everyone wants to stay in their own personal rut. The natural inclination is to resist when someone asks you to do something new, especially if it requires work. His whole teaching style was based on developing trust right from the start. He never did anything that would cause his student to mistrust him.

--Several times he talked about that neat moment when the teacher and the “student” get on the same wave length. When the student comes to understand what is wanted and is willing to do it. At that moment, the teacher and the student start operating as a team. And, in education, if you can create that team, the potential for learning is beyond imagination.

--(This may be the thing that he talked about the most.) The “student” is a product of all the teaching they have had previously. Don’t blame the student for bad habits that prior teachers have created. Instead, have patience and work to retrain those habits. In my case, my students have had 20-30 teachers before they ever get to me. Some of those teachers may have taught the students to memorize so that learning seemed totally boring and useless. Some of those teachers may have taught the students that the development of critical thinking skills was a waste of time. Thus, you can’t get upset at students for believing that learning and thinking are boring and a waste of time. That may be the training they have received. Instead, you have to show them what you want and why it is important. “Here’s what I need for you to do and why” goes a long way in education.

--Allow the “student” to make mistakes because that is how learning takes place but don’t let the student become scared of making mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with being wrong as long as the student learns from the experience. But making the student feel stupid so that they are less inclined to try the next time is not beneficial.

--Work to help the “student” feel good about themselves. In life, nothing succeeds like success. In education, the student who feels good about what they are doing and what they are learning is always going to keep getting better and better. In the movie, Buck would constantly praise the horse for every action that was correct. When the horse did the right thing, there was instant and obvious reinforcement.

--For the “student,” the last two minutes of each session are the most important. You always want the student to walk out with a positive feeling about the experience so that it will carry over to the next class. That positive feeling is not created in the first 48 minutes but in the last two minutes.

--Always be firm with the “student” without being cruel. You are in charge; you have to direct the experience. Whether horses or people, the student wants to have a clear understanding of what is expected. Make sure that information is conveyed clearly and firmly: “Here’s exactly what I need from you by the next class” is always better than “Be prepared” or “Read Chapter 9.” However, no animal or person responds well to cruelty. You want the student to fly, not crouch in fear.

If I were to go back to the movie, I’d probably pick out another half dozen lessons on teaching. These were the ones that my memory latched on to in this first viewing. Did I already know these? Certainly, there’s nothing magic here. However, it is always great to be reminded. And, it is especially great to see them in actual practice and not just in theory.

Most of all, it was just nice (as a new school year gets ready to begin) to watch good teaching. For me, that is always inspiring.

Common Sense

2011-07-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

A student that I had in one of my classes last spring wrote me recently for a book suggestion. He said that he wanted to learn more about the nature of business success and wondered what books I might suggest for him to read over the summer. I gave him a few titles that I like and then finished off with one of my very favorite books from many decades ago: Up the Organization.

I made the point to the student that I liked this last book especially because it made so much of business just seem like common sense. The book didn’t try to overwhelm me with weird ideas and theories or complex calculations and assumptions. It just said, in very simple terms, “if you treat people this way, you should get good results.”

After I wrote the student, I started to wonder if I could use the same logic in my teaching. Is there a common sense approach to teaching? The education system in the U.S. gets criticized quite frequently and experts put forth a lot of new suggestions all the time. However, improvement seems elusive. So, for the past 2-3 weeks, I have been pondering what a “common sense approach” to teaching might look like.

Here are some of the ideas that I came up with. (If you have some additional common sense teaching ideas, let me know.)

--The teacher should know what he or she wants to accomplish. How do you decide what you need to do each day if you don’t know where you and your class are going? How do you evaluate whether you are making the progress you want if you are not sure what you want to see happen? Seems like common sense to me. So, as an exercise, write down in (let’s say) 20 words or less what you want to see your students gain from your classes in the fall. I think this is a great way to start every semester.

--Be careful that you are not simply teaching your students to memorize. There’s a big difference between understanding and memorization. As you look at your goal above, does it require anything more than memorization? In the past, occasionally, people would appear on television who were memory geniuses. They would have the entire New York City phone book memorized or the name of everyone in the audience. When I write a test, I always picture that person. If the memory genius can make too high of a grade on my test, I’m not happy with how I’ve written it. I’m not trying to teach memorization so why reward it. I need to be testing more understanding, asking questions that would leave the memory genius completely stumped.

--I never expect students to read my mind. Never. That’s a bad teaching strategy. I tell them exactly what I want from them every single day. There should be no guesswork. I give them very specific assignments and I make sure that they are each of a proper length. Not too long to discourage them but not so short that it doesn’t seem to have any substance.

--I never expect students to do work unless they will eventually (sooner rather than later) see the reason for that assignment. If I ask my students to read a 5 page article for Monday, then on Monday I will question them about that assignment. “In the article you read for today, what did WorldCom do wrong, why do you think they did it that way, and how should they have operated differently?” If an assignment is given but not mentioned later by the teacher, students have every reason to believe they wasted their time.

--If a student is given an assignment and it is not done properly, there should consequences. Students are gamblers. They are constantly weighing out what might happen if they don’t do a certain amount of work. If you ask students to read Chapter One and they don’t and you do nothing about it, then you can certainly expect them NOT to read Chapter Two. That will follow as night follows day. They have now been conditioned (by you) to ignore what you ask them to do.

--When you call on students in class, call on the poor ones the same number of times that you call on the good ones. If you consistently call on John twice in every class but call on Susan only once, everyone in class gets the signal (especially John and Susan). What that exact signal is will depend on you (and why you call on John more), but all of the students will quickly get the message. One of the greatest rewards of teaching is turning a poor student into a good one. That is so much harder to do if you are sending signals that you recognize that some students are better than others. For example, I have a tendency to ask harder questions to the better students and easier questions to the poorer students. That is one habit that I want to break. I’m subtly telling the poorer students that I don’t believe in them and their ability to become better students.

--Care enough about your students as human beings to actually listen to their answers. It is very easy to make a quick evaluation (“this person is totally lost”) and start thinking about the next question you are going to ask. The student talking is a human being and deserves your full attention as they try to piece together an answer to your question. If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the pattern of their thought process as they work through the answer. They are talking to you; you should care enough to listen.

Okay, I could probably list 25 more like these. They are all just plain common sense. There is nothing here that every teacher in America could not do starting this fall. However, I’ll bet if you follow these religiously, you would improve as a teacher. Maybe not much, but some. And I have always held that the secret to becoming a great teacher is a little improvement each and every semester. And, to make that improvement, you don’t need to follow some complicated new educational fad. I’m betting common sense will be enough.

And, Now, A Few Words from the Author

2011-07-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

In case you are interested, I gave a presentation on teaching back in May at Lebow Businss School at Drexel University. The URL for that talk is below. I don’t know that I said anything in the speech that I have not said previously on this blog but I did put some of it together in a more organized way. The speech is about 75 minutes in length and I talk about why teaching is so important and how each of us can (and should) work to get better.

https://www.lebow.drexel.edu/Newsroom/Podcasts/cte/JoeHoyle.html

MORE LESSONS FROM DOONESBURY

2011-07-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Garry Trudeau, who writes the comic strip “Doonesbury,” must have some interesting opinions about college education. In this blog, I have written previously about the picture of college education that he paints occasionally (see “Dealing With The Truth” posted on January 23, 2011).

Well, once again, Trudeau has written a strip that I felt went right to the heart of some of the problems we face as educators. In his cartoon for Sunday, June 26, 2011, two students are sitting at what looks like a coffee shop. One student asks: “When is Guy Fawkes Day?” and the other looks at a computer screen and responds with the correct answer in 0.08 seconds. The next question is what is “the seventh most abundant element in the earth’s crust”? This time the correct answer is provided in 0.14 seconds. The final question is what are “the three main branches of moral philosophy”? Discovery of the correct answer takes a mere 0.09 seconds.

The instant availability of an infinite amount of information leads these two students to ask questions that we educators should be asking all the time:
--Student One: “Which raises profound questions about what it means to be a student.”
--Student Two: “Yeah, like why go to college?”

Okay, this is the point where we should all provide our own personal answers. A college education normally takes four years of a person’s life and can cost up to $250,000. In 2011, have colleges become obsolete as a result of the efficiency of Google, Bing, and similar search engines.

In the cartoon, the students provide their answer. Why go to college? Student One has the perfect answer: “Well, to party. That hasn’t changed.”

And, my guess is that a lot of college teachers are not surprised one bit by this response. Many students seem to believe that parties are the primary reason for going to college.

Is that their fault? Or, is that our fault?

In this blog, I have often argued that too many college classes are built on a “conveyance of information model.” After World War II, when suddenly a lot more people were seeking a college education, a conveyance of information model probably made sense. At that time, other than an encyclopedia, individuals had very little way to get information. In 1951, determining the seventh most abundant element in the earth’s crust might literally have taken hours if not days.

Therefore, a wise individual would stand in front of a packed room of college students. This expert would rattle on for 50-75 minutes while the students copied it all down.

That probably made sense in 1951. However, this is 2011 and not 1951.

I think the biggest problem that colleges face today is switching from a conveyance of information model to a critical thinking model. And, truthfully, it is much easier to convey information than it is to help a young person develop critical thinking skills.

You have a new school year coming up. What if your new year’s resolution is to develop more critical thinking skills in your students? How would you go about doing that? Where do you even start?

I am going to give a few recommendations that seem to work occasionally in my classes. Perhaps a few of these will help you as you think about the question “why go to college?”

--Give students a reasonable amount of work to do prior to EVERY class and (a) make sure that this work relates to what you actually do in class and (b) hold the students accountable for doing that work. Don’t give your students a free ride—this is their education. They need to do their share of the work but that work has to be helpful to them.
--Ask questions, ask questions, ask questions – the more questions you can ask in a class, the better. I shoot for one per minute on the average.
--Don’t get upset by wrong answers. This is a learning process. If you get many correct answers, you are not asking the right questions. And, make sure the students know that they shouldn’t get upset by a wrong answer as long as they have made a serious effort. If you can get the effort, the rest will follow.
--Ask students what they think of other student answers. If I call on Susan, I don’t want Bill to fall asleep. If Bill knows that I might turn to him and ask “what do you really think of the answer, she just gave?” then Bill is going to pay close attention. I want every student paying attention every minute.
--Don’t ask students questions that you know they know. What good does that do? Your job as a teacher is to help stretch the mental capabilities of your students. If you do that, the students themselves should pay you a bonus. In my classes, I draw a circle and then put an X about 2 inches outside of the circle with a line connecting the circle and the X. “The circle is all the information you already know. The X is what I’m trying to get you to understand. The line is the connection between the two. If you will think about what you know, I honestly believe you can figure out the answer to X without my telling you. It is that ‘figuring out’ that I’m shooting for. It is that ‘figuring out’ that will make you better.”
--When you get to the tests, do the same thing. Ask them questions that they have to figure out. If you are just going to be testing memorization, forget the first five steps in this list because the students will ignore them.

I seriously believe that colleges are going to come under increasing fire over the next few years unless we do a better job of answering the question: why go to college? Personally, I think that answer comes from switching from a conveyance of information model to a development of critical thinking model.

And, to tell you the truth, helping students to develop critical thinking skills is a whole lot more fun (for you and them both) than simply conveying information.

Summer Time – Time to File Away Those Names?

2011-06-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned several times on this blog that I would strongly urge anyone who wants to become a better teacher to keep a blog. There are always two reasons for that piece of advice.

First, I just feel that working out your thoughts on paper is very helpful in establishing what you really think and believe. Until I see it on paper, I’m never sure how I feel. Thus, I was delighted to read the following in Time magazine last week from the renowned historian David McCullough. “The loss of people writing—writing a composition, a letter or a report—is not just the loss for the record. It’s the loss of the process of working your thoughts out on paper, of having an idea that you would never had had if you weren’t (writing). And that’s a handicap People (I research) were writing letters every day. That was calisthenics for the brain.”

Second, keeping a blog gives you a chance to share your ideas with folks around the world. The Internet is a marvel in that way. I can sit here in Richmond, Virginia, and have a slight impact on education in dozens of countries. School is out for the summer in many places but, last month, this blog had nearly 1,300 page views. What struck me as most interesting was that the top 10 countries for accessing the site were: United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Spain, India, Israel, Iran, Ukraine, Canada, and Australia. As a wonderful example, there was an average of approximately one view per day for that entire month from the country of Iran. I am so appreciative of everyone who reads my thoughts here.

You probably have as much to say about teaching as I do, if not more. People cannot benefit from your ideas if they have no way to read them. Go blog.
**

I have just finished my 40th year as a college professor. From the first day I walked into a classroom, I have always wanted to be more than a teacher. What I tell people is that I want to be a mentor to my students. I think that type of relationship with students was prevalent decades ago but has become less and less the norm in recent times. Yes, I do know that a lot of professors work closely with their brightest students but I have always felt that 100 percent of the students could benefit from having a mentor.

What is a mentor? I looked up “teacher” in an online dictionary and got “one who imparts knowledge.” Sounds cold and mechanical, doesn’t it? I envision a person standing in a large lecture hall explaining to 400 sleepy students how to split an atom as each one writes down exactly the same words in exactly the same order.

The word “mentor,” though is defined as an “experienced advisor and supporter.” I don’t have any interest in being a friend to my students but I do hope to be an advisor and supporter. I want to be a mentor.

Okay, how do you go about giving advice and support? Well, here is one way. I had 62 students in the spring semester. We worked hard. Hopefully, they learned a lot. Obviously, I tried to show them that I wanted them to learn accounting. And, I tried to help them learn as much about accounting. But, I also worked to let them know that I wanted more for them than just a knowledge of accounting. College (I believe) should be more than the imparting of content.

Usually, after each semester is over, it is easy to file away the members of a class into your memory bank and assume they are no longer your responsibility. I think that is more of a teacher attitude rather than a mentor attitude. After the last day of class, I write one final email to say “If I can ever be of assistance, please let me know.”

But, I don’t want to leave it at that. So, last week, I sent the following email to each of those 62 students. I won’t have any of them in class again but I wanted to continue to influence them a little bit. Interestingly, a number of them wrote back to chat about books they were reading and recommend movies that I should see. I think that’s why I decided to become a college professor.

To: Students from the Spring Semester

Hope your summer is off to a great start. As with the rest of the world, it has been terribly hot here in Richmond but we all hang out with the air conditioning and manage to survive.

Now that your summer vacation is about 1/3 over, I wanted to take a moment to urge you to do stuff over the summer that will make you smarter. You are at a stage in your life when your mind is fast developing so make the most of that. You ought to make it a goal to come back to school in the fall smarter than when you left in as many ways as you can. You are forming a foundation for the rest of your life. Build that foundation well.

Go to museums, go to plays, go to art galleries, take in an opera. You never know when you’ll discover something unexpectedly wonderful.

And, think about business. I’m always interested that students want to go into the wars of business and high finance (and those really can be wars) but aren’t inclined to do any real work to get ready for the battle. Here’s a story I read today about Warren Buffett and his education.

“Buffett was very interested in learning about business and its workings. In his graduate years, he studied under Benjamin Graham who is considered the father of Value Investing. Under Benjamin Graham’s training Warren Buffett learned value investing. It is said that Benjamin Graham was so perfect in value investing that he never used to give A grades to his students as he was never satisfied with their answers. But when Buffett joined him as a student, he was forced to give him A grades again and again. Buffett learned to master the art of reading and analyzing financial statements of companies. He could analyze Balance Sheets and Income Statements faster than anybody else in his college. One day somebody asked Buffett about the secret of his success. He said ‘when everybody was else was reading Playboy, I was reading the balance sheets of companies.’ Even today his major time is invested in reading financial statements of companies around the world.”

So, read a lot. Read the Wall Street Journal every day and just marvel at what goes on in the world of business and high finance. But, don’t just stick to newspapers. There are lots of things to be learned out there in the real world. I am currently reading “The White Lioness,” a mystery that is set in South Africa and Sweden (and unlikely duo) and also reading “Too Big To Fail,” and I suppose everyone knows what that is about. Good stuff—expands the brain cells.

Lastly, I went to a great movie yesterday. It was sadly brutal at times but the movie was just crafted brilliantly. Marvelous. I would highly recommend it. It was called “Incendies” and it was in French with English subtitles.

Okay, you are out of my class and you can obviously ignore me. I will just repeat what I have probably told you before: the more you learn, the more the world opens up to you. And, that’s where you start creating a life for yourself that can make a difference.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and don’t get too baked out.

What Do We Accomplish?

2011-06-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

A few years ago a dear friend of mine died at the age of 95. When he was a young man, he worked in the Massachusetts area in construction. He once told me that on many days they would finish their work and step back and someone would speak out in pride “Look at what we accomplished today.”

That has to be a great feeling. You put in a hard and full day of work and at the end of the day you see that you have created something tangible from your labors, something you can be proud of right then. The world is different because of what you did.

I have always thought that was one of the most difficult parts of being a teacher. At the end of the day, it is hard to see what (if anything) we have accomplished.

Oh, sure, we all know that we are changing lives. We all know that we are making a difference. Is that enough to keep us moving forward? At the end of the day, whether we did a great job or a lousy one, things look about the same.

If you are a baker, at the end of the day you can point to the lovely wedding cake you created. If you are a carpenter, you can hold up a table or chair and say “I made this myself.”

But, at the end of a day, your students walk out of the room looking exactly like they did when they first walked in (maybe a little sleepier).

I think this is one of the reasons that teachers sometimes become mediocre. The results seem the same regardless of their efforts. They don’t get the positive reinforcement for their work that comes from seeing a tangible output. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that I believe this has had negative consequences for the U. S. as it has morphed from a manufacturing economy to a service economy.

I was reminded of this last Friday evening when I went to a reception held at our school in connection with the 2011 Reunion. I had the pleasure of talking with former students from 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006. Sure, we reminisced about “the good old days” when they were college students. But, more importantly, they told me all about their lives since graduation – the careers they have fashioned, the jobs they have worked, the graduate programs they have attended. For me, it was a moment to see the tangible evidence of my work as a teacher. My influence on most of them had been slight. In jest, I usually take credit for everything they accomplish. But, in truth, I’m just happy to have been any influence at all. They have fashioned wonderful adult lives and they have gone out and made their own difference in the world. I’m pleased that I was able to give them a push while they were in college.

I left the reunion just so proud to be a teacher.

So, if you have been feeling down about your role as a teacher, perhaps you need to find out when the next reunion is slated and plan to attend. Mixing with some of the students whom you have worked with over the years might just be the reminder of what you are accomplishing that you really need to keep energized.

I once compared teaching to playing the role of Johnny Appleseed. You plant seeds and hope that 5, 10, or 20 years down the road those seeds will bear fruit. Maybe it is time to go to a reunion and see what those seeds you helped plant have managed to accomplish.

How Do You Know How Your Program Is Doing?

2011-05-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

I had a great time last week attending the Teaching Summit put on by the Lebow College of Business at Drexel University. Dr. Thomas Hindelang was a wonderful host and I was so pleased to have the opportunity of presenting the opening keynote address. It is hard to boil a 45 minute speech down to a sentence or two but my primary theme was the disconnect between what colleges and universities claim to accomplish and what the new book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (Arum and Roksa) says that we are actually accomplishing. I then described six steps that I felt we (as faculty) needed to consider if we were going to fulfill the promises being made to our students.

I might write more about those thoughts later but that speech was not the purpose of this post. After giving my opening remarks, I attended a number of paper presentations at the conference. One of my favorites was Feedback from Alumni and Employers Guiding Assessment of Business Curricula by Ellen Kraft and Diane Holtzman of Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

I was interested in this paper because it addressed one of my pet peeves about colleges. Over the past 40 years, I cannot tell you how many meetings I have attended where academic programs were discussed and changes suggested with absolutely no statistical backup. No evidence was given that a change was needed and no one could show that the proposal in question might actually provide improvement. It seems that we are often asked to modify programs based on our own intuition of what might work better.

Professors Kraft and Holtzman had helped direct a survey at their school where alumni as well as the employers of those former students were asked to identify characteristics that employees needed for success. Because I didn’t take great notes, I won’t try to explain their methodology. I was just impressed that the folks at that college wanted data to help in assessing the past and planning for the future.

All educational programs must evolve over time. That process, though, should be guided (I believe) by careful data analysis. Too often changes are made that seem to have no basis other than which person can argue his or her position the best (or who can last the longest in the debate).

Since I believe data gathering is essential as a prerequisite for change, I wanted to mention two relatively painless ways that information can be generated for better program decision-making.

(1) – I am a member of the Accounting Department here at the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. Last summer, we decided to survey all Accounting students who graduated between May 2006 and May 2009. We didn’t include the 2010 graduates because they had not yet started work. We didn’t go back earlier than 2006 because the program had changed enough over the intervening years that we were not sure the feedback would still be relevant.

We had reached the point where we were tired of making decisions based on what we would hear from former students (almost randomly) at alumni receptions or from an occasional email. The basic questions were obvious: What were we doing well and, more importantly, where did we need to make improvements to better prepare our students for careers after graduation? All faculty members like to believe they are adding value and providing their students with an appropriate education. But how does any teacher really know?

The Alumni Affairs office here on campus was able to provide us with email addresses for well over half of those students who graduated in our designated time period. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness helped create the survey, send it out, and accumulate the returned data.

We asked a number of general questions including:
--How many jobs have you held since graduation?
--In what field are you currently working?
--Have you taken the CPA Exam and, if so, how well have you done?
--Have you attempted any other certification exams such as the CMA Exam?
--Have you attended graduate school?

We then took the former students through a number of different subject areas (income tax, auditing, government accounting, financial accounting, and the like) and asked them to assess whether they felt their education was adequate (a) for their employment and (b) in comparison to students from other schools with whom they worked. We also asked the same questions for three skills: written communications, oral communications, and IT skills.

We wanted to pinpoint areas where changes might need to be made.

Our response rate was quite good and the information has proven to be helpful as we move forward and try to guide the logical evolution of our program. Although the overall results were excellent, we did uncover several smaller areas where a number of individuals indicated that they had been at a disadvantage educationally. Obviously, we have worked on those areas during the past 9 months to rectify the problems.

(2) – Approximately six years ago, our department – once again – wanted to gather information to aid our internal discussions and decisions. Many of our Accounting students continue to live here in the Richmond area after graduation. We invited 16 former accounting majors who had been out of school 1-3 years to return to campus for a one-hour focus group. Because of the number, we had to split them into two focus groups held on separate days. We asked a facilitator to talk with these individuals about their job experiences and how well prepared they felt based on the education they received in the Richmond program. We provided specific questions for the facilitator to discuss with the group. The sessions were audio-taped and a transcript was typed. The facilitator wrote up his assessment of the information that was gathered.

No serious political campaign would ever make decisions without focus group studies. No large business would ever start a major advertising campaign without focus group studies. I am surprised that universities do not make better use of that technique to help assess the quality of the education that their students actually obtain. Once again, as with the email survey that was done more recently, we were pleased with what we heard although the former students did point up areas where they felt they had been at a disadvantage in their jobs.

Perhaps one reason that books like Academically Adrift are written is because universities do not do a better job of talking with their graduates to identify both strengths and weaknesses of the academic programs being offered. Professors Kraft and Holtzman seem to have done a great job of providing useful information for their school.

When is the last time your program made a serious attempt to generate data to indicate the quality of the education that your students are receiving? Either through a survey or through a focus group, information is not that difficult to obtain. Such data can help guide the decisions that are made in the future about modifications needed in your academic programs.

In Case You Are Interested - Part II

2011-05-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have the honor of being the opening keynote speaker on May 20 for "Teaching Summit 2011" being presented at the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. They have a great group of papers and presentations scheduled on all aspects of teaching and learning. If you are interested in the possibility of attending, registration information is available at http://www.lebow.drexel.edu/Faculty/Centers/BPTS/index.php

Worth Reading

2011-05-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

I discovered long ago that I did not have many clever and creative ideas. However, I also discovered that if I paid close attention, I could steal wonderful ideas from some of the greatest minds around.

I was reminded of this recently. One of the readers of this blog sent me a link to a great article on the teaching and learning of math. She said that she thought I would find it interesting because I was always curious about education. And, she was absolutely correct. It is well worth reading and pondering.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/a-better-way-to-teach-math/

Several parts of this article really caught my attention. They are the parts that I’ll probably steal in the future. In fact, here are five thoughts that I plan to steal (borrow) and apply to my own teaching.

(1) – The subject of the story has an absolute certainty that students can learn math. In fact, he says so “’Almost every kid — and I mean virtually every kid — can learn math at a very high level, to the point where they could do university level math courses,’ explains John Mighton.”

I wonder what would happen if we all walked in each day and had that same certainty about our own students.

It is amazing to me how quickly I begin mentally classifying my students as “excellent,” “average,” and “poor.” Do I start treating those students in that way? Do I ask harder questions of the “excellent” students and dumb down the questions for the students I perceive as “poor?” What kind of subtle messages am I sending them? Perhaps in that way, my perceptions become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I know I say to my students often “you can ALL learn this.” Is that my true sentiment or just lip service that I spout because it sounds good?

In the future, I’m going to try to do a better job of helping everyone to excel. Maybe, as he says, I am forcing my own students early in the semester to choose to think of themselves as either smart in accounting (my subject) or dumb in accounting. And, maybe it is that choice that then serves as a driving force for the rest of the semester. If I can change that mindset, can I get better results? Can I convince them that they can all learn accounting and, if so, how will that change them over the rest of the semester?

(2) – I loved what he had to say about “extensive practice.” I get the feeling in education that we show students how to do something once, maybe twice, and then expect them to be experts from thereon. When I was growing up, we would work extensively on math facts in school: 56 divided by 8 is 7, 20 percent of 15,000 is 3,000. We did hours and hours of that type of practice. Sure, it wasn’t exciting. But, as I have said here before, every student in my fifth grade class in 1959 knew more about basic math than every student that I taught this past year in college. Why? That is easy – students today are trained to use calculators and have never really practiced math facts. The next time you are in a college class, ask a student to multiply 12 times 9 without a calculator and you’ll see pure panic and dread. In 1959, every hand would have been raised (in the fifth grade).

Practice really is necessary for learning.

Maybe we all want to avoid the possibility of boredom so we eliminate extensive practice from the learning process. Then, when we get to a test, we (as teachers) are surprised that the students cannot handle the questions we give them. Perhaps what they really need is just more practice. Few things can be learned by doing them merely once or twice.

(3) – “Studies indicate that current teaching approaches underestimate the amount of explicit guidance, ‘scaffolding’ and practice children need to consolidate new concepts.” I really like the idea of “scaffolding” or building a structure that allows students to see new material within a logical framework. Often, professors have worked with their material for so long that they have no need for a structure. To them, the material is virtually self-explanatory as it stands alone. However, students do not have that wide-ranging knowledge as a basis for understanding new material and how it ties in with other material. To me, a course is a large puzzle where every day you introduce new pieces and then work to fit them into the rest of the puzzle so that—by the end—it all makes sense; the total picture becomes clear.

(4) – “’No step is too small to ignore,’ Mighton says. ‘Math is like a ladder. If you miss a step, sometimes you can’t go on. And then you start losing your confidence.’” Once again, we—as teachers—always understand where the process is headed. We know the end of the story before we set out the beginning. In teaching, we may lose track of why we need to explain every minute step along the way. To the student, one missed step can bring the whole learning process to a screeching halt. Some students get lost easily. Of course, we prefer students who can make giant leaps from one concept to the next but, in truth, those are the people who have the least need for a teacher. If you really want to be a teacher, you have to want to help those people who experience the most trouble in making the connections. That is where the real teaching comes in. You have to recognize when a student can only take small steps and then break the process down so they can successfully see the connections.

(5) – “The foundation of the process is building confidence.” If you have taught for more than one day, you will have experienced the student who loses confidence. It is a real shame but those students will come to believe that they are simply not smart enough to understand the topic at hand. Often, after that, no degree of work can win back that student. They are lost. They assume they will do poorly and they do. If you are going to turn all your students into winners, you have to recognize immediately when a student starts to struggle and then work to break the process down into more manageable pieces for that student. You need to constantly work to build confidence.

Yes, teaching can be real work but no one ever said it would be easy.

Thanks for sending the article along to me!!! I definitely managed to steal (borrow) a lot from it.

In Case You Are Interested

2011-05-10T16:05:00.001-07:00

I was talking recently with a friend who asked something like: "You have had nearly 33,000 page views on your teaching blog. Which of your entries have drawn the most traffic?"

In truth, some entries have had almost no readers while others have had thousands of page views. Not really sure what makes such extreme differences.

If you want to go back and check to see the most popular entries over the last 16 months or so, here they are.

1 - What Do We Add? July 22, 2010
2 - Big Mistakes March 26, 2011
3 - Need Some Inspiration? September 13, 2010
4 - What Do You Tell Your Students? August 19, 2010
5 - The $10 Million Question January 16, 2011
6 - The Opening August 24, 2010
7 - Using Power Point Slides March 17, 2010

My Latest Problem

2011-05-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

In every job, problems arise and, unfortunately, there are not always great solutions.

I ran into a problem on Saturday and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. When you are dealing with a group of college students and the decisions you make are important to those people, inconsistencies can drive you crazy.

I have two Intermediate Accounting II classes this semester. At many schools, Intermediate II is considered one of the most challenging courses in the entire university. Consequently, the grade in that class is often viewed as extremely important to the students. The difference of one letter grade can have major implications in the direction of a career.

Our final exam schedule this semester ran from Monday morning at 9 a.m. until Saturday evening. As luck would have it, one of my Intermediate II classes had its final exam in the very first slot from 9 until noon on Monday. The other class had its exam on Friday evening from 7 until 10 p.m. Because my classes were small this semester, I allowed my Intermediate II students to take either exam. I didn’t care. Eight students chose to take the first exam and 25 chose to take the second. Most students seemed uncomfortable trying to take the exam on Monday without sufficient time to prepare. That was fine by me.

I gave the first group 37 problems ranging in time from 3-8 minutes in length. No one left early but everyone seemed to be finished or close to finished by the end. I graded that exam and came up with a raw score for each. I did not curve the exam at that time because I only had 8 tests and wanted to see how the other 25 students did. For convenience, let’s assume that the raw scores ranged from minus 20 to minus 60. I liked the test; I liked the range of raw scores; I liked the length of time that my students took to finish the exam; I liked the distribution from top to bottom.

I would have loved to give the same test to my second class but I worried (especially over a 5-day period) that too much information would get out. I trust my students but I don’t want to put too much temptation out there for them. My guess is that every university worries about cheating.

So, I took each of those 37 problems and changed it slightly – I increased a 6 percent interest rate to an 11 percent rate, I changed a residual value from $10,000 to $25,000, I changed a $5,000 gain to a $9,000 loss. I then rearranged the questions into a different order just in case some student had slipped information out such as “the first question requires you to deal with a 20 percent stock option.”

I honestly believed that I was giving the second group a test that was the equivalent of the first test.

However, the results were so much worse that I was stunned. For the second group, the raw scores ranged from roughly minus 20 (same) to minus 90. Worse still, and this is what really caught my attention, approximately half of the students in the second group did worse than my very worse student in the first group. It was like the two groups took two completely different exams.

My problem became immediately obvious to me. Should the students in the first group get significantly higher grades than the second group or was there something about the second test that made it harder (and that I was not seeing)? I thought I had given comparable tests but maybe not. For example, maybe some of my changes managed to create more complex situations. Or, perhaps changing the order of the questions caused a problem for the students (maybe the first questions were now harder and slowed them down or discouraged them).

And, to make matters even worse, although virtually all of the first group finished the test on time, many of the students in the second group did not come even close to completing it. I had page after page of blanks. It is hard to give any partial credit to a blank sheet of paper.

--Could the better students have all taken the first test rather than the second? If so, then I had a justification for giving them a higher grade. But, for the most part, I couldn’t see any difference in the abilities of the two groups (and I looked very carefully).

--Could the first class have been bright and awake at 9 a.m. and the second class sleepy at 7 p.m.? They didn’t look any different but I could not peak inside of their heads. And, should that make a difference in the final grading?

--Could the first class have been fresh because it was their first final exam and the second class exhausted because it was their fourth or fifth? And, again, if so, should that have any effect on the grading? Should you factor in the time of the test when handing out grades? If two students both make minus 60 can you give one student a different grade because he or she took the test on Friday night after 3-4 other tests over a long week?

--Could some of the changes I made in the questions have subtly changed easy questions (on the first test) into hard questions (on the second test) without my awareness?

Why Why Why is the question I have asked over and over since then? Why were the raw scores so different and what should I do about that in arriving at final test scores?

It is several days later and I still do not have a good answer for that question.

Congratulations!!! You Did It!!!

2011-05-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Today is one of my very favorite days. I finished my grading. Then, before I turn in the final grades, I write each student who made an A to personally congratulate that individual. For someone who works that hard and did that well, I think something more than an anonymous grade report is appropriate. So, I wrote out the following letter and then emailed it to each student who made an A. I very much like doing this. It makes me smile. I have worked with these folks for months and they responded to my challenge. I get a real thrill from being able to let them know that the work was worth it (in my opinion) because they received the highest possible grade. A is for Excellent!!!!

Mr. or Ms. XXX,

I wanted to let you know that I have finally completed the grading for Accounting 302 and you have earned the grade of A for the spring semester. Congratulations!!! As I am sure you are aware, it is a very challenging course. It is a course that requires a lot of work and requires that the work be done consistently over an entire semester. Most students can be excellent for a week or two but it takes a special talent to perform consistently excellent work for an entire semester at this level of difficulty.

I always believe that every student is capable of making an A but you were one of a small group that actually did earn that A. You were one of the few who managed to make it happen. Good for you! I am proud of you and pleased by how well you did. More importantly, I hope you are proud of yourself.

It was a pleasure working with you this semester. I enjoy having the chance to work with every student but I’m always delighted by those students who have the drive, ambition, and passion necessary to get an A in this course. If I can ever be of assistance in the future, please let me know.

And, finally, I want to request a favor. For the last decade or so, it has been my custom to ask the students who make an A in any of my classes to write a paragraph or two to guide the next group of students. You may remember reading (at the beginning of this semester) the advice given by the A students from last fall. I think it is very helpful for one group of excellent students to explain to the next group how it is done. You can save them a lot of time and experimenting. Students will believe what other students say 100 times more often than they will believe what I tell them. “Here’s how I managed to get an A in Professor Hoyle’s class” can be a great help to the next “crop” of students. I hope, over the next 2-3 days, that you’ll sit down and write out what you did that worked so well and send it to me by email for distribution next fall.

My only two requirements: be serious and be honest. You know how you did it – share that information with future students.

Congratulations!!!! Go out and celebrate!!! YOU DID IT!!!!

Have a great summer!!!! Yeah, work hard but make time to read books and go to museums and check out art galleries and talk to as many people as you can and learn about who they really are. You need a broad education about the wonders of life as well as a great knowledge of accounting.

JH

Some Good Thinking

2011-04-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

In writing this blog, I have occasionally shared one of my favorite quotes about teaching: "Teaching does not come from years of doing it. It actually comes from thinking about it.“ I bring up this quote whenever I lead any discussion of teaching. Almost inevitably, someone in the audience asks how a teacher goes about thinking about teaching. It is easy to make a joke about sitting in a dark room in focused contemplation but most of us would just fall asleep.

I believe one of the best ways to think about teaching occurs when you write an examination for your students. Since I have spent most of my current weekend writing a test, the process certainly has been on my mind.

Writing a test brings up so many questions having to do with your class.
--What level of understanding is a student supposed to have developed based on how you structured the coverage?
--What are you trying to test? What are your priorities?
--How do you write questions that differentiate between students who truly understand the material and those that don’t?
--How do you write questions that stress thinking and understanding rather that just pure memorization?
--How do you write questions that are not too vague without simply lining up the information that the students need in a tidy row?
--How much information do you provide and how much should students be able to figure out on their own?
--What exactly do you expect an A student to know?
--Or, put another way, if students were in your class and did what you asked them to do each day, could they answer each of the questions that you are posing on the test? Are there any questions that go beyond what has been covered (and, if so, does the student still have a reasonable chance of arriving at a proper answer).
--Do you want students to have to rush through the exam to complete it or would you prefer for them to be able to work at a leisurely pace?
--Do you just want answers or do you want answers with explanations?
--How much time do you want them to spend reading the test. For example, a 20-page test can have great depth but does not leave much time for actually answering questions.
--Are you asking the same thing in more than one question? If so, does the redundancy add anything to the test?
--Are you leaving out material that should be tested?

I woke up at 6:15 this morning and realized that I was lying in bed trying to figure out how to structure a question about a particular piece of material. I knew that I could ask the question in such a way that it would be overly complex and no one could get it correct. Or, I could make some adjustments and it would be too easy and every student would be able to answer it. Neither of those does me much good in trying to determine a fair grade. How should I tweak that question so that I can gauge who knows and who doesn’t know?

The material I was thinking about at 6:15 was important material for my class. How could I set up the question in such a way that the students with a deep understanding would get it correct while the students with no understanding could not get it correct by guess work or luck?

Of course, that leads to the question: How well have we covered this material? What should I expect the average student to know in order to achieve the average grade?

I know a lot of teachers use test banks produced by textbook publishers or they carry over exams from year to year. I even meet teachers occasionally who seem to be afraid of writing their own test questions. I’m honestly not sure what they are afraid of. I do know that writing a good test can take an enormous amount of time. However, nothing makes you think more carefully about what you have covered and what you wanted to cover than spending a long morning writing a test that successfully allows students to demonstrate in a fair manner what they have come to understand.

Time well spent – even at 6:15 on a Sunday morning.

Guidance

2011-04-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine, Steve Markoff, has written an excellent essay on learning to teach by being a student. It is well worth reading at https://blogs.montclair.edu/academy/2011/04/11/being-a-student/.

Over the years, I have taken classes in everything from Russian culture and ballroom dancing to jewelry making and photography just to remind myself of what it is like to be the person in class who feels lost and confused. Many universities allow faculty members to take classes for free or at reduced prices. Put aside your fears and go sign up for a class where you are not the expert.
***

When it comes to college students, the old saying “you don’t know what you don’t know” is all too often true. For the most part, they are young people who have only seen a very narrow slice of life and, like the blind men and the elephant, they believe that the slice of life they have experienced represents the reality of life. Thus, at times, they need guidance even though they may not ask for it.

I will give my third test of the semester next Monday. I am often frustrated that grades don’t change much between the first test and the second. The students who make As and Bs continue to work well and make more As and Bs. The students who make Cs and Ds continue to flounder and make more Cs and Ds. By the time we get to the third test, I really want to see those Cs and Ds turn into As and Bs

I will often call in the students who do poorly on a test and they will eagerly confess that they are doing in my class exactly what they have always done in all of their classes. Apparently, they believe this is the one set way to prepare for a class. They then seem stunned when I respond “well, your strategy is not working very well. You need to make significant changes. Einstein said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

There is obviously some difference between students based on their knack for the subject matter. Some students simply see the underlying logic more easily than do other students. However, in my opinion, the biggest variables tend to be hours spent in study and the efficiency with which they use those hours. Students will resist this idea like the plague but I will ask them “if you spend three hours studying poorly and your neighbor spends 10 hours studying well, you know who is going to make the higher grade. So, don’t even try to tell me that more time studying and better spent time is not going to help you to do better.” (Students are like everyone else – what they really want is a magic bullet that will help them to do better without requiring any more work.)

Many students who struggle have two basic problems: they don’t spend enough time studying (either before class or after class) and, even if they want to study more, they are not sure how to fill up their time. I’m convinced that most classes in school (from kindergarten until they walk into my class in college) don’t teach students how to study.

So, as we approach our third test (where I’m really looking for some of those Cs and Ds to step up and turn their engine around), I do two things.

First, I suggest a very specific number of hours for them to study and urge them to keep a calendar so they know that they have studied enough. I suggest 10-12 hours for my introductory class and 12-18 hours for my upper-level class. You may expect more or less from your students but you might as well tell them what you expect. Basically, I want them to block off the week-end and immerse themselves in getting a full grasp of the material because it is rather complex.

Second, I give them specific assignments that I think will help them come to understand the material (or push them to come to me to seek help). I give them the test I gave last fall on this material along with the answers. I warn them that I am going to give them a different test but this will provide them some idea of what I expect and how I test this material. That alone should keep them busy for two hours on Saturday morning. Also, as we cover material, I will frequently send them problems by email and say “if you understood what I wanted from class today, here’s an exercise that I would expect you to be able to work.” I do provide an answer but no work. I want them to figure out where that answer came from. I am trying to give them productive ways to fill up those needed hours of study.

Having an A student make an A is wonderful but I imagine they would have done well without my help. Having a C or a D student make a C or D is frustrating but it is just one of the sad parts of this occupation. It is sad because I wasn’t able to make a difference.

However, having students start out with low grades but then having them figure out how to change the way they prepare so that they grow into an A student is my very favorite part of being a teacher. It is with those students that I feel I make a genuine difference. Learning is not magic. More time better spent can make a huge difference. Sometimes students need that guidance.

Big Mistakes

2011-03-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

This entry on my blog should prove two things: (1) I lead a relatively boring existence and (2) I spend way too much time thinking about teaching.

Yesterday for lunch, I went to a nearby Jimmy John’s Deli and got a sandwich. As I sat there eating it, I pulled out a piece of paper and across the top I wrote: What are the biggest mistakes that college teachers make? I immediately listed out 9 or 10 mistakes that I think college teachers are prone to make, mistakes that prevent them from moving from good to great. Then, I decided to whittle the number down to a “Top Five” list. That was tricky because several of my items appear to be quite prevalent. Finally, about the time I had taken the last bite of my sandwich, I turned my final five into a countdown somewhat like a David Letterman list on late night television. So, straight from Jimmy John’s Deli in Richmond, Virginia, here are my “Top Five Mistakes That College Teachers Make.” If you think I left something off, let me know.

Number Five: Overreliance on Power Point Slides. I never use Power Point slides in my own classes but, if I did, I would make sure to ask a question on the student evaluations each year about whether students liked my usage or not. I understand how they can be very handy (especially since textbook publishers will even create them for you) as a way of organizing material. However, I think they send a message to students that you are simply going to read Power Point slides to them as they sit there in the semi-dark trying to stay awake. Okay, I know that most teachers will say that they throw up the slides and then discuss the material but I have heard way too many students say “that lazy guy just reads Power Point slides to us that he didn’t even take the time to produce.” The way you view the process and the way your students view it may be radically different. Plus, I am not certain that it is easy to use Power Point slides to create active interaction with the students. If the slide provides the information, where is the conversation, where is the student thinking? My recommendation – just ask your students on their evaluations: “Should the professor use Power Point slides more or less or the same amount as now?” If a lot of students say “less,” I would pay serious attention to that advice. If they say “more,” then go for it.

Number Four: Failure to Engage Students with the Material. College teachers often seem to have a belief that students bring an active curiosity and desire to learn with them to class. If (when) that proves false, they appear to be mystified. “Why do they take my class if they don’t want to learn the material?” Well, they must take 30-40 courses to graduate so they have to sign up for something. Over my 40 years in this business, I have had a few students who walked in with an “I am dying to learn all about Intermediate Accounting” attitude. But, a vast majority of them walk in with a neutral attitude; they need to be convinced they are not wasting their time. After spending 80 percent of their lives learning stuff like the state capitals, the periodic table, how to outline a sentence, and the Pythagorean theorem, many students have had the joy of learning mashed out of them before they get to you.

How do you engage students? One possibility is to link the coverage to some personal benefit – how will their lives be better for knowing this material? “Learn it because I say so” doesn’t hold too much power over the young people of today. Or, show the student why you find the material interesting. If you have read this blog for long, you know that I’m a huge proponent of trying to puzzle students. Why is it done this way? What does this accomplish? Why was this action taken? How do these two things fit together? If you simply assume your students are truly curious about the Pythagorean theorem, you may be upset when they fall asleep in class or seem more interested in texting than in learning.

Number Three: Writing Tests that Reward Memorization. We all have heard that the purpose of college is to help develop critical thinking skills. That is a great and worthy goal. But students will learn based on how they expect to be tested. If you base your tests on memorization (“name the four criteria for a capitalized lease”), you can forget about developing critical thinking skills. If you want students to go beyond memorization, your tests have to go beyond memorization. “If the US had not made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, what are possible impacts on the growth of slavery in this country?” Okay, that may lead to an answer that requires some work to grade but it allows students to demonstrate their understanding. If they expect to be tested in a certain way, their learning will be directed in that same way. Textbook publishers often provide test banks. Those questions are primarily designed to test memorization. You set the tone for your entire course by the way you test your students. Work to write thoughtful questions and you will be surprised by how much more thoughtful your students will become.

Number Two: Most Teachers Talk Too Much. Teachers get nervous during silences. They feel uncomfortable. Consequently, they rush in to fill up the quiet with words and words and more words. The less the teacher talks and the more the students talk the better. The teacher should guide the conversation and make sure everyone gets involved. After that, the less said by the teacher the better. However, that is hard to do. The students would much prefer for you to do all the talking because then they can turn their brains off and just write down what you say. Don’t let them play that game with you. Push them to talk. I use the Socratic Method so I call on them in rapid fire fashion but you can push them to talk in many ways. If you have read my Teaching Tips book at https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~jhoyle/ you know that I believe in the 50-50 Rule. That is the teacher should never do more than 50 percent of the talking. Push your students to do their 50 percent.

Number One: Failure to Force Students to Be Prepared for Class. In my opinion, the single biggest factor in having a great class is the preparation level of the students. If they are not prepared, what can they possibly add to the class? They can just write down notes. But, when they are well prepared, they can add ideas, suggestions, a different perspective, and the like. A class with well prepared students can be a true joy as the conversation and the thinking range throughout the topics under consideration. To me, that is education at its very best. That is why I became a teacher.

How do you get students to prepare for class? First, I think you have to be very specific as to what you want them to do. Don’t just throw out vague assignments. College students do not do vague very well. They ignore vague. Tell them exactly what you want them to do. Second, make sure the subsequent class actually incorporates that assignment in some way so students do not feel like they were being asked to do busy work. I remember being infuriated in college when I would spend hours on an assignment that was never mentioned by the teacher in any way. I certainly did make that same mistake twice. Third, don’t hesitate to be confrontational if the assignment is not done to your satisfaction. College students are adults. If they had an assignment at a job and did not do it, they would face the wrath of the boss very quickly. You don’t have to treat them like delicate flowers. If you give an assignment that you use in class and students are not prepared, talk to them about the need for doing the work. I never scream and yell at my students but I certainly let them know if I feel they have not upheld their half of the class work. I often stop students as they leave class with “you did not seem prepared today and I fully expect better from you at our next class.”

If you want to see an improvement in your teaching, pick one of these five and work on it for awhile. Or, pick a different one that you think applies to you. But you do have to make an effort to work on it. Just contemplating mistakes doesn’t do you or your students any good.

What Really Is To Blame?

2011-03-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

By now, everyone who reads this blog has probably heard of the book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses” by Arum and Roksa that basically makes the claim that the emperor has no clothing by giving evidence that students do not learn much in their four years in college. If you have missed the release of the book, you can learn more at the following URL where the authors are quoted as stating "How much are students actually learning in contemporary higher education? The answer for many undergraduates, we have concluded, is not much.”

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/01/18/study_finds_large_numbers_of_college_students_don_t_learn_much

What I find most interesting is that the blame game has started. Something is obviously wrong so what is to blame? Here are some culprits that I’ve heard mentioned: grade inflation, lack of education classes for college professors, the stress put on faculty to do research so they can’t focus on their teaching, lack of student preparation in K-12, student evaluations, lack of uniform requirements (students prefer to sign up for easier teachers – what a shock that one is), the desire of universities to retain students, increased use of adjuncts, the failure to reward good teachers appropriately, and on and on.

And, my response is—after 40 years in the classroom—certainly, all of these are a factor. We have built an education system with so many internal flaws that I’m surprised it works as well as it does. It is not one problem; there are many problems. Anyone with their eyes open should have seen this coming. You’d have to be totally in denial not to have expected these results. The only thing that surprised me about this study was that anyone was surprised.

I have always said that good teaching is not a mystery. If a teacher (a) seriously challenges a student, (b) helps the student understand the benefit from the knowledge to be obtained, (c) offers an appropriate amount of assistance, and (d) treats the student fairly, most students will be willing to climb a tall mountain for you. However, if you leave off even one of those four, students will gladly go drink beer and work on their suntans.

Is there a solution to the educational problem? Well, here is one. Following is part of an opinion piece that appeared in the University of Richmond school paper this past Thursday written by a student named Liz Monahan. (Although she has never been one of my students, I have written about Ms. Monahan and her opinion pieces previously.) And, although she is talking about this one university, my bet is that students at virtually every school in the country could say about the same thing (at least if you believe Arum and Roksa).

In her paper, I especially like her very last line. What would we teachers all do if this were to happen? Now, wouldn’t that change the world as we know it?

From Liz Monahan:
Four years of my life have been spent at a phenomenal liberal arts institution with enough learning resources (whether they be human or text) to wrap around the earth twice, and yet I find myself wondering one thing. What did I learn while I was here?

In the book, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” authors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa discuss the data accumulated during a study they conducted on whether college students improve their critical thinking and writing skills during the four years they attend college.

The study, which involved using a standardized test called the Collegiate Learning Assessment, indicated that more than a third of students showed no critical thinking or writing improvement after four years in college.

The results of the study also indicated that 35 percent of students said they studied five hours per week or less, with a 50 percent overall decline in the number of hours spent studying compared to years past.

Sadly, I don’t doubt the data whatsoever. Excluding a small minority, we study less. I’d go as far to admit that I study less now than I did in high school. I remember spending hours on my Gateway computer typing up study guides for exams and writing extensive papers for various AP classes.

According to the study, 50 percent of the students said they didn’t have a single course that required them to write 20 pages total. I’m not shocked by that statistic either.

Granted, I am a journalism major and am writing constantly, however I do have many friends who say that when it comes to writing papers, they simply aren’t assigned them.

I can recall writing a 30-page research paper on inclusion in elementary education during my sophomore year of high school.

Thirty pages for one assignment makes all of the assignments from my general education classes at Richmond look like a two weeks paid vacation.

When I question why it is that we study less I think it all comes down to one thing: accountability. In high school I was held accountable by my parents, my teachers, my peers and more importantly, by myself.

If I didn’t put in the effort, I didn’t receive a good grade. And why should I have? I didn’t deserve one. Which was why I made sure I worked hard — always.

Accountability is not a word we hear very often in college, at least at this one. We’re all told that college is supposed to be hard.

That’s when the justifying starts. The fact that I got a C on an anthropology paper no longer has to do with the fact I wrote it the night before it was due, rather that I’m not an anthropologist. Justifications like these make lack of accountability a comfort.

Many professors are just as guilty as their students. Instead of demanding hard work, effort and, inevitably, respect from his or her students, he or she attempts to gain respect (possibly in the form of a good evaluation wink, wink) by catering to the “needs” of students.

Another possible explanation for the decrease in studying, authors of “Academically Adrift” say, may be that the pressure put on students to be socially engaged is too great. What do colleges care about? Student retention.

So a happy student means a student who is doing fun things on and around campus. Fun things on and around campus mean that student is coming back next year.

So when the admissions spiel sounds a little like, “We care about your happiness,” future generations of college students should smile because now they’re in on the joke.

Data from the CLA survey indicated that students who majored in more traditional liberal arts studies such as English or philosophy showed higher levels of critical thinking and writing skills. It makes sense. I can’t imagine it’d be easy to B.S. your way through an analysis of the Theory of Forms.

For those of you, like myself, who are questioning your personal improvement throughout your year(s) spent at University of Richmond, a word of advice: It’s not too late.

First step: Hold yourself accountable. No one will do it for you.

Second step: Challenge your teachers to challenge you.

What It Takes To Be Great – Part II

2011-03-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

I did a little experiment over the last two weeks and, to tell you the truth, I was a bit surprised by what I discovered. I asked my students in Intermediate Accounting II (virtually all are second semester juniors) to identify the very best teacher they have had since they entered college. For most students, their teachers provide them with the best examples of leadership. I really wanted my students to consider the attributes that it takes for a person to be a successful leader. Most of them will graduate from college and, within a year or two, they will be in a position where other workers must report to them. Often, the upward trajectory of their careers is not based on their knowledge of accounting but rather on their ability to guide and lead the people who form the members of their team. A teacher is not exactly a team leader but the characteristics for success would seem to be somewhat similar.

My students were asked to identify their very best (“best” not “favorite”) college teacher and then write a short paragraph justifying this selection. In a follow up assignment, I asked each student to boil down the characteristics of this person into just three words. I wanted to see what I could discover (and what they could discover) about being the best by looking at these descriptions.

What I fully expected to receive was what I call the 2 C’s and 3 E’s of teaching: Caring, Challenging, Engaging, Energetic, and Enthusiastic. I have always said that a teacher can go far by simply focusing on these 2 C’s and 3 E’s.

What I got was a much wider variety of responses than I had expected (some of which I didn’t even understand). So, I had to figure out how to create an organizational pattern for the information that I had gathered. I finally decided that I could take each word that I was given and assign it to one of three classifications:

Teacher’s connection to students
Teacher’s personal attributes
Teacher’s method of instruction

Okay, some of the descriptive terms could fit into more than one category but I chose to use my best judgment and force them all into one category or another. Below you will find what I learned from my students. If you want to become a better teacher (on the road to becoming a great teacher), pick out a few of these terms and work to get a bit better. As a good friend of mine recently told me, it is really hard to know how to become a better teacher – it is such a nebulous goal. However, perhaps becoming a bit more enthusiastic will help or maybe a bit more helpful. Don’t attack the goal, attack the attributes.

Or, possibly a more efficient approach would be to take this list and grade yourself: “For each of these characteristics, what grade would my students give me?”

After that, ask yourself which grades bother you the most? There are undoubtedly some areas where you won’t be pleased with your own grade. Then, as you might with one of your students, ask yourself: “What could I do to get that grade up?” Merely, by identifying the attributes where you don’t like your grade, you are taking the first steps to becoming a better teacher.

The number in parenthesis indicates a term that was mentioned by more than one student to describe their best teachers. Remember, I created the categories myself after looking at the overall list of characteristics as a method of organization.

Teacher’s connection to students
--Caring (6)
--Engaging (5)
--Helpful (5)
--Approachable (2)
--Fair (2)
--Inspirational (2)
--Motivational (2)
--Accessible
--Accommodating
--Considerate
--Empathetic
--Fear
--Friend
--Influential
--Inspiring
--Respect
--Sympathetic
--Trust

Teacher’s personal attributes
--Personable (4)
--Intelligent/smart (4)
--Knowledgeable (3)
--Down-to-earth (2)
--Energetic (2)
--Enthusiastic (2)
--Attentive
--Charismatic
--Cool
--Dedicated
--Experienced
--Genuine
--Laid-back
--Professional
--Trustworthy

Teacher’s method of instruction
--Interesting (3)
--Entertaining (2)
--Humorous (2)
--Passionate (2)
--Compelling
--Creative
--Fun
--Involved
--Organized
--Prepared
--Realistic
--Resourceful
--Storyteller
--Unpredictable

What Keeps Us from Being Great

2011-02-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

One of my very favorite words in the English language is “Great.” I just think everyone should decide on a few things in life where they honestly want to shoot to be great. Okay, we may never achieve that greatness but it is hard to get better without a little ambition. And, I believe life just lives better if (a) we know in what ways we would like to become great and (b) we have the satisfaction of going for that greatness. The effort alone will make us better people. (In that regard, I am a big proponent of the Zen expression: “the journey is everything.”)

I simply refuse to believe that settling for mediocrity can prove to be meaningful. For one thing, I believe our students deserve better than that since this is their one shot at a college education.

When I give teaching presentations, I urge the members of the audience to work gradually to become better teachers. That seems like a reasonable goal. And, if we improve year by year, eventually we will get to greatness. In the past, I would then make various suggestions on how to achieve that annual improvement.

Recently, though, I have been considering the idea of greatness from the opposite direction. Maybe, we shouldn’t think so much about how to get there but rather focus on what holds us back. What keeps us (you or me) from becoming better teachers each year? What is the most significant wall that stands in our way? More specifically, over a longer period, what is blocking us from becoming truly great teachers?

I am fortunate that, at my school, I get to work with a very strong teaching faculty. The people with whom I work do a great job of educating our students. But, even the best can get better. Therefore, I posed the following question to my fellow faculty members last year. Basically, the question asks the simple question of what holds each person back from getting better and, hence, stands in the way of our achieving greatness as a teacher. Maybe just contemplating that question is the first step toward greatness.

“Assume that you make the personal decision that, over the next 12 months, you would like to become a slightly better teacher. Maybe it was your Valentine's Day resolution for 2011. Let’s assume, for example, that you currently view yourself as a B teacher and you’d like to feel like a B+ teacher by this day in 2012. Seems like a reasonable goal. My question is this: What would be the most important thing that would keep you from achieving that goal? I’m just looking for one thing but I’ll accept more than one thing. I’m not asking for a lot of thinking—just tell me what comes to your mind right off the top of your head.

“Notice that I didn't ask what keeps most people from getting better over the next 12 months -- I want to know what would keep you from getting better over the next 12 months.”

What was the purpose of this question? That is simple – it seems to me that if we come face to face with the thing that is holding us back we can decide if we really want to be held back in that way. I’m a big believer that self-reflection can make us better (in many, many ways).

So, how would you have answered my question? Be honest with yourself—what is keeping you from being a better teacher over the next 12 months? Once you have identified your own personal wall, you can decide whether you are willing to be limited in that way. Maybe you are but maybe not. You can’t address the wall preventing you from going forward if you never identify it.

Here’s what my colleagues had to say (I’m going to paraphrase these a bit). Maybe some of these apply to you. Maybe they will make you think more about your own teaching and what really does prevent you from getting better over the next 12 months.

I’ll let you guess which one of these I wrote.

1---Lack of willpower to review every lecture carefully before class, when I might tell myself I already know the material well.
2---If something is working (albeit not as successfully as I would like), it is difficult to try something new for fear that it will get worse. That is, my natural reaction is to dig in and do what I’ve been doing more intently rather than make changes that have an uncertain result.
3---The quality of my teaching is directly related to the amount of time that I put into it. It is my opinion that to be an effective teacher most people need just two things: 1.) a real desire to be an effective teacher; and 2.) the willingness to put the time into it that is required. If you are truly committed to being an effective teacher (i.e. you want to improve from a B to a B+), then you’ve met the first criterion. All you really need then is a willingness to put in the time. The time to prepare more for each and every class, the time to meet with students during and outside of office hours, the time to create materials (problem sets, extra questions, study materials, etc.) to supplement the class. So the only thing that really “prevents” me from improving my own teaching is that I don’t put in the extra time. Why not? Every extra hour I devote to teaching is an extra hour I cannot spend on something else. One less hour on research. One less hour on committee/service work. One less hour with my family.
4---I think the lack of feedback that I get from the students on what works and what doesn’t would be the thing.
5---For me, the most difficult part of the teaching process is being able (or maybe willing) to be well prepared for each and every class. When I really prepare, class usually goes well. It is just hard to take the time to be that well prepared on a very consistent basis.
6---I think at this point in my career I have taught so many courses for the first time that I haven’t been able to fully develop any course. It helps me to see what works and then make changes and try different methods. So I would say too many preps too close in time would prevent me from achieving that goal. Also, there is always the issue of finding that perfect balance between the time spent on research and teaching.
7---If I push my students to do better, they will start coming by and asking questions and wanting assistance and I just don’t have the time necessary to do that. I’d really like for them to do better without me having to do any additional work.
8---I am pulled in so many directions and believe if I had more dedicated time to focus on teaching techniques--rather than on completing tasks--then I would be a better teacher.
9---The weight and importance we put on the teaching effectiveness questions found on the student course evaluations in combination with the three-year evaluation window. This greatly reduces my incentive to experiment with new ideas and teaching techniques.
10---I don’t seem to know what I might do to improve or change. Thus, I am not certain how to get better.
11---I have discovered that, for many things in life, the closer you get to the ideal, the more effort it takes to squeeze out the last little bit of excellence. It is easy to be average, quite a bit harder to get to 90%, but that last 10% is harder than the entire first 90%. And the last 5% is harder than the first 95% and so on asymptotically approaching 100% (whatever that is). I have had semesters where I KNOW I wasn’t at my best and I’ve had times that I knew I was close to doing as well as I can do. The truth is that the students don’t really notice – or, more accurately, they don’t appreciate that last 10% as much as they do the first 90%. I put in a good bit of time and energy already and probably get 85-90% of what I’m capable of consistently. On the other hand, reviewers for journals and my scholarly colleagues DO notice that last 5% effort. Similarly, I think my colleagues here do as well when we speak of school and university service work. I’m also confident that my friends and family notice my investments in them as I consider work/life balance. With this in mind, if I have an extra hour or two (my most scarce resource), where do I invest that time (i.e., marginal investment). Should I put it into making improvements to my classroom work (likely to go largely unnoticed) or should I put it into making my scholarship, university or family life better (likely to be noticed and sincerely appreciated)? So, my greatest obstacle to improved teaching is the competing demands and the return I get out of investments in those projects relative to the returns I get from teaching.
12---First -- Lack of knowledge. For example, I would like to help my students write better, but I really don’t know how to do it. Second -- Fear of failure. I’m a B teacher and I have an extremely risk-averse personality. Any change that has the potential to improve the class also has the potential to mess up what is already working reasonably well.
13---My spontaneous answer is not being able to “read” the student’s learning process as well as I would like to. Some students seem to be doing fine when you interact with them but then their exams and assignments disappoints you. Other students seem inactive but they surprise you when they deliver strong exam results and great assignments. Thus, not fully understanding the student’s learning process might be what hinders me from reaching the next level as a lecturer.
14---The way to improve teaching is to know your students just slightly beyond their names (for example, know their major or graduation year or area where they are from…nothing that is especially difficult to find out) because then the teacher can engage them in class because they have become more “real” to you. What will prevent me from doing it is the fact that it is so easy to not do it and it sounds so trivial to be beneficial.
15---For me, the pressure put on the teaching effectiveness questions on the teaching evaluations. I often feel that I am at the mercy of the students and their push-back.
16---It seems that no matter what attempts I make, if it requires the students to “get into it”, they resist. I sometimes feel like we have established an unrealistic, romanticized vision of what our student body is really like. As a result, perhaps I have unrealistic expectations of their intrinsic interest in engaging in the learning process. Or maybe the problem is that I am approaching this the wrong way.
17---I don’t think there is anything in my way other than I don’t listen enough. Sometimes we get into our routine, thinking that what we have done in the past is still as good as it once was – and don’t listen or respond when change is called for. I also have to constantly remind myself that teaching is ONLY about student learning. It doesn’t matter if students like me or don’t, it doesn’t matter if I’ve been fabulously entertaining or not – all that matters is that I have created an environment where they are maximizing their learning.
18---My deficiencies boil down to a small number of root causes. The central of these causes are disorganization and poor time management.

Recognize yourself and your own walls?
What is keeping you from becoming better as a teacher and moving on toward greatness?

Perhaps the first thing you need to do is identify what is holding you back and then deciding whether you want to be held back.

A Critical Moment

2011-02-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that there are a few moments that are terribly critical in connection with how a student does in your class. Most days are like most other days. However, I think the period of time immediately after the first test is really critical and can make a big difference in how well a student eventually does. As you would imagine, my concern is always with the students who do not do terribly well on that first test. I worry that they will see that low first grade and simply assume that is proof positive that they are dumb so they might as well stop trying. Instead of working to get better, they begin to crawl into a hole and their grade spirals downwards after that.

Or, they will start trying to make random attempts at pushing their grade up without any logical plan and become frustrated by the lack of improvement.

Or, maybe worse still, they will think that I have given up on them and seek less help from me rather than more.

Consequently, I try to provide some relatively immediate help and encouragement to the students who make less than an A or B on my first test. I want them to know that only a small part of their grade has been settled and they can still do well BUT ONLY IF they start making some real improvements. Then, I provide suggestions and point up that I am happy to help.

Humans tend to underrate their abilities. Students often latch on to any bad news (“you made 66 on the first test”) as proof of what they have suspected: They are not really capable of learning this material. I want to dispel that myth as quickly as possible. I want to prod them into making changes. I want to provide some direction for those changes.

I gave my first test in each of my three classes about a week ago. I returned the tests recently and some students did well while others did not. I wasn’t worried about the ones who did well. The taste of success often spurs those students to work harder. A good grade builds confidence. But I wanted to try to get the other students turned around. For that reason, I sent the following email out yesterday to each of my students who made less than a B on my first test. In simple terms, it says “you can do it – don’t give up,” “here are some ways that you can do better,” and “don’t forget that I’m here to help.”

Here is what I actually wrote. Not surprisingly, a number of students have come by my office since that note went out. They had some of their questions answered with just a few minutes of assistance and, subsequently, did much better in our class discussions.

Email – February 17, 2011
“I am only sending this note to my students who made a C or less on our first test. As you and I both know, this grade was only a small part of your grade. There is no reason why you cannot turn your grade into an A or (at least) a B. However, my experience is that students tend to keep their same grades unless they make some changes. Without changes, the first test is a pretty decent indicator of the final grade. And, I don’t like that – I didn’t get into this business to give Cs, Ds, and Fs. I want As and Bs.

“So, what changes can you make? And, I realize that I have already talked with several of you about this. And, even better, several of you have already started to do the following.

“The very best thing you can do to improve your grade (without a doubt) is to come up with 2-4 questions as you prepare for a class: “I don’t understand this.” “I couldn’t figure out how to do that.” “I’m not sure what this question means.” Etc. Then, take 10 minutes (just 10 minutes) and come to my office prior to class and let’s go over those 2-4 questions. Yes, that takes self-discipline on your part but the more you know before class, the more you will learn in class. I have students who come by and see me every single day for about 5-10 minutes. That always helps. Those people tend to do very well.

“The second thing you can do is review the material carefully after class and write out 2-4 questions about the stuff that you still don’t quite get, stuff that doesn’t yet make sense. And, again, come by for 10 minutes and let me help you with that. Sometimes just hearing stuff one more time makes all the difference in the world.

“Students often get scared after one bad grade and come by for one day and ask good questions and then get distracted and never show back up until the next test. Then, they make another bad grade and wonder why they didn’t come by on a regular basis. You are not in a hole yet but if you make another C or less on the next test, you will be in a hole. I want to prevent that. I want you to learn; I want you to do well. I want you to be proud of your effort. I want you to be successful. Come by and see me.

“Here are my scheduled office hours. I am able to come in occasionally at other times but most students can work one of these six times into their schedule.

MWF
--8:30 (usually 8:15) until 8:50
--10:00 until 10:20
--12:30 until 1:20
--2:30 until (usually) 3:00

Tuesday
--1:00 until 1:45

Thursday
--11:00 until 11:45

“I will not come out into the hall and drag you into my office. You are an adult; it is your grade. I expect you to take the initiative. But it is VERY helpful to walk in with your list of questions. That shows you are prepared for the conversation.“

Have We Become Too Nice?

2011-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

I have often said that I would feel better about college education when students start being more demanding of teachers and administrators by asking pointed questions about the quality of the process. After all, this is likely to be each student’s one shot at a college education -- an experience that will in most cases have an immeasurable impact on the rest of their lives. A well-educated person has an entirely different set of future prospects than a poorly educated person. We all know that, so why don’t students rise up and challenge schools to do a better job? Plus, either the students or their parents (or someone) must pay for this education, the amounts of which can quickly rise to the level of a small fortune and leave students in debt for years.

Most importantly, if we really do believe that the college experience should stimulate critical thinking skills (which virtually every college proudly proclaims as a primary goal), shouldn’t we start by expecting our students to look critically at the quality of the education that is being provided to them. I’ll cheer the day when students stand in front of the administration building yelling “we demand better teachers who will challenge us to think deeply and push us to do the difficult work necessary to make wise use of our talents.”

Consequently, when the opinion editor of the weekly newspaper here at my university started raising questions last week about her education, I paid attention. The starting point for her concerns was the tendency of some professors to give credit for class participation. As we all know, class participation grades are awarded in hopes of pushing students who are often reticent to be more interactive and, therefore, engaged in class.

Here are a few of the points the opinion editor made (in “Silence is precious if you don’t know what you’re talking about” by Liz Monahan in the February 3, 2011, edition of The Collegian).

“I can’t even count the times when a professor has asked for the meaning, theme, plot, scope, format, content or ethical dilemma of a piece of writing, only for a student, who you KNOW hasn’t read the book/article/essay, to raise his or her hand and say something useless.”

“Try calling on your students.”

“Mandating participation doesn’t prepare students for the big bad world. Yes, in the real world, when you have a job and a boss, you will have to do thing you don’t want to, like talk in meetings and give pitches. This is because in the real cruel, cruel world you’ll get fired for saying something that wastes two minutes of your boss’ ‘precious’ time.”

“Mandatory student participation fosters an environment in which students begin to talk without even thinking.”

Okay, I have taught for 40 years but have given participation grades in only one semester and found it did not work for me and dropped it. If you have read this blog for long, you know that I go in and question the student from the start of class to the closing bell. I don’t request participation; I demand participation. But, that is just my style. What works for me won’t work for everyone.

The one part of her essay that concerned me was her contention (which she made over and over) that students could just say anything, regardless of how dumb, and be accepted by the teacher. I find that very troubling (especially at my own school). What is the purpose of college if it is not to show students how to differentiate between bogus arguments and valid arguments? Her assertion that the boss will be upset if his or her time is wasted is legitimate. Why shouldn’t a college professor be just as upset by shallow, unprepared responses? Why can’t a college professor stop a student with a simple question: “Is there any point that you are really trying to make with these ramblings?” Or, as I asked a student recently “are you simply going to keep talking in hopes of stumbling upon a real idea as you go along?”

No one likes confrontation (especially in front of an entire class). No one enjoys making students feel uncomfortable. But, isn’t that a very essential part of our job? As college professors, have we simply become too accepting? And, if we have, are we doing the students a disfavor? Are we allowing our students to avoid doing any serious critical thinking if we accept every spoken thought? If a student says “the world is flat” (which, of course, was often said not too long ago) are we not harming that student’s development by not calling into question the statement as soon as it is made? And, won’t the student be more likely to have a better response the next time if it is obvious that the teacher is not going to allow faulty reasoning to slip through unchallenged?

What is the ultimate result of accepting bad reasoning or unprepared blathering?

I don’t believe the opinion editor actually meant to do this but I think she questioned the very core purpose of a college education. Our role is not to simply convey information to be memorized. Instead, we should be trying to develop a strong thinking process that will allow each student to reason things out for themselves throughout life.

To me, school should be about the development of ideas, the testing of those ideas, and the reshaping of those ideas as more is learned and the basis of the thinking process is challenged. None of that works, though, if the professor is unwilling to say “prove to me that there is a reasonable basis for your assertion or we are going to dismiss it until you can do better.”

I don’t give a participation grade but I have no problem if someone wants to give one. What I have a huge problem with is that we allow our students to get by in class with statements that don’t stand up to rigorous scrutiny. In fact, I think we do our students a major disservice if we don’t call them out for making statements in class that show a lack of preparation or a sloppiness of thinking.

Maybe we are just getting to be too nice.

Dealing With The Truth

2011-01-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

Before I start today, I want to repeat something I wrote recently. I have been creating these blog entries now for 54 weeks and, in that time, we have had 28,634 page views. That is fantastic but it is something that could never have happened without your help, without your passing along the URL to other folks who might be interested in teaching. So, once again, thank you for telling your friends about this site as well as you neighbors, relatives, coworkers, enemies, casual strangers, and even aliens from another planet. This blog goes nowhere without your help.
**

In the well-known movie “A Few Good Men,” the Tom Cruise character yells “I want the truth!” and the Jack Nicholson character responds “You can't handle the truth!” Great line.

When it comes to teaching, college professors will often assert that they want the truth about what is happening in class but I’m not sure they can handle the truth.

I was reminded of this exchange this morning in the Doonesbury cartoon in my Sunday newspaper. A college math professor (with a bow tie and suspenders, no less) is explaining “a very complicated proof. You can’t possibly track it without fully concentrating.”

Then, beginning to sound much like Tom Cruise, the professor starts getting to the very heart of the problem many of us face in college education today. “And yet it is perfectly obvious to me that most of you are either online or texting right now. Which is puzzling because on a pro-rated basis, the lecture you’re not listening to right now is costing you or your parents $175. So I’d love to know – what’s the thinking here? Why are you so happy to receive nothing for your money?”

Hmm, I wonder if he really could deal with the truth. Easy to ask the question but not so easy to deal with the answers if people start telling you the truth.

Isn’t it fascinating that a Sunday morning cartoon could cut so close to the heart of college education these days? But, does this guy really want the truth? Could he handle the truth if the students began to stand up and tell him the truth? Now, wouldn’t that be a fascinating cartoon. One by one, the students stand up and say “Sir, I’m not paying any attention to your lecture because . . .” and they give him the truth. (As an aside, if you have never watched the video made by the Kansas State students about education, you really owe it to yourself to watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

it’s at that point that you begin to hear the truth from students.)

When it comes to education and our classes, how many of us really want the truth that much? The problem for our all of us is that if we are given the truth, then we feel some moral obligation to take action. It’s easier (as the cartoon professor does) to just imply that the students are to blame. I hear that all of the time when I am out and about giving teaching presentations.

What do I think the truth is? Here’s my guess at the truth. I believe that students underperform in classes for one or more of three basic reasons.

(1) – they feel no sense of urgency (“I’ll defer thinking about this stuff until I have to”)
(2) – they are bored
(3) – they are lost and have a sense of hopelessness

If you can solve all three of these issues, your school will build a statue of you and put it in the quad.

For better or worse, these are issues that a teacher can address. You are not a helpless victim. But you have to want to improve before you are willing to take real action. And, you must realize that these are complicated issues that can only be addressed over a period of time by some careful thought and planning.

I’ll talk about urgency today and defer student boredom and being lost to some later time. If you can add a tiny bit of urgency to any class, I think you will see immediate improvement.

When I chat with people about any goal they are trying to achieve in life, I often hear lines like “I have trouble getting started” or “before I know it, I’ve wasted an amazing amount of time.” If you can add in a bit of urgency, most people begin to get up off the couch and get moving. A bit of urgency goes a long way in getting people to work. Without a sense of urgency, there are just so many more interesting things in life to do.

Okay, most of you who read this blog will be teaching a class in the next couple of days. How have you inserted urgency into the equation so that your students are more likely to prepare for class and then pay close attention during class? If your answer is that “I expect my students to prepare and pay attention in class,” then I have a bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan that I want to sell you.

I can give you two quick ways: one that I use in my classes and one that I don’t use. However, think of ways that your own teachers added urgency.

(1) – I teach by means of the Socratic method so each day I give my students 3-10 questions they should be able to discuss at the next class. Then, as soon as they walk in for the next session, I start peppering them with questions based on those original “conversation starters.” If students are absolutely sure they will be called on, it creates a sense of real urgency – they are more likely to prepare and pay attention. It really does work. It removes the general student feeling that they are just there to take notes. They know that they will be put on the spot.

(2) – If I had a class that was too large for the Socratic Method, I would change my strategy. At the end of each and every class (the last five minutes), I would ask the students to write out answers to one or two questions that were covered in the preparation work or within the class discussion. Those answers would count X percent of their overall grade. You will be surprised by how carefully students pay attention if there is a grade effect added at the end of the class. Suddenly, this material has an urgency to it – some question is coming up in just a few minutes that has to be answered.

A related issue to urgency is grading. If all of your students know they are going to get either an A or a B, why should they ever feel a sense of urgency? I truly believe there has to be some possibility of making below a B in a class or students will have no reason to be concerned at all. I usually give 50 percent A’s and B’s in my classes but I also give 50 percent of the grades that less than that. The fact that a student is not going to get an automatic A or B in a class does, I believe, push them to feel a bit of urgency about the material.

What’s the truth? In your case, I don’t know what the truth is. But if you feel that your students are underperforming, one issue to address is “urgency.” Students are human beings; without a sense of urgency, there is just not much reason to get up and do those things that need to be done.

The $10 Million Question

2011-01-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

There is an old question that teachers sometimes ask their students. In fact, I have asked it of my students on occasion. A student will come in and say “I just cannot seem to do well in your course. No matter what I try, nothing seems to work. I’ve tried everything and I keep getting bad grades. I just cannot do it.”

The teacher’s response is straight-forward “If I offered you $10 million, could you make an A in my class? You make an A and you will get a check for $10 million.”

If the student is honest, they usually respond “Well, yes, for $10 million, I would do absolutely nothing but studying night and day for your course and I imagine that I could make an A. I am not sure that I could make 100 but I could get an A. I would become obsessed for $10 million.”

The response from the teacher is obvious: “So, your problem in my class is not ability. It is only a question of motivation. If you could become motivated enough, you could make an A.”

It is a great story because so much of it is true. In the initial discussion with the student, there is the implication that the student cannot do well WITHIN THE CONFINES OF WHAT THE STUDENT IS WILLING TO DO. The student is not willing to say it but he (or she) is willing to study X hours or put in Y effort and when that doesn’t get the desired grade, the student becomes frustrated. Students are usually willing to put in a little more time but what they are looking for are tricks that will get them a better grade with about the same amount of energy or effort. And, when things don’t work, it is always relatively easy to simply fall back on “I just cannot do this stuff.” It is always easy to give up.

Okay, let’s turn the tables. I often give teaching presentations and a few (actually, quite often, many) of the participants will complain that the students simply won’t learn regardless of what they do. No matter what they do, they are disappointed in the results and often get student evaluations that seem too low.

I’ve never done the following at a presentation but at some point I’m going to try it. “Let’s assume that some rich graduate of your school walks in one day and offers to establish a $10 million teaching prize. At the end of the coming school year, every student will be asked the following question ‘rate each of your professors on the quality of what you learned in each of your classes this semester.’ The professor with the highest rating will be given the $10 million prize.” (Let’s assume that no one cheats and bribes the students.)

Would you want to win that prize? Oh, of course, unless your school pays better than mine, $10 million would be an incredible amount of money—much more than most of us make in two lifetimes.

Key question 1 – could you win that prize in your school? What I hope your answer would be is “for a chance at $10 million, I would certainly give it a try. For one year, I would do whatever it takes to get my students to learn and learn deeply. I would become obsessed with student learning.”

Key question 2 – what would you actually do in hopes of winning that $10 million teaching prize?

Once again, I don’t think this is a question of ability. I think all teachers can be great. I want to repeat that thought: I believe all teachers can be great. I think it is a question of motivation. For a shot at $10 million, I think every teacher would do things a lot differently than they do today. (For example, I bet class preparation time would go up significantly. I think a lot more time would be spent on writing and grading tests.)

I think one of the real weaknesses in college teaching today is that there is no real motivation for trying to be great. Yes, we all have personal pride and we all understand the importance of what we do. But, it is tough to rely totally on internal motivation.

But $10 million would be a whole lot of external motivation. So, here is the question that I want you to ponder—if there were a $10 million teaching prize offered at your school, what would you do differently in hopes of winning that award? Make a list of everything that you would do differently.

That list provides you with an automatic roadmap for becoming a great teacher, for becoming the kind of teacher that students talk about 20 years after graduation. That list tells you how you can become the best teacher in your building. There are no secrets to being a great teacher—look at your own list.

Then, try a few of those things starting today. You don’t need to start with all of them. Be satisfied with a few changes. See if they actually do work to make you a better teacher. You have to become a better teacher first before you can become a great teacher.

It is not a question of ability. People give me scores of excuses for not being the best teacher in their building. Forget those excuses. You’ve got to get over that. If someone offered you $10 million to become the best, what would you do?

Then, decide what part of that list you are willing to do first and get started.

Here We Go Again

2011-01-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

My classes begin anew on Monday and, although I have done this now for 40 years, there is still a real sense of nervous anticipation. One of the great (and maybe scary) aspects about college teaching is that no matter how good or bad one semester is, you have to start all over again with each new class. Whether I was the greatest teacher in the world in the fall or the very worst, that has nothing to do with the young people who will walk into my classroom on Monday at 9:00 a.m. I cannot rest of my laurels. But, I am also not held back by the mistakes I have made. On Monday, everything starts over. It is a brand new semester.

Where do I want to focus my attention on Monday?

Last summer, our school hired a new dean. About two months into the fall semester, she asked to attend one of my classes. We picked a day and time and she showed up and sat in the back. It was an introductory class full of sophomores.

I was lucky. The students that day were great. They had prepared themselves for the discussion and immediately got into the give and take of a Socratic Method class. I barely did anything that day as they debated and argued about the wisdom and rationale for various accounting standards. I posed a question or two and then directed traffic as they hashed out the particulars.

At the end of the class, the Dean was extremely kind as she commented: “Wow, that was impressive. How did you manage to do that?”

My response was just the first thing that popped into my head: “I have spent every minute in this class for the past two months training these students in how to learn and how to think about this stuff. You are just seeing the result of that training.”

Here is my Day One advice to every teacher who reads this blog: Train your students to do what you want them to do. I want my students to prepare, analyze, debate, and be able to justify their decisions. On Day One, I start training them to do these things. Trust me, students do not do these things naturally. If it is going to happen, you have to train them. They have been well trained before they get to you to take notes and memorize.

This goes back to one of my fundamental questions about education. Are we (a) teaching subject matter or are we (b) teaching students how to learn and think, with our subjects serving as a focal point for that process? My goal, at least for the last decade, has been to train my students (to prepare, analyze, debate, and be able to justify their decisions) so that—by the last day of class in April—they are capable of studying an entirely new issue on their own (something they have never seen before) and then coming up with a viable and reasonable resolution on their own.

Consequently, when I think about Monday’s class, I am not particularly concerned about beginning to teach the students my subject matter. We’ve got a long time for that. However, I am very concerned about training them to learn how to learn, training them to do what I believe will help them to understand why this material is important, how it works, and why it works in a particular way.

Will it work on Monday? Who knows. Every semester is new. More importantly, training students is an incremental process that takes patience. If we can make a small first step or two on Monday, then I’ll be pleased.
**
One other quick comment. Last night, we ordered some Chinese dinners that I brought home from a wonderful little restaurant in a place called Bon Air, Virginia. My fortune cookie fortune was “People will live up to your expectations of them.” What a wonderful fortune for a teacher to get right before the start of a new semester.

I have great faith in my students. When I walk in on Monday, I will fully believe that those faces starring at me are going to be the greatest students that I’ve ever had. I expect, by the last day of class in late April, that they will have learned an incredible amount about financial accounting. When it comes to education, I am just a complete optimist. Oh, I realize that we won’t leap tall buildings every day but I do think those students are going to be just wonderful and that together we are going to create a dynamic and engaging learning experience. We will accomplish much and actually enjoy the process. (And I get paid for having so much fun.)

People will live up to your expectations of them.

Take a Moment to Relish What You Did

2011-01-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

This morning I received an email from one of my favorite former students who is spending this year studying in Europe. Not surprisingly, she asked the traditional question: how was your semester?

After 40 years at this job, my initial reaction was to write back: “Oh, you know, same old same old. Been there, done that.”

After a few seconds of reflection, I realized that I didn’t like that attitude. I needed to change my tune. If that is the way I view my work, then maybe it is time to find a different job. I could make a lot more money being a banker or a lawyer and still be able to say “same old same old” about the work.

Being a teacher is the most wonderful job in the world. It gives you the opportunity to affect dozens of lives every day when you walk into the classroom. There is never an unimportant moment. An opportunity like that should not be taken for granted. When a semester concludes, every teacher should pause and celebrate what they have been able to accomplish. We might all be better teachers if we focused more on the importance of what we do.

This past semester, I worked with 64 students in my three classes. There were about four of those students who seemed determined to learn nothing. No matter how I coaxed and threatened, they wouldn’t do any work. They wouldn’t try; they wouldn’t even pretend to care. As a friend of mine says about teaching: “you can’t save them all.”

But that left 60 students who did try and, hopefully, learned a lot. Not too many of them made the grade of A but they worked hard and gained (I believe) a considerable amount of knowledge. And, hopefully, they came to think a little deeper. And, they learned the importance of adequate preparation. And, they got a bit better at analyzing issues and coming up with reasonable solutions.

Think about that – I had a positive influence on the lives of 60 college students. I would like to believe that they walked away from my class better off than when they first entered back in August. Those 60 students will always know some things about my subject matter because we worked together. As a teacher, I changed their lives.

If you truly stop and think about it, that is a great feeling. It is one of those “Wow!!” moments that doesn't happen often enough in life.

Moreover, when you think about it that way, you begin to realize what a huge responsibility you accept when you become a teacher. Your job is to change the lives of your students. Whether you do the job well, adequately, or terribly, you impact those students – you help to establish what they know that they will carry with them throughout their lives.

In teaching, I think we sometimes get depressed because we fixate on those (hopefully, few) students who won’t try despite our best efforts. We don’t spend enough time thinking about what we do accomplish. Teaching becomes such a regular part of our daily lives that we can start taking the whole process for granted.

Don’t do that!! Every teacher who reads this blog has the chance to change the world by impacting dozens, perhaps hundreds, of lives every semester. You help your students become more knowledgeable, better able to function in the adult world.

Name me one other profession that changes more lives than the teaching profession. Yes, there are professions that get paid better. But, I don’t think there is any profession that is more important to our society. Where would all the doctors, lawyers, accountants, scientist, ministers, engineers, and the like be without teachers? Without teachers, we would all still be living in caves.

So, take a moment to think about the lives you changed this past semester—the number of students who are different solely because of your influence. You have helped to open up the world to the people who were in your class. You have challenged those students to do better, make more of themselves, have higher aspirations. You have shared the joy of your subject matter with them.

What did you accomplish in the fall semester? You helped to make the world a better place because you are a teacher.

Experimentation

2010-12-25T18:05:00.000-08:00

When I give presentations about teaching, I always urge the audience members to experiment as much as possible. It is hard to make improvements if you are not willing to try new things. I am always reminded of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Some experiments work and some experiments don’t work. That is just the nature of the game. However, you will never find the winners if you are not willing to risk some losers. Playing it safe is no fun (and provides no benefit).

I tried an experiment with my final exam about two weeks ago. Even now, I am still not sure whether it was a winner or a loser but I found it interesting. I like the fact that I am still thinking about it.

What is the purpose of a final exam? I can think of two reasons. First, it gives the students one last opportunity to influence their grades. There is something about having hope for improvement that keeps students working until the end. Second, the final exam forces the students to review the material and, hopefully, get it better set in their understanding. In other words, they learn more.

I like giving my students an opportunity to improve their grades but my main reason for believing in final exams is that I really want them to leave the semester with all of the knowledge fresh in their minds. The final exam should encourage them to tie all of the material from the semester into a cohesive whole.

Unfortunately, I have often been disappointed in the results of final exams. Students seem overwhelmed by the huge amount of material and flit back and forth during their studies over the various topics without really getting a strong grip on any of it. They just don’t always learn as much as I want from their preparation.

So, at the end of my Intermediate Accounting II test this past semester, I wrote out 49 multiple-choice questions that covered everything that we had discussed that I thought was essential. I tried to gear each question to take about 4 minutes to solve. Although they were designed to be multiple-choice questions, I did not include any answers—just the questions.

Ten days before the final exam, I distributed these questions to my students along with the following speech: “Here is your final exam. These are the 49 questions that I would really love for you to be able to answer on the final exam. When you arrive for the final exam, you will have three hours to answer these questions. I will only make three changes from what you see here:

“1 – I will change the order of the questions.

“2 – I will add four multiple-choice answers to each question along with a “none of the above” answer.

“3 – Most importantly, for each question, I will change one or more of the variables in the question. For example, if the cost is $400,000, I might change that to $500,000. If the life is 5 years, I might change that to 10 years. If the interest rate is 8 percent, I might change that to 10 percent. If the blue method is used, I might change that to the red method. But the question will be fundamentally the same. If you can answer these questions, you should be able to answer all questions on the test.

“If you make sure you can work these 49 questions over the next ten days, you should make 100. But you must understand the problem so well that my changing of the variables will not really slow you down. I realize these are very difficult questions, but they cover the essentials that I want you to be able to work. You’ve got ten days to get these 49 under control.”

I quite honestly was not sure what was going to happen. In the end, the A students missed about 6 of the questions and got 43 correct. The B students missed about 13 and got 36 correct. The C students missed about 20 and got 29 correct. (The D and F students missed more, as you might imagine).

If I had given this test without the pre-test, I am convinced that most would have missed 50 to 100 percent more than they did. Students had clearly gone over the pre-test and learned to work many of the questions. They knew where to focus their attention. However, the number of missed questions was still higher than I had anticipated. Okay, these were 49 extremely tough questions about leases, pensions, cash flows, bonds, deferred taxes, and the like. But I really expected someone to become obsessed and learn them all backwards and forwards and make 100. That didn’t happen. Even with ten days, they just didn’t have enough time for that.

What interested me the most was that this type test had little impact on overall grades. Of all my students, the final exam grade made by 68 percent was within five points of their overall average for the semester. Students with an 82 average made about 82 and students with a 95 average made about 95. Only 32 percent had more than a 5 point difference between this test from their final average. I really had expected a greater number of students to show a greater change.

But, the basic question is still the same-did the students learn more in their studying? That was what I was trying to accomplish. And, I think they did that. Or, at least, I am encouraged enough to try it again. Maybe, this time with 40 questions instead of 49. Maybe, you just can’t do 49 complex questions in three hours even with a ten-day head start.

That’s my most recent experiment and how it worked. What was yours?

Thanks!!!

2010-12-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

I began writing this blog almost a year ago. At the time, I seriously wondered whether anyone would ever read it since I had no easy way to get the word out. I decided to write the blog, though, because I thought doing so would force me to think more deeply about my own teaching. In that way, it has been a huge success. I am a better teacher today, I firmly believe, than I was at this time last year because I have taken time to reflect on almost every aspect of my work.

However, I was still faced with the question: does anyone “out there” actually read these thoughts? So, yesterday, I finally broke down and looked at the statistics. Since I wrote the first blog entry last January, there have been 27,398 page views. Wow, that is roughly 27,000 more than I expected. It turns out to be 75 page views seven days per week for a solid year. That is a lot of teachers and a lot of education.

I just wanted to say THANKS!! This could not possibly have happened without a lot of great people helping to spread the word. I cannot fully express my appreciation to everyone who has taken the time to tell someone else about this blog.

I have long been convinced that virtually all teachers want to be better teachers. Often, unfortunately, it is hard to get practical advice. I sincerely hope that this blog has helped some folks become a tiny bit better in the classroom. If so, then my time has been well spent. If we all work to make tiny improvements in our teaching, the whole world will improve in an amazingly short period of time.
**

At the end of a semester, a few of my students will often write to talk about the goods and the bads of the semester. A student wrote me 3-4 days ago and made a comment that I found interesting. “I want to let you know that one of the greatest parts of the class is that you allowed us to fail initially, but then helped us to see our error(s) and eventually we learned to succeed on our own.”

Probably the essential question in teaching (at least to me) is “how do you get away from simply conveying information and requiring memorization so you can move to the more difficult task of creating understanding and critical thinking?” Can you think of a more important question for education as we enter 2011? It is not 1954—we cannot afford an education process that continues to resemble 1954.

I find that my students are hungry for the right answer so they can copy it down – ready for later memorization. They can get very frustrated at me when (during our conversations) I respond to them “Nope, that answer is wrong; try again and give me a better answer.” In fact, I like asking questions where I’m not sure what the right answer really is. I want them to convince me that they have figured out the right answer and can stand behind it.

Virtually every History student knows that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. Why wasn’t it issued on the first day he took office? Why wasn’t it issued on the first day of the Civil War? Why wasn’t it issued on the day that Lee surrendered? To me, those are fascinating questions. Give me a good answer that makes sense. Don’t just tell me what is on the top of your head so I won’t fuss at you. That is not thinking—that is just guessing.

If you have read this blog for long, you know that I don’t believe in trying to surprise my students. I am not sure that anything is served by that. So, 48 hours in advance, I might have given my students the following “conversation starter:” “I believe that the Emancipation Proclamation was one of the key factors in US history. Why did President Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863?”

After about a week in class, my students would come to understand that I wasn’t going to ask them that question – they would have already made a list of five bullet points to read to me as an answer. We would just be back to conveying information, this time from student to teacher rather than the other way around. Booorrrring.

I’d prefer to start off the conversation with a related question like “when do you think it first occurred to Abraham Lincoln that he should issue the Emancipation Proclamation? Do you think he woke up one morning in 1855 and said ‘you know, if I ever become president, I think I will free the slaves?’ Where do you think this idea came from?”

I don’t have a good answer for this question but I do think the conversation can help the students (and teacher) understand the man, the times, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Education can be so much fun if you get away from the obsession of “knowing” a right answer. Let the students stumble around for awhile and you’ll be delighted to discover that, with a little guidance, they can develop enough understanding to think their way to their own reasonable answer.

And, after graduation, isn't that what they are going to have to do in the real world?

Congratulations!!

2010-12-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I carried out my very favorite activity of every semester. I sent an individual email to each student who made an A in my class this semester just to congratulate them. As teachers, we push our students unmercifully to succeed. We are after them constantly to do the work necessary to make an A. We push and prod them to give us an excellent effort. We complain when they disappoint us.

Therefore, I think those students who take up our challenge and do the work we ask of them deserve our acknowledgement. I believe they should get more than an anonymous A on a grade report. So, before I turn my grades in to the school, I send each A student an email so they know that I did notice.

In my classes this semester, 14 percent of the students in my introductory class (a relatively low number for me) made an A and 35 percent of the students in my intermediate class (an all-time high) made an A. I sent each of these students an email something like the following:

Wednesday afternoon

To: Mr. X

From: JH

I am very pleased to let you know that I have finished grading the final exams in Accounting 201 (Financial Accounting) and you earned the grade of A for this semester. Only 14 percent of the students in this course managed to earn an A and you were one of those. Congratulations!!! Your work for the semester was outstanding. I am pleased for you and believe that you should be very proud of yourself. Although a lot of people have taken Financial Accounting with me over the past 40 years, very few of them have been able to say that they made an A. You now belong to a relatively exclusive club. To do this well in Financial Accounting requires a lot of hard work and (hopefully) some deep thought. Your work was excellent and it was, very much, a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with you. I really hope you will carry this success with you into the spring semester. Nothing pleases me more than to hear that my former students are knocking the top off of their subsequent courses. You can do it – you are very bright and hard working. So, make it happen.

As I am sure you know, for about the last 12-15 years, I have asked every student who has made an A in one of my courses to write a short essay (a paragraph or two will be sufficient) to explain how you managed to make that grade when so many (equally bright folks) failed to do consistently excellent work this semester. I hope you will write this up and forward that essay to me in the next few days. Think about it a little bit. What should those other students have done differently? As you know, I will share your thoughts with the students for next semester in the hopes that they can replicate your success. What can you tell a rising 201 student to explain to them what I want? I am always frustrated that some students simply never catch on to what I am looking for. I honestly believe that everyone can make an A in 201 if they will do the work in the proper fashion. I need for you to explain what that proper fashion is. All I ask is that you be totally honest. The grade is already in – so, tell them the truth.

Have a great holiday. Enjoy your vacation – you have earned it. If I can ever be of assistance, please just let me know.

Annoying or Amusing?

2010-11-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

I had the genuine pleasure this past Thursday of speaking to 150 new faculty members in the Virginia Community College System. It is always a treat to work with people at the very beginning of their teaching careers. They have such a wonderful opportunity to help change the world.

One of the themes that I explored with the group was the idea of improvement. If you continue to improve as a teacher, year after year, you will get very good and eventually become great. And, the amount of annual improvement doesn’t have to be huge. In connection with their teaching, I suggested that every person work toward making a mere 5 percent improvement per year. That is doable and at that rate, in not too many years, you can become the best teacher in your building.

However, a great majority of teachers get better for awhile but eventually plateau. Many people who were B- teachers two decades ago are still B- teachers. I find that troubling. Why doesn't a B- teacher eventually become an A+ teacher?

There is a point where it simply becomes easy to say “I am what I am and I am never going to get any better so I’m not even going to try.” As you can imagine, that is not an attitude that I like. As far as I’m concerned, if I am not dead, I should be working to get better.

The question comes up, then, as to what causes a teacher to plateau. I have known a fair share of people who were good teachers and then suddenly began to become disgruntled. After that, they never got one bit better.

When does that happen? I have a theory. When you first start teaching, it is easy to find your students amusing. My students are all about 19 years old and I occasionally refer to them as puppies. They are just beginning to try out the responsibilities of adult life. As with growing puppies, this time can often be a very humorous period of transition.

However, there can come a time when those same students and those same actions can become annoying. A student will say something bizarre and instead of finding it amusing, the professor finds the student’s ignorance to be annoying.

In fact, if a professor ever says to you, “students simply aren’t like they used to be,” that is a clear sign that they have gone from viewing students as amusing to annoying.

If you find students in general to be amusing, then you are willing to do the work that is necessary to continue to improve. Five percent improvement is clearly a possibility. But, if the students have started to annoy you, then improvement becomes a much more difficult task. It is very easy, at that essential moment, to hit that plateau where your days of improvement cease.

So, wherever possible, I try to view the actions of my students as relatively amusing. And, even though they do incredibly dumb things at times, I try to avoid staying in a constant state of annoyance. The reason is fairly obvious. I really do want to get better. I want to get 5 percent better by this time next year. And, that is hard to accomplish if everything the students do seems to annoy you.

We Shouldn’t Take It For Granted

2010-11-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Topic One: On this coming Thursday, I will be having one of the great pleasures of my life. I will be leading a 3 1/2 hour teaching workshop for 150 new teachers in the Virginia Community College System. When you are given the opportunity of working with 150 new teachers, you realize that you are looking at a group that can truly make a difference in the lives of an almost countless number of students for decades and decades to come. This truly is an honor for me.
**

Topic Two: This past Friday I sat in my office for about 30 minutes and talked with an official in the Afghanistan government. That certainly is not a traditional part of my job. However, his daughter is a student at the University of Richmond and he was on campus visiting her. Because I knew the daughter, she brought her father by so we could meet.

We talked about the progress being made in Afghanistan and he immediately started talking about the problems caused by illiteracy in his country. His point was that for nearly 25 years, the country was without a formal education system. First under the Russians and then under the Taliban, schools as we know them were often nonexistent. Can you imagine, he asked, what it is like to go 25 years without education? An entire generation is lost.

Instead of producing doctors, engineers, accountants, and the like who could serve as the leaders to help pull the country out of poverty, an entire generation basically went without education. And, what can most people really do without education? I do not know if this is accurate but I found the following on the Internet: “The overall literacy rate in Afghanistan is reported to be 28.1%; according to an Afghan Ministry of Education report, ‘In rural areas where 74 percent of all Afghans live, however, an estimated 90 percent of women and 63 percent of men cannot read, write and do a simple math computation.’”

That is a staggering set of statistics. If you simply stop and think of how limiting those numbers are for the people, the challenges faced by the entire country seem overwhelming.

How hard it must be to try to create a peaceful, prospering country with those kinds of statistics working against you.

There is a lot of criticism of the educational system in the US and, most certainly, improvements can be made. However, regardless of what you think of US education, no one can deny how important it is to the growth and prosperity of our country. Sometimes it is easy to say “oh, I’m just a teacher” and view the job as unimportant but those of us in education need to constantly remind ourselves of how essential our job is. If you are a teacher, never take it for granted. Our country needs great education. As teachers, we each have students who are depending on us to help them read and learn and go out into the world and make a difference. And, through that learning, they will be able to help continue the building of a great nation.

I couldn’t help thinking, as I sat and talked with the Afghan official, that I wished every teacher could hear what he was saying about the total loss that comes from lack of education. There are a lot of the world’s problems that I cannot do a single thing about. However, when it comes to helping to educate the next generation, that is a challenge that I can personally address—even as soon as Wednesday—when I walk back into class and make a little difference in the lives of my 64 students. I want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Teaching Is Serious Business

2010-11-02T05:55:00.001-07:00

I was asked, about four years ago, to write an essay on teaching. The following was my response. I believed this then. I believe it now. Joe

Teaching is serious business. We have wonderfully bright and talented students at every school. They have almost unlimited potential. For most, this is their one shot at college; they deserve nothing less than an excellent education,
an academic experience that challenges them to excel from their first day to their last.

Faculty members have a responsibility to the world to coax the very best from their students because they will certainly become the next generation of leaders. Where they go from here, what they accomplish, how they impact the world, depends in large part on how much we are able to push and nurture their development. I want every student to leave my class at the end of the semester saying, “I had to work very hard but I am so amazed by how much I learned.” Anything less is unacceptable.

If a teacher challenges students to think and do their best, word gets around campus quickly, but having a tough reputation is both good and bad. When students walk into my class on the first day, they tend to be very quiet and pay attention right away. On the other hand, I am always so disappointed when a student says to me “I hear you are a good teacher, but I didn’t take your class because I know you are very demanding.” Isn't that just incredibly sad? I think all of college education (as well as the world in general) will be better when students become convinced to sign up only for classes where teachers push them each day to do their best.

During each semester, I occasionally point out to my students that the grade of A, according to the University catalogue, reflects “outstanding” work. A student does not earn the grade of A for a good effort, only for consistently outstanding work. That’s a great goal; it inspires a wonderful level of effort. Grade inflation has hurt college education across this country and could be fixed simply by faculty members saying, “You earn an A when the work that I see is truly outstanding.” Don’t fool yourself; students are well aware of the difference between “good” and “outstanding.”

I use the Socratic Method. I call on every student every day in class. I don't ask them to regurgitate material; I ask them questions that I believe will cause them to think and reason—on the spot. That is what adult life is like. I then follow my initial question with others based on their answers. If I don’t get good replies from a student, I don’t just nod and smile; I demand better of them. A student once compared my class to a contact sport. Students should be ready, willing and able to discuss and debate issues. This is college, not high school.

I want a reasonable effort from my students because students get back based on what they put in. I expect them to study four to six hours each week outside of class so they’ll be ready to participate in class discussions. I use carrots and sticks. I say, “Good job!” when a student gives me a thoughtful, well-conceived answer, and I say, “Listen, you can do better than that!” when a student gives me a bad answer. I don’t view that as being disagreeable, although I do realize that it injects a bit of tension into the class. But this is not Sesame Street; a bad answer is a bad answer. There is only one primary goal in my class: to improve each student’s ability to think, reason and understand. Students realize how capable they are, but human nature loves to take the easy path.

A good basketball coach adapts to the talents of his or her players. A good teacher does the same. You cannot take an identical approach with every student. Some love to be pushed and pushed hard. They enjoy “in-your-face” challenges. Others are more fragile. You have to coax and nurture them. So toughness comes into my class where toughness is necessary. You teach each student, not each group. However, every student needs to be willing to prepare and to think. That is not negotiable.

One of the keys to becoming a good teacher is learning to walk into a room of students and “see” what is happening to the individual members: Billy needs a few extra seconds to formulate an answer, Susan loves to be called on, Andy doesn’t know what is happening right now, Ellen is not prepared. You have to be able to adapt to your students on the spot every day. What a wonderfully exciting job.

Our students can do amazing things, but if we don’t challenge them fully, they will never realize what marvelous talents they truly possess. Signing up for demanding classes might hurt a student’s GPA, but which is more important: developing a good mind or a good GPA?

Conversations

2010-10-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

If you have followed this blog for long, you know that my favorite saying about teaching is "Teaching does not come from years of doing it. It actually comes from thinking about it." Unfortunately, it is easy to get trapped into thinking superficially about teaching. “Why are students so lazy?” “Why can’t students read?” “Why do students seem incapable of thinking?” I’m not sure that kind of thinking does anyone much good.

A few days ago, a friend and I had a long conversation about teaching, just a general conversation about what works and what doesn’t work for us. We talked about our goals and our frustrations. When is the last time you had such a conversation? Really, a conversation about how teaching is actually done. Find someone in your building or in your school who truly likes to think and talk about teaching and make it a point to have such conversations on a regular basis.

As part of my recent conversation, the question was raised (now that we are half-way through the current semester) as to what we expect from our students each day. My now we have trained them (either on purpose or by accident). When you walk into your classroom, what do you actually expect to get from your students? If all you expect is for them to sit there quietly and take notes, you will probably get your wish. But, shouldn’t learning require more than that from students? If all students have to do is sit quietly and take notes, then education by television or the Internet is the way to go.

My answer to that particular question, after a bit of thinking, was that I wanted three things from my students.

First, I want them to be engaged. I want them on the edge of their seats ready to participate at the drop of a hat. I don’t like comfortable students. Comfortable students tend to be lazy students. Comfortable students don’t seem to like to do the depth of thinking that I want.

Second, I want the students engaged 100 percent of the time. One of my all-time favorite teaching books is One L. Scott Turow, the author, talks about his first year at Harvard Law School and this famous teacher who taught by the Socratic Method. He made the point that everyone was on the edge of their seats practically holding their breath until the first student was called on. The teacher had the habit of interrogating that one student for the rest of the hour. Therefore, after the first question, every other student started to daydream or think about other classes. When I read that 20 years ago, I thought it was ridiculous. I don’t want one student to be engaged. I want all of them to be engaged all of the time. My classes are 50 minutes long – I’m convinced that people (even young college students) can stay focused for that period of time.

Third, as I have said often in this blog, I want my students prepared. I think 100 percent of good teaching has to start with student preparation. College is for deep thinking and complex learning. When I ask students about a capital lease or a deferred income tax, there is no possibly way they can come up with a legitimate response off the top of their head. This has to be something they have thought about and considered in advance. Without the preparation, what are we able to do in class? Darn little.

It was a good conversation about teaching. I went back to my own teaching with some new insights into what others think as well as what I think. You don’t need those conversations every day but it is hard to get better as a teacher without some of those conversations.

It Is An Honor

2010-10-04T13:43:00.001-07:00

My good friend Paul Clikeman furnished me with these lines from Pat Conroy's book The Prince of Tides. This is the way that we should all feel every day when we have the good fortune of being able to go into a classroom to try to help our students to work and learn and understand.

Savannah Wingo: "You sold yourself short. You could’ve been more than a teacher and a coach."

Tom Wingo: "Listen to me, Savannah. There’s no word in the language I revere more than teacher. 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.

Incentives Matter

2010-09-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

(1) – I had my first test of the semester last week in Financial Accounting. If you would like to see a copy of that test, drop me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

(2) - Several weeks ago I heard part of a story on National Public Radio. It was about British sea captains who were transporting prisoners to Australia in the 1700s. Unfortunately, many of the prisoners were dying along the way. So, the British government changed the way they paid the sea captains. They began to pay only for each prisoner who arrived in Australia alive. Not surprisingly, the death rate dropped to nearly zero almost immediately.

The punch line of the story was that incentives matter.

I am a believer that you can encourage people to do almost anything if you figure out the right incentives. With an incentive that matters, people can practically leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Like every teacher, I get frustrated by my students on occasion. I give an assignment and they don’t do it or they don’t put significant time into it. Assuming that the assignment is not too tough for them, why don’t they do better? That is an easy answer. They don’t have any incentive to do better.

I once asked a class: “if I gave you each $1 million to make an A on our next test, how many of you would make an A?” Every hand in class was raised quickly. So, it was not a question of ability – with the right incentive, everyone will do enough work to make an A.

Assuming that you don’t have a lot of extra millions to give out, what incentives can you use? Historically, teachers often fall back on the old standby “this is likely to be on the test” to motivate students to work. However, that is such a negative incentive. It tells the students “learn this or else.” That is hardly a way to build excitement for learning.

Personally, I prefer not to use incentives at all. I think learning should be fun and the reward of knowledge and understanding should be enough to motivate students to do the work that is necessary.

At the same time, I realize that is a bit naïve. Students are humans and they will always put their energy where they perceive the greatest immediate benefit. So, at times a more tangible incentive is needed.

On Monday and Wednesday of this week, in my financial accounting class, we covered accounts receivable. The weather has been cool and rainy and the students have seemed especially lethargic. The next test is not for 2-3 more weeks. I could tell that many of them were going to defer thinking about accounts receivable until that next test. I needed to get them cranked up. Last night, I sent them an email saying that I was going to start class off on Friday with one quick question on accounts receivable. No penalty if they missed it but I would give them 2 bonus points on their next test if they got it correct.

I’m hoping this will be the incentive they need to focus their attention on this topic. Two points is not a lot but it provides them with a tangible reason to learn this material now and not wait until the night before the test.

I will write later and let you know if this bonus question works or not. However, I am convinced that appropriate incentives do work. So, if you are having a class that is not responding in the way that you would like, step back and consider what incentives they have for doing better. Perhaps changing those incentives a bit will change your results.

VALUING YOUR STUDENTS WORDS

2010-09-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

I have been tied up with the start of a new school year and have not had time to post anything. So, a good buddy of mine (and great teacher) Steve Markoff of Montclair State wrote the following. His words are ever so true and he says it better than I could have.

Thanks Steve!!!

We’ve probably heard the expression that you were born with two ears and one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as we talk. I remember the first time I heard this from an elementary school teacher over 40 years ago. Just how does this apply to teaching? How can we use this to become better teachers?

In order to listen more, we need three things:

1. Someone to listen to,

2. Something to listen to

3. A reason to listen

For too many of us, the answer to number 1 is “me”; after all, we have all the academic and professional qualifications along with all of the knowledge from our years of accounting – who better to listen to? It took me a long time to realize that there was someone else worth listening to in this exchange – the students.

So, now that we have someone else to listen to, we need something to listen to. As long as I am talking, there is nothing else to listen to except the sound of my own voice. What else is there to listen to? Answers to questions, that’s what. The math basically looks like this: more asking = more listening. If you ask a question, then you are going to get a response, and THAT gives you something to listen to. Have you ever thought about one of those people who you think of as “great conversationalists?” If you really take notice, all they mostly do is ask questions about YOU and open their ears and listen. Most of the time it is YOU doing the talking, but they are getting all the credit. Students frequently tell me know what a great teacher or explainer I am, when in fact I am mainly just asking and not doing that much explaining in the first place.

So far 1 and 2 sound easy, but one thing I’ve learned in life is this: People can know what to do and how to do it, but, unless they have a reason WHY they should do it – they won’t. When someone isn’t doing something, it’s one of three things. They either: a) don’t know WHAT to do – that’s easy – explain what you want done, b) they don’t know HOW to do it – also easy solution – train them. Show them how to do it. If they still aren’t doing it, then the solution is WHY – they don’t have a good enough reason for doing it.

A lot of us know that we SHOULD be asking more questions, and HOW to go about it, but we don’t have a compelling reason WHY. I’ve found that once I TRULY WANT TO HEAR my students, and then I have a good reason why. I have a real love affair with what is on the minds of my students. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say in class. As long as I honestly WANT TO HEAR them, I will be a better listener and, accordingly, since it is questions that start that process, I will naturally want to ask more and more questions.

So, if you want to ask more and tell less – create that COMPELLING REASON to listen – truly value what your students say. After all, if they had the winning LOTTO numbers, you would listen pretty closely, wouldn’t you? Well, they might not have that, but they have something that I think is worth its weight in teaching gold. Fall in love with what they say – the rest will become easy.

You have 2 ears and one mouth – so ASK twice as much as you TELL – my elementary school teacher gave me great teaching advice!

Need Some Inspiration?

2010-09-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

There are times when every teacher needs some inspiration. There will always be days where everything goes wrong and the idea that anyone actually learns anything in your class seems remote. We all need inspiration now and then and I believe you should not ignore those needs. We are human.

One recommendation—the next time you are down and out about teaching, go to the video store and check out a movie from 1988 titled Stand and Deliver. You cannot possibly watch that movie without getting excited about the joys of teaching. It is the true story of a Los Angeles high school math teacher in a very poor area who drives his students to succeed on the AP test for calculus. He pushes them so hard that his students are accused of cheating because they do so well on the exam. They all forced to take the test a second time and they come back and pass it again.

No matter what the problems they encountered, the teacher did not let his students give up. He willed them to succeed.

It is just a wonderful story of how one teacher is able to make such a difference in the lives of so many young people by pushing them to be great. Watch it one night and you will be a better teacher the next day.

Be A Student

2010-09-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

If you are always the king, it is very difficult to understand what it is like to be a peasant.

Most college professors that I know have spent a long time being the experts in the classroom. They are the ones who walk in each day with all the knowledge. They are the people in charge. Trust me, that gets to be a very comfortable feeling. At times, teachers can forget the feeling of being a student.

Consequently, whenever possible, I try to take classes where I am the student. I prefer to take classes in subjects where I have little or no knowledge. Over the years, I have taken classes in jewelry making, Russian culture, portrait photography, creative writing, and ballroom dancing. I think I managed to be terrible in all of those classes. I like being the person in the room who is worried about looking stupid. I like sitting through a 75 minute class where I am bored to death after 10 minutes. I like taking a class where I listen to a teacher and try (sometimes hopelessly) to figure out what he would possibly be explaining.

If you have forgotten what it is like to be a student, it can be very difficult to be a good teacher. When is the last time you took a class so that you were the student and not the person in charge?

A few years back, I took a two-day class in large format photography (think Ansel Adams or Matthew Brady). For some reason, I really wanted to do well so I spent the first day of the class taking careful notes and making sure that I understood every step. I asked questions and focused my attention on every demonstration.

At the end of that first day, each of the four members of the class took two pictures with one of those huge cameras as we crouched under a black cloth. The teacher was going to develop those pictures overnight and we would critique them the following day.

I came back, the next morning, with great anticipation. I had been so careful to do everything correctly and I really wanted to see the finished product. I was so optimistic. When we walked in, the teacher informed us that “three sets of pictures were great but one set did not come out at all.”

Immediately, I felt my stomach clutch up as I mumbled to myself “Oh please, don’t let me be the one who messed up. I tried so hard to get it right.”

The pictures did not have names on them so the teacher held up the first batch and one of the students identified them as her pictures. I am now down to 1 chance in 3 for being the incompetent fool. “Okay,” I said to myself “you were so careful—surely, your pictures were fine. Surely, someone else made a mistake.”

The teacher held up another set of pictures and one of the other men in class held up his hand. Now, we are down to the final set of good prints. By elimination, the dummy will now be unmasked and the other three people and the teacher will know who failed to learn the lesson. I can actually hear my heart beating – no one wants to appear stupid. “I want mine to be good; I want mine to be good” I silently chant, almost in prayer.

Well, the last prints went to the other remaining student and I was left to confess that I was the person who apparently couldn’t complete the assignment. Everyone was nice and told me that such things often happen with these big cameras. But, one person in the group looked dumb, and it was me.

When I went to my own class the next day, where I was once again in control, I looked out at my students with a bit more awareness. No matter how hard you try, sometimes things go wrong and you feel stupid and feeling stupid does not often encourage learning. At least on that one day, I was a bit more careful with my explanations and I had a little more patience when the students did not grasp the concepts immediately. On that day, I was a better teacher. And, I was a better teacher for having been a student—not 40 years ago but on the previous day.

Take some classes. Take hard classes. Be brave and put yourself into the student role. The king and the peasants really need to work together and if you are always the king, it is very difficult to understand what it is like to be a peasant.

Writing Assignments

2010-09-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

I want my students to learn to write well. Good writing skills should be a requirement for any college education, regardless of the major. Writing well helps people think more logically. Sentences must follow sentences in a pattern that makes sense. Words need to be positioned so that ideas are clear. The message must be delivered in a fashion that can be understood by the intended reader. Today, the writings of many college students seem to be influenced heavily by Twitter and instant messaging.

How can a teacher assist students in developing good writing habits? I use a four-step approach. I grade each of these steps individually but I put the most emphasis on the finished product that comes from the final step.

First, students need something to write. I instruct them to create a problem or a question (within our discipline) that needs to be addressed. I give them guidance on arriving at their question. They then write a letter or memorandum to describe this issue in an understandable fashion. The reader must be able to comprehend the various aspects of the problem and the reason that it needs to be resolved.

Second, the students do the research necessary to arrive at a reasonable resolution for the problem they have created. Every person writes a response to explain the answer that they believe best solves the problem. Again, clarity is essential. The reader must be able to understand the recommendation and the rationale for following that approach.

Third, these first two writings assignments are collected in class and immediately given back, but to a different student. This second student is assigned to critique every aspect of the problem that was raised and the proposed solution. The critique should look at both the technical answer provided and the first student’s use of the English language. This reader must search for anything that prevents either of the first two assignments from being perfect. I have always felt that requiring an evaluation of this type makes both parties more careful. The original writer feels the pressure of having a peer assess the work. The second student must provide a critical evaluation of the technical answer and the written communication, a task not always encountered in school.

Fourth, the critique letter is given to the first student. Hopefully, the student will see the reason why some portions of the original letters were not clear or where the technical material was inaccurate. This student is given the opportunity to rewrite the first two assignments based on the advice provided in the critique. Students can make whatever changes they feel are needed. They have a chance, before they turn in the final letters, to have another member of the class provide advice.

I want each student to see the elements of what they wrote that were judged by their reader to be unclear and needing additional work. I am not an English professor but I have been well pleased by the improvements that I have seen between the original letters and the final versions.

What Do You Really Want to Accomplish?

2010-08-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

When is the last time you took a pencil and paper and wrote down (in a sentence or two) what you wanted to accomplish in your classes? Here, at the start of a new academic year, it might be a profitable way to spend 5 minutes. I always tell my students “if you don’t know where you want to go, any road will get you there.”

Probably, any time in the first 30-35 years that I taught, I would have written down something like “I want to help my students come to understand and appreciate financial accounting so they can use it in the real world to help make good decisions.” That is a worthwhile goal and every word is still true for me today. However, in recent years, I have become more and more convinced that I want to do more than teach students a bunch of stuff. Somehow I feel that there is another plateau to this teaching gig that I am not yet achieving. Could I be doing more?

So, as the 2010-2011 academic year begins, I have added a few additional words to my goal: “I want to help my students become smarter people.” Is that even possible? Colleges are all about creating better educated people. Can they also increase the smartness level of their students? I personally think it can be done but it takes a lot more time and energy.

How do you increase smartness? Whenever I consider such questions, I always go back to my favorite quote about learning—one that I reflect on virtually every day. In his wonderful book, What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain talks with one highly successful professor about his teaching style. “’It’s sort of Socratic . . . You begin with a puzzle—you get somebody puzzled, and tied in knots, and mixed up.’ Those puzzles and knots generate questions for students, he went on to say, and then you begin to help them untie the knots.”

You puzzle the students; you tie them into knots. And, then you begin to help them untie those knots. What a glorious description of what education can be—learning that I think not only educates but can actually makes the student a smarter person.

Yesterday in class, we discussed two small accounting rules. My students could have easily “learned” these two rules in 5 minutes or less. Instead, we took the rules apart, piece by piece, looking for connections and contradictions trying to figure out their purpose and how they were supposed to achieve that purpose. After 50 minutes of questions and debates, I asked the students another question, one that seemed unrelated. The students were able to take the understanding they had developed and figure out how to use it to resolve this final question. That was my ultimate goal. They were able to figure out something new on their own.

Were they actually smarter people? Well, after just 50 minutes, they probably weren’t really any smarter. But, if we are able to create those puzzles and knots for an entire semester and work to figure out how to untie them, then, yes, I do hope they will become both educated and smarter by December.

The Opening

2010-08-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I indicated that I believed teachers should do a lot less than 100 percent of the talking in class—especially on the opening day. Several people wrote to ask me how I do that.

I view every class as a conversation. So, how do you start a conversation? Most conversations begin with a question. “Do you come here often?” “Have you ever had better barbecue?” “What did you think about that baseball game last night?” “Do you remember the weather ever being this hot?” Questions are a natural conversation starter. You then reply based on the answer you get. A good question can lead to hours of non-scripted conversation. The same is true in class.

Therefore, I really think about my opening question. Where do I hope it will lead our conversation? I think it often sets the tone for the entire day. In fact, on the first day, you may well be setting the tone for the entire semester.

Okay, I teach accounting classes so my opening question probably cannot be about William Shakespeare or e. e. cummings. I have to start convincing some very skeptical students that my accounting class is going to be both beneficial to them and interesting. English majors, biology majors and the like are not always sure that this accounting stuff is worth their time.

In each of my three opening classes yesterday, I walked in, read out the roll, and then called on a student randomly and asked the following question. “I was listening to National Public Radio on Friday and heard a bit of news announced at 6:40 p.m. Day in and day out, more people probably pay attention to this piece of news than any other single news item in the entire world. The announcer said ‘Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 57.59 points.’"

My guess is that most people in the business community around the world had a pretty good understanding of what that meant. What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? What fell? Why did it fall? Why should anyone care? And, what did accounting have to do with this?” I actually asked these questions one at a time as the conversation flowed back and forth.

The students were immediately intrigued. To them, it is like there is secret information out there in the real world that everyone seems to know and understand but they don’t. This is not about being able to pass a test. This is about avoiding looking embarrassingly dumb when you enter the real world.

We proceeded to have a wonderful conversation as the students worked out what the Dow Jones Industrial Average is and what its drop on Friday signified and how accounting information helps investors know which company stocks to buy and which to sell. The students were interested to learn that Alcoa’s stock with up .02 on Friday while DuPont went down .25 – what accounting information might have led to that shift?

At the end of the day, the students seemed to feel that this accounting stuff was actually pretty interesting and might be worth spending some time to learn. And, I had only done about 50 percent of the talking which is always my goal.

Okay -- here might be the important part of this post:
In the minds of many students, there is school and there is the real world and it is that divide that makes school seem unimportant. With my very first question on the very first day of the semester, I wanted the students to see that we were going to be studying something that really could be important to their lives beyond school. And, if you cannot establish that, right from the beginning, is there any reason to have the class?

Send Them The Message

2010-08-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

I watched a bit of a movie the other night (Where the Wild Things Are) and they had a classroom scene where the teacher stood in front of the group and did 100 percent of the talking while the students stared around the room in a mix of distraction, boredom, and random note taking. Education at its best(?) I watched a television show the other night (Breaking Bad) and they had a classroom scene where the teacher stood in front of the group and did 100 percent of the talking while the students stared around the room in a mix of distraction, boredom, and note taking. Education at its best(?)

I am convinced that you need to set the tone for the entire semester on the very first day. Right at the beginning, you need to send a signal for what you want and expect from the students. My recommendation for the first day would be to do a whole lot less than 100 percent of the talking. Make that a very high priority. Send the message immediately: In this course, you have to be actively involved.

As we all head toward the opening of a new semester, I will leave you with a quote that I have used before but it seems even most applicable at the start of a new academic year. “Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.” Education at its best!!!

What Do You Tell Your Students?

2010-08-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

Virtually all of the blogs that I have written over the past 8 months have been directed toward teachers. My goal has been to encourage teachers and give you folks something to think about that might stimulate a bit of improvement.

It crossed my mind this morning to wonder: who encourages the students? Being a student is not easy. They study hard and are constantly under pressure to do well on papers, tests, class presentations and the like. They are human; they need encouragement—especially when things are not going well.

Who encourages students? Well, I guess it should be their teachers. You need encouragement; you need assurance; you need positive feedback. And, so do they. If you genuinely want to teach students successfully, some small part of the job (I believe) must be to encourage them to do the work that is necessary.

Do we do that? Or, do we simply ignore that aspect of the teaching process and then complain when students don’t live up to our expectations?

I thought about this as I was writing an essay this morning to distribute to people who are studying to take the CPA Exam. I fully understand how much encouragement they need but I don’t always have the same insight on the struggles of my own college students. So, I think I will also share this essay with the students who will start my class this coming Monday.

Teaching has to be more than an effort to convey information. That makes education sound like a robotic process. And, neither teachers nor students are robots. Think about how you encourage your students in their difficult times. Here is one way that I plan to do it.

“I have been reading a book ('Mao’s Last Dancer') about a Chinese peasant boy who works incredibly hard and eventually becomes one of the top ballet dancers in the world. A lot of the book focuses on his early training when he moves quickly from extreme poverty to a national dance academy where he is pushed to learn ballet—something he does not even understand at first.

“In the book, he talks about how difficult it is to learn each dance movement. He is shown a new step or a turn and his first reaction is ‘I cannot possibly do that. Someone else may be able to do it, but not me.’

“And, sure enough, for the longest time, he cannot master the new move. He tries and fails, he tries and fails, he tries and fails. However, what really sets this young man apart from the other dancers in the academy is that he keeps trying even though he continues to fail. The other dancers practice three times each day (in a building without air conditioning) but he practices six times each day (at times breaking into the studio at night so he can practice alone). The other dancers are satisfied with being okay; he wants to be great. His desire is as large as his talent. His desire may be more important than his talent.

“So many times, after he has failed and failed and failed with a new dance movement, he’ll have a break-through and suddenly he can do it. It just happens—almost without warning. With enough practice, one day he can actually do what he had originally thought was impossible.

“The word that I really like in that story is ‘break-through.’ That is the way learning, especially when you are dealing with a very difficult topic, usually happens. Learning is just full of epiphanies. You miss the question, you miss the question, you miss the question and suddenly you have a break-through. Without warning, you see how the pieces fit together to form the correct answer. Once you catch on, the process frequently seems rather simple: ‘Why did I not see that before now—it is obvious how it works.’

“But that is just the way learning often works—you have to miss and practice, miss and practice until eventually you’ll have your own personal break-through and you will find that you have mastered the concept. That is a wonderful feeling. In learning, there is little that feels better than that quiet pause followed by ‘Oh, I see it now.’

“In learning, too many people give up too quickly. They never reach the ‘break-through’ point. The work is too hard or the failure is too devastating. They don’t have enough confidence to keep pushing or they don’t want success badly enough. They walk away saying ‘I just cannot do this.’

“Here’s what I want you to know: Those frustrations are normal; they are no reason to quit. Failure is a natural part of getting to success. Yeah, it is tough to miss questions but that is just the way the learning process works. If you keep plugging, if you keep pushing yourself, you will have a break-through and suddenly you’ll say ‘Oh, I see it now.’ And, that is going to feel great!”

Listening to Former Students

2010-08-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

I like listening to my former students, especially the ones who seem to be doing well out there in the adult world. “Was your education lacking in any way?” “How could I have better prepared you for life after graduation?” “Am I doing anything in my classes that is just a waste of time?” It is hard to make improvements if you don’t have a good assessment of your own strengths and weaknesses. And, who understands them better than students who have gone through your class and are now out in the real world.

A couple of days ago, I posted the previous blog (below) about pushing students to go beyond the right answer and encouraging them to address the more important issue: why is a certain answer the right answer? Today, I got an email from a student who was in a couple of my classes 3-4 years ago. She started out at the University of Richmond and finished up at Wharton and seems to have done well since graduation. I respect her opinion. Here was her response to that post—I especially liked her last sentence (although it is probably a run-on sentence).

“The right answer only counts for so much. In my experience so far in life, you rarely have to come to an ‘answer’ that you submit to someone and then wait and see if it's correct or not. All of the situations I've found on the job to date involve either working with a team, or data you got from someplace, or ideas you generated. You then form a hypothesis or explanation and describe to people why your 'answer' makes the most sense. One of the competencies I have the most difficulty with is thinking outside the box. One of the reasons I think I have trouble is because in school we got so much training in coming to the correct answer, but really being able to examine that answer and explain why it is correct and be open to others helping you develop it further is so much more useful.”

I like her words: “You then form a hypothesis or explanation and describe to people why your ‘answer’ makes the most sense.” Okay, here is my challenge to you and to me both: As you get ready to enter the fall semester of 2010, is that what your students wind up doing in your classes?

Getting The Right Answer Is Not Enough

2010-08-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

I start my classes again in 9 days. Even after 39 years, I am always tense as to what I want to say to my students on the first day. They have been in school for 15-16 previous years and, unfortunately, some of them expect every class to be more of the same. A few (maybe more) start off with a poor attitude. I am a big believer in first impressions. I want to get the class off to the perfect start. I want the students to realize that I want something different from them. They are college students, more should be demanded of them. But, if all you’ve ever been asked to do is memorize, it is hard to believe there is something more that the teacher might want.

I got a note today from Steve Markoff, a friend of mine who teaches at Montclair State. He told me about a book where computers were programmed to come up with the perfect move each time in various backgammon situations. The book, then, tries to help the reader figure out why each of those moves was the right one. The computer starts you off with the right move—you have to analyze the situation and figure out why it is the best possible answer.

Steve’s comment was something like “That’s what I want from my own college students—to go beyond just getting the right answer and be able to tell me why it was the right answer.”

Then, I knew what I should tell my students on the first day of the fall semester. From my perspective, too many classes focus on getting the right answer as the ultimate goal-that leads to memorization. I want my students to focus on understanding what is going on and why. How do I convey that desire? Simple—tell them: “When you get the right answer, you are half way home. You still need to be able to explain to me why it is the right answer.”

I think that is an understandable goal-one that will help my students know, right from the start, that I’m stressing something more complicated than what they might have expected.

Involvement

2010-08-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pastimes at any AAA convention is to visit the poster sessions where teachers from around the country talk about their classroom innovations. It is always impressive to me to see how many teachers are working to figure out new and different ways to encourage interest among students along with a deeper level of understanding.

One of my favorites last week in San Francisco was work done by Mary Michel at Manhattan College. I have a saying (that I stole) that I think applies to all students:

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

But, let’s be truthful, it is always a whole lot easier to tell students information than it is to involve them in learning. Anyone can lecture and the students will take notes. Involving students is much more challenging and requires teachers to do some serious thinking about their goals for the learning experience.

Dr. Michel starts off her Advanced Accounting class by having the students gather into groups and search for a set of financial statements from a company in a foreign country. Then, they must look for a set of financial statements from a comparable company located in the US. Car companies or pharmaceutical companies are good examples that should work well. The students have a set of foreign financial statements and a set of domestic financial statements. They must then find critical differences between the two as well as their similarities.

Okay, Dr. Michel could easily just tell the students the similarities and differences and they could write them down and memorize them. That’s not learning. That is note taking. I believe there should be a rule in education: “never tell students anything that they can find out for themselves.” In other words, get them involved and the learning will be so much more meaningful.

Is there anything you absolutely have to tell your students? Or, can you get them involved so that they will find the knowledge out for themselves? I have a saying that my students hear often and never really like: “I only get paid enough to ask questions; I don’t get paid enough to answer questions.”

I don’t like telling my students anything. I like figuring out ways to get them involved so they can find their own answers. I always love talking with teachers like Dr. Michel who have managed to create ways to successfully get their students involved in the educational process. They just inspire me to do a better job.

Find the Variables That Lead To Experimentation

2010-08-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

I have recently been writing about some of the wonderful people that I met at the American Accounting Association annual meeting in San Francisco. On this past Wednesday, I participated in a panel discussion on blogging: how is it done and why do we do it? I talked for about 10 minutes about my blog and the enjoyment I get in writing about teaching and hearing from my readers about their teaching.

On the panel, I was sitting beside of Tom Selling who has the incredible blog The Accounting Onion (http://accountingonion.typepad.com). When I returned to my seat, he handed me a sheet of paper where he had written a few sentences that he had penciled while I was speaking. I thought his words on self-improvement in teaching were so neat that I wanted to pass them along to you. (Thanks – Tom – this was one of those moments where I said “Gee, I wish I had said that.”)

“Teaching is highly idiosyncratic. The process of self discovery through experimentation is integral to self-improvement. It is inherently experimental.

“Does talking about teaching make you a better teacher? Yes, because it helps you decide what variables to change in your next experiment.”

So, go find another teacher who shares your passion for helping students to learn. Offer to buy that person a cup of coffee if they’ll just sit and chat with you about teaching. Use that conversation to start thinking about the variables, the things you can change in your teaching, and then go experiment to see where improvement can be found.

Rejuvenated

2010-08-04T04:55:00.000-07:00

I am writing this week from the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association in San Francisco. On Monday, I had one of those wonderful experiences that I so enjoy, the type that always seems to rejuvenate my teaching spirits. I had a long conversation with a person who really knew and understood how to be a great teacher. I find, in colleges, that there are not enough times when you sit down with another teacher and just talk about teaching: What works? What do you do in this situation? How do you handle this topic?

I had never met David Marcinko before Monday but he is on the faculty at Skidmore. As soon as we sat down and started talking about Financial Accounting, it was clear that Professor Marcinko had spent a lot of serious time over the years thinking about teaching. How do you get students engaged? What should you cover in the first chapter to interest them and not turn them off? When do you introduce Accumulated Depreciation without confusing them?

Teaching can be a lonely profession. Professors will talk about their research until the cows come home (a wonderful Southern expression) but it is often hard to find someone who will talk with you about teaching (other than whining about their students). Sometimes it seems like a mark of weakness to open up about the difficulty of getting students to work and learn. I was amazed, even our 39 years, as to how energized I felt about teaching after I walked away from our conversation on Monday.

Maybe, if you are feeling a bit down about being a teacher, finding a colleague to talk with on a regular basis might just be the remedy.

I Was Impressed

2010-08-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

I am at the annual meeting of the American Accounting Association in San Francisco. I thought, if I saw something interesting while I am here, that I would write about it.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to have a long conversation with Presha Neidermeyer, Associate Professor of Accounting at West Virginia University. She was telling me about all of her many trips to Africa to take her students to places like Uganda and South Africa to work with the not-for-profit organizations there. We typically think about accounting professors sitting in a classroom teaching sleepy students about debits and credits. Dr. Neidermeyer is going way, way beyond that. She takes small groups (“I like to be able to load them all up in a van, if I have to”) and goes to the country and helps out some of the NFPs there. She talked specifically about one organization that did micro-lending and how her students helped them organize their forms so they could become more efficient.

Can you imagine how her students benefit from that experience? A lot of college students go to Italy, Australia, or the like for a semester in school there. This is something entirely different, an accounting experience in a third world country.

She has even co-authored a book on the impact of HIV-AIDS in Africa. Impressive!!!! The conference is off to a great start for me.

Know What You Want To Accomplish

2010-07-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

At some point, a friend of mine gave me the book “Thinking for a Change.” I’ve read bits and pieces over time but never the whole book. This morning, I picked it up and randomly turned to page 54 where I found one paragraph:

“It doesn’t matter whether you were born rich or poor. It doesn’t matter if you have a third grade education or possess a Ph. D. It doesn’t matter if you suffer from multiple disabilities or you’re the picture of health. No matter what your circumstances, you can learn to be a good thinker. All you must do is be willing to engage in the process every day.”

That is exactly the goal I have for my students—word for word. I want each of them to learn to be a good thinker and I firmly believe you attain that goal by engaging in the process every day. That is how I structure my class and that is what I want to promote and that is what I want to help them accomplish.

Three Opportunities

2010-07-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

(1) – If you have read this blog for long, you know that I am a big believer in communications with my students. I want them to understand what I am doing and why I am doing it.

In addition, I’m also a big believer in marketing my course. I think students will work harder if you can convince them that the course is fair and the material provides a true benefit.

Hence, I like for my students to walk in on the very first day of each semester with some amount of knowledge and enthusiasm. If that happens, I think the battle is half won. The building process in terms of their knowledge and interest has already begun.

For that reason, I have already sent the students who have signed up for my fall classes two emails to start “priming the pump.” What I am trying to do is help them realize that they can learn a lot from my course (and enjoy doing it) but only if they are willing to do some serious work and thinking. The benefits outweigh the costs.

If you are interested in this communication strategy and want to see a copy of the two emails that I have already sent out to my Financial Accounting class this summer, send me an email at Jhoyle@richmond.edu and I’ll see you those copies by attachment.

You wouldn’t want to use the same emails that I sent out but you might want to adapt them to your own style and goals.

(2) – On Wednesday, August 4, I will be participating in a panel discussion about blogging. If you are going to be attending the national convention of the American Accounting Association in San Francisco, I hope you will come by the presentation and introduce yourself. I would love to meet you and have a chance to chat about teaching or about blogging. It will be from 10:15 a.m. until 11:45 a.m. at the Wyndham Parc 55 Union Square Hotel, on Level Four in a room called Cyril Magnin II

As a result, I do hope to do some blogging while I am at the conference to fill everyone in on what I am learning.

If you want some information on the panelists (who are all bloggers), you can check out the details at:

http://profalbrecht.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/aecm-bloggers/

(3) – Also on Wednesday, August 4, I will be participating in another panel discussion. This one is on innovation in accounting education. The folks who were runners-up for the 2010 Innovation in Accounting Education will be talking about their innovations. Consequently, I am discussing the new free online Financial Accounting textbook that I wrote with CJ Skender of UNC. I am going to bring along a 1925 intermediate accounting textbook and compare it to a 2010 textbook to show how little evolution has taken place and why innovation in textbooks is so desperately needed.

This presentation will be from 4:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. at the Hilton Union Square Hotel in San Francisco. It is on the Grand Ballroom Level and is in Grand Ballroom Salon A.

Would love to see you there.

What Do We Add?

2010-07-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

Over the last few years, my wife and I have become big fans of the video classes produced by The Teaching Company. Two or three times per week, we will watch a 30 or 45-minute video lecture on art or literature or history or religion prepared by a college teacher. I am amazed by how much I now know about topics that once were totally foreign to me.

In watching these videos, I am occasionally reminded of a question that comes up in colleges now and then: Do we need live instructors? Why don’t we find the very best college teachers and film their classes? Then, put those videos up on the Internet and everyone (or, at least, our students) can learn the material without the need of a classroom or a teacher.

Well, the easy answer to that query is that a college education has to be more than the conveyance of information to a passive student taking notes. So, doesn’t that automatically raise the next question that we need to address as teachers: What are we adding in our classes that goes beyond the conveyance of information to a passive student? If the answer is nothing, then maybe we should all be replaced by videos.

As you get ready for the fall semester, ponder how you are going to add value to your students.
--“I’m going to tell them some interesting stories.” -- A video can tell them hundreds of interesting stories.
--“I’m going to tell them about the history of my discipline.” -- A video can tell them about the history of your discipline.
--“I’m going to walk them step-by-step through the essential core of the disciple.” - A video can walk students through the essential core of the discipline.

Those are all important to a class but they could just as easily be done by a person on video. What are you going to do this coming semester in your classes that a video could not do?

We live in a time when too many people believed that they could not be replaced until they were replaced. My assumption is that if you add real value to a process, you become essential. Otherwise, someone will eventually catch on that you can be replaced.

There are many, many ways that teachers add value to the students in their classes. How will you do that in the coming fall? What will you do that couldn’t be replaced by a video?

****

I hope you will check out all of my other posts about learning and the education processs at http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/

Five Great Characteristics

2010-07-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

I am not sure that any students know exactly what a professor really wants from them. My guess is that if you sent a note to your students for the upcoming fall and simply asked—what do you think I want from the students in this class—you’d get some simplistic answers like “learn the material” or “pass the tests.”

Is that really what you want? It sounds so dull. No wonder students find education boring. No wonder they often put out less than an excellent effort.

If that is not what you want from the students in your class, why not tell them? First, you’ll shock them by your honesty. Second, you’ll take an immediate step toward having them think differently about your class. You might even move them closer to what you really want.

I had a very interesting principles class last spring. Okay, I didn’t have that many A students but the class was just very lively and really got into learning about financial accounting. The discussions were marvelous. I looked forward each day to working with them and I think everyone got a lot out of the class.

I wanted to encourage my upcoming fall class to be just as lively. Maybe it had never occurred to them. So, I sat down a few weeks ago and tried to figure out what characteristics I really wanted. As a result, I sent the following note to all of the students who have signed up for my fall class.

“I had a great principles class last semester. It was a lot of fun. The students were active, engaged, curious, questioning, and thoughtful. When you have students like that, it is unbelievable the amount that can be accomplished in a class. My wish for you and the upcoming semester is that you’ll wind up demonstrating those same five characteristics.”

Active
Engaged
Curious
Questioning
Thoughtful

If you could get a class that demonstrated those five characteristics, wouldn’t you be able to accomplish an almost unlimited amount? Notice that I did not include “smart.” It is nice to have smart students because it makes the job easy but if teaching is really what you want to do in this life, aren’t you better off to have active, engaged, curious, questioning, and thoughtful students than smart ones? Smart students probably don’t really need you.

Why did I tell these five characteristics to my new students? Simple—I wanted them to know walking in the door on the first day that I wanted them to be alive in class and use their brains. I don’t want them to sit there and mindlessly take notes. I want them to know that I have different expectations. I want them excited about their own education because if they get excited, there is no end to what they can accomplish.

I wanted them to know what I wanted even before they had ever met me.

Okay, if you can send emails to your fall students, why not think of the characteristics that you would like for them to display in your class? Then, provide them with that list. It should be no secret.

You may want characteristics that are totally different from mine. That is fine. But, if you really want your students to demonstrate specific characteristics, give them a head start. Just tell them.

The Nonaggression Pact in Reverse

2010-06-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

I guess most college professors have heard about the college teaching version of the nonaggression pact. The teacher sends subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) messages to the students: “I’m a very busy person. I won’t challenge you to do much if you’ll leave me alone. I won’t expect much of you so you shouldn’t expect much of me.” Obviously, this attitude leads to grade inflation and a mediocre (at best) educational experience.

It would be interesting to give college teachers truth serum and ask them what they think of this approach. My guess is that a lot of people are appalled by it but I would bet that a significant number would shrug and suggest “that’s just what college education is like.” The nonaggression pact has been around for a long time now. In 2010, I sometimes think we see so little truly exceptional education that we don’t even know that it exists. It is hard to strive for beauty if you have never experienced it. Acceptance of the nonaggression pact reduces the chance of experiencing education at some wonderfully high level.

At your university, what percentage of the classes are much better than mediocre? What percentage would you judge as a wonderful experience?

How can we change this trend? What is the reverse of the nonaggression pact? I would suspect that it would sound something like this: “I’m a very busy person. However, your education is important and I am going to challenge every person in this class to succeed. All of you. That means you can expect me to be very well prepared for every class and you have the right to come by my office and get help if you need it; I will help you to succeed.”

The question is not about the first three sentences. The question is about the last sentence. But, it is the important one. Teachers often challenge students. That’s easy to do. That challenge is a hollow one, and the students recognize that, if the teacher is not willing to back it up with some effort.

I often say “you cannot challenge a student to leap tall buildings in a single bound if you are not willing to do the boring stuff involved with helping them to learn to fly.”

If you have read this blog for long, you know I often tell my students that a class is like a dance: they do half of the work and I do half of the work and together we can create something that is wonderful. But, both sides have to do their half. Otherwise, it all falls apart.

Here’s my suggestion. Push up your 50 percent to a higher level. Be better prepared. Think more about your classes and your teaching. Encourage your students to come by and see you more often for assistance. Spend a bit longer grader tests and writing notes on their papers.

Student change won’t come immediately but I believe that you will find that, over time, they will begin to push up their 50 percent also. In a dance, someone has to lead. In a class, someone has to lead and it ought to be the teacher. If one dancer starts working harder, the other person often responds accordingly. Don’t ask the students to increase their 50 percent first. That won’t work—you are the leader. Push up your 50 percent and see if you are not impressed by the response you get.

(HAPPY FATHER’S DAY)

Are Your Class Goals Nouns or Verbs?

2010-06-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine asked me recently what my goal was in teaching one of my courses (financial accounting). I think he expected me to list out certain topics and concepts that I wanted all my students to learn. I call these “noun goals” because they describe rules, computations, or the like that students should come to know. For example, I might want my students to be able to compute cost of goods sold using a perpetual LIFO system.

In truth, I don’t think I have a single “noun goal” because I am not certain what any of my students are going to need to know after they leave my class. I am not sure if some or even any of my students will ever need to compute cost of goods sold using a perpetual LIFO system. How can a topic be a course goal if most of the students may never need the knowledge?

I explained to my friend that I had a single goal for my classes and I call it a “verb goal” because it involves action. I will be perfectly happy if I can get all of my students (100 percent – not just the ones who need to know perpetual LIFO) to spend 5 hours per week outside of class thinking seriously about financial accounting and 3 hours per week inside of class thinking seriously about financial accounting. I believe that is reasonable and if I can get that kind of effort then my students will come to better understand and appreciate financial accounting –qualities that can have a very positive effect on them in their years after leaving my class.

For this reason, I’m not so obsessed with getting every bit of information covered. If my students don’t happen to cover every possible depreciation method, I don’t lose sleep. If my students don’t learn every characteristic of common stock, their lives are not ruined. If I can get them, though, to think seriously about financial accounting for 8 hours per week for 14 weeks, I think they will take away a huge amount of understanding and interest. I think that is how you get a student to say “wow – I never knew financial accounting could be so interesting.” And, that is what I want – it comes from having a verb goal and not from a noun goal.

How do you get students to think seriously about a topic? Isn’t that really the ultimate question for a teacher? Forget everything else. If I can get my students to think seriously about financial accounting, haven’t I won the battle? At that point, the class starts to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

If you have read this blog before, you know that I rely almost exclusively on two teaching techniques. First, I ask a countless number of “why?” “how come?” “are you sure?” type questions. I believe questions are the driver for critical thinking skills. Second, I work constantly to puzzle my students. If I can present them with a puzzle, I find they are dying to figure out how to solve that puzzle.

Think of your classes for the fall of 2010. Are your goals nouns or verbs?

June 6, 2011

2010-06-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

When I lead teaching seminars, I often start out with a quote and a challenge that I hope tie together well enough to give the audience members something to ponder.

The quote is: "Teaching does not come from years of doing it. It actually comes from thinking about it." Your teaching, I believe, will not get better simply by ongoing repetition. Too often, bad teachers stay bad teachers year after year until they retire (often with an established list of rationalizations). Teaching gets better when people sit down and think seriously about what is going on in their classes, why it is happening in that way, whether they like the result, and—if not—what can be done differently. I am always reminded of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If you do something in class that does not work as you hoped, don’t just do it again and expect better results.

The challenge is: “Work to become 5 percent better as a teacher over the next year.” I consider that a reasonable and worthwhile goal. No one is going to become 50 percent, or even 20 percent, better as a teacher in one year. But, 5 percent is a goal that I think everyone can achieve. And, if you meet that goal for a few years straight, you’ll be surprised by how quickly you become one of the best teachers at your school. Evolution does happen.

Many of us do not teach during the summer making this the ideal time to think about teaching. A brand new school year is coming up in the fall. What do you need to work on? What elements of your teaching need to be evaluated and retooled? How are you going to make 5 percent improvement? Surely, there is some aspect of your teaching where you can get better.

One of the things that I like to do is break teaching down into its various components and then consider them individually. Many times, I will work on one single component of the learning process rather than try for across the board improvement. What are some of these components?

--How often do you want students to be prepared for class and how do you get them to do the preparation that you want? Does this preparation stress critical thinking? There is a big difference between: “why does a lessee want an operating lease?” and “write down the four criteria for a capital lease?”

--How do you get all of your students to participate in class and not just the most extroverted ones?

--How do you introduce a new topic into class without just telling the students about it (lecturing)?

--How do you move from a mechanical/memorization based class to one where students truly are pushed to understand?

--After material has been covered in class, how do you encourage students to continue spending time on it until they understand it fully? Class coverage is rarely enough to establish complete knowledge.

--How do you encourage students to learn on an ongoing basis and not just to prepare for tests?

--How do you test in a way that encourages students to learn and not just memorize?

--How do you grade so that students are challenged without being overwhelmed, encouraged without everyone getting an A?

--I led a discussion this past Friday where I stressed I I E E – involve, interest, engage, excite. How do you add those verbs to you class?

There are lots of components to this learning process that we deal with each day in our work lives. Today is June 6, 2010. Think about the components of your teaching and pick one or two to focus on over the next 12 months with the goal of using that thinking to help make yourself 5 percent better as a teacher. Come back on June 6, 2011 and hold yourself accountable. What did you actually do? What did you try? Did you get better at those components of teaching and did they make your overall teaching 5 percent better?

Are You a Teacher or Are You a Mentor?

2010-05-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

When I first started working in a college classroom in 1971, it struck me that some members of the faculty were teachers and others were mentors. A teacher is a person who walks into a classroom and helps students learn to understand material. Some of the people I encountered were good teachers and others were not so good. The only criterion for excellence, though, was how much the students learned by the end of the semester.

A mentor was certainly a teacher but, in addition, the mentor was a little bit more. I checked on the Internet just now and found the term “mentor” defined as a trusted guide or advisor. Yeah, I have known a few of those also over the past 39 years. In fact, some of the best mentors that I have seen were not particularly good teachers. It is a different talent. However, it is a way that a faculty member can have a genuine and long lasting effect on the life of a student.

Teacher or mentor?

It seems to me that you can divide college faculty members into three categories. The first is the pure teacher who works to help students learn but has no real interest in giving advice or guidance. I have worked with some wonderful teachers who did not know the name of a single student and didn't want to know their names. As an undergraduate, I went to a large research-oriented school. I would say that virtually every college professor I had in four years at that school was a teacher. If I had walked into one of their offices and said “I’ve got an issue that I wonder if I could talk with you about,” the response would have been something like that of W. C. Fields: “Go away kid, you bother me.”

The second category is what I call “mentors for the best and brightest.” Many faculty members really like to work with the top 10 percent of their students because they can push them to excel. This is often where we get our next generation of doctors, engineers, scientist, and college professors. There are always students capable of great achievements and having a mentor to push and guide them forward is so important.

The third category is what I call “mentors with an open-door policy.” Every student feels free to walk in and talk with these faculty members about everything from majors to roommates to personal tragedies. My first four years as a college professor were at a very small, religiously-oriented college. All faculty members were expected to be mentors. Students with real problems would call me at home for personal advice.

I am not here to tell you what you ought to be. I think that is a very personal decision. What I do think, though, is that every program needs some of each. I would even say that having 33 percent of your faculty in each category is not a bad allocation. When I first started teaching, I think many of the schools that I came in contact with came pretty close to that pattern. A faculty is like a baseball team; it needs people to play different positions.

What concerns me now a bit is that I think fewer and fewer faculty members are in category three and I worry that this category may eventually become extinct. At a lot of schools, this level of mentoring has been virtually reassigned away from the faculty. Universities now have career development centers and advising services and all kinds of surrogate mentors. Those are great and awfully helpful but it is almost as if some administrator said “make a list of every question a student could possibly ask and then we’ll hire someone other than a faculty member to answer it. Keep the students away from the faculty.”

I think there should always be a few professors in every department who have an open door policy for every student and who are willing to go beyond being a teacher. Into which of these three classifications do you fall and are you satisfied with that placement? When your career is eventually over and done with, do you want to be remembered as a teacher or as a mentor?

How Do You Radically Improve Education?

2010-05-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

I am giving a 75-minute presentation next week to about 60-70 college educators. I am going to talk about the evolution of textbooks (as I see it) over the next few years.

When I give a speech or presentation, I like to send out a note to the participants in advance to help get them involved in the topic even before I start. It is not always possible but, if it can be worked out, they tend to walk into the program with some thoughts already rattling around in their heads which helps in getting them involved in the conversation.

So, here is the note that I sent out to the participants in next week’s conference. I share it with you because it talks about some of my feelings about college textbooks.

**
I am writing this note to the participants in the June 4 Virginia Educators’ Symposium at the VSCPA in Richmond. My name is Joe Hoyle and I am on the faculty at the Robins School of Business here at the University of Richmond. More importantly, I will be the opening speaker at the Educators’ Symposium. I look forward to seeing whether you are more or less asleep than my own students would be at 8:30 on a Friday morning.

At the Symposium, I will be chatting with you about “The Emergence of New Textbook Models in Higher Education.” In November 2006, an accounting textbook editor challenged me to design “the textbook of the 21st Century.” As a result, I have spent the last 3 ½ years thinking about what textbooks look like, what they are supposed to accomplish, what they do well, what they do poorly, and how they could be changed. These musings have been influenced by my own thoughts and beliefs about learning and the education process in general. How do we get students engaged in our classes? Why should any student really want to learn accounting? How are we able to take a person in August who knows nothing about accounting and systematically turn that person into someone who has a genuine understanding of accounting by December? Come up with legitimate answers to those kinds of questions and I guarantee you will have a successful class.

As I will tell you on June 4, my number one realization from these musings is that textbooks sit at the very heart of a vast majority of courses in college. The quickest way to create a radical advancement in college accounting education across the board is to improve the quality of that textbook. There is a limit on how much you can change the students or the teachers but the textbooks offer a real opportunity for improvement. Better textbooks simply mean better learning.

Want to get a feel for what is wrong with textbooks? Here’s an experiment that I tried. Walk across your campus to your bookstore. Pick up a textbook titled something like Introduction to Physics. Find a comfortable chair and read the book for 15 minutes. This is as close as you can get to the actual experience your students have when they start reading the textbook for your class. So, after 15 minutes, what was your response to “Introduction to Physics?”
A – My gosh this is boring
B – I don’t understand what they are talking about
C – Wow, I really want to spend many hours this semester learning physics

The problem with textbooks is that 50 percent of YOUR students will say A and 50 percent will say B and no one will say C. And, that is a shame because learning accounting (and probably physics also) can be a wonderful and enlightening experience. At its best, education is super enjoyable. If we want to improve the education experience, we need to start getting our students to read their textbooks and say C.

When I bring up “textbooks need to improve,” I always get the same one word response: “technology.” And, I agree that technology can be a wonderful aid but I think we abdicate responsible for being more innovative when we leave educational improvement to punching more and more keys on smaller and smaller electronic devices. That is one component of the needed change but only one component.

I really look forward to conversing with you about textbooks on June 4. Bring your questions. More importantly—bring your answers.

And, if you want to see the result of my 3 ½ years of pondering textbooks, you can go to: http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/financial-accounting/154693

I go through Mozilla Firefox but you can access it with IE also. Click on “detailed view” and you’ll see the content of the chapters. Watch a video and read a few pages. Pretend it is a physics book and see how you feel about it.

What Did You Learn?

2010-05-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine (Steve Markoff who is on the faculty of Montclair State) shared with me an interesting exercise that he does on the final exam for his courses. He asks the students to complete the following sentence anonymously: “During the semester, I learned…”

He then has another person gather this information into a Word file that he emails back to his students.

There are several things that I like about this idea.

First, it forces all of the students to reflect on the semester and make an evaluation. “What did I learn that is worth putting down?” I think every class could benefit from more student reflection and evaluation. We convey information to them and they convey it back to us, possibly without ever thinking of why they are doing that and what thy are gaining from the process. We often end the semester with a final examination that asks “can you apply LIFO?” or “do you know how to compute interest expense?” without any general query about what was actually learned.

Second, these reflections should help the teacher get better at teaching. If Steve doesn’t like what he reads from the students, he can consider what changes need to be made. I have never made a secret that I do not like formal student evaluations which too often hinge on whether you get a 4.3 or a 4.2 on a five point scale. However, I believe that asking students what they learned and then deciding whether you like the answer or not is a very valid way to get some genuine feedback.

Third, it gives students a take away from the semester. Too often, students study like mad and take a complicated final exam and then walk off without the semester being brought to any type of logical conclusion. Somehow there should be some closure to the semester other than the mystery of walking away from a final exam wondering what you got right and what you got wrong and then a grade magically appearing on a grade report. By sending out the list of “what did you learn in this course?” the students can get a sense of what the entire community gained from the course and I think that is a great wrap up.

Thanks Steve, I’ve learned something that I’ll probably try myself next fall.

What Is The Purpose of a Final Examination?

2010-05-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Why do you give a final exam to your classes? What do you hope to accomplish? I have talked with lots of professors over the years and their strategies for giving final examinations seem to vary significantly from one to the next:
--It is a comprehensive examination on the material from the entire semester with a major grade component.
--It is a one-hour test on just the material since the last hourly exam with no added weight in comparison to other tests.
--It is basically ignored; it is the work for the entire semester that is more important than what a person can do on one day at the end of the semester.
--It is a little harder than a one-hour test but students can only improve their grades and cannot hurt them.

I do know that as I walk through our building during final exams that most students seem to leave well before the three-hour time limit is reached. I am not sure that many final exams are still three hours in length.

I have always been interested in the final exams that are given by some law school professors. The entire grade for the whole semester is based on what the student can do on the final exam questions. Nothing else counts. The rationale is that, if you are going to be a lawyer, you need to be at your very best every day that you walk into court no matter what is thrown at you. There can be no down days.

However, I am teaching 19-20 year old sophomores and juniors in college and not 25-30 year old law students. I am afraid that I would have students facing nervous breakdowns if I put the whole grade on the final exam.

So, what are my goals for the final exam? Psychologically, what am I trying to accomplish?
---I want students to stay emotionally involved with my class all the way through the last day. I am not interested in them quitting early. Thus, the final exam has to count enough to make it worth their time to keep working. In my 201 class, the final exam is 35 percent of the overall grade. I have found that this is enough to keep them emotionally involved.
---I want to give students who do poorly on the first (and, even, second) test of the semester a chance to improve their grades. If a student makes a C or a D (or an F) on the first test, it can be very disheartening. It is easy to give up. I do everything I can to keep them from giving up. I like to be able to say “if you can show me that you can learn this material, you still have a lot of your grade left to earn including a comprehensive final examination.” Nothing pleases me more than for a student to make a low C or a D on the first test and then come roaring back to make an A for the course. That is hard to do unless the final examination has a pretty serious weight attached to it.
---Likewise, I don’t like students who do well on the first test to get complacent and think they have an A in the bag. “Good job on this first test but realize that there is a lot of semester left and I want you to keep up this level of work from beginning to end.”
---I want students to understand the material well enough that they can still answer questions from throughout the semester at the end. If we cover inventory in February, I think they should still be able to answer questions on that topic in early May. Since I want to stress understanding more than memorization, I don’t think that is too much to ask.

As a result, I do give a comprehensive final examination and I do grade it and that grade (for better or worse) counts 35 percent of the overall course grade. In my introductory course financial accounting course, I want the first student to leave after 2 hours and the last student to finish at 3 hours. I like it when about half stay virtually the whole time. For intermediate accounting, I want the first person to finish in three hours but everyone else is relatively close to being finished. The material in that course is so complicated that I don’t see how a final exam can take less than three hours.

So, I line up all the topics for the entire semester on a sheet of paper and pick one pretty much at random (nonmonetary exchanges, for example). I then ask myself – if one of my students is at a job in six-months and this topic is raised, what should I expect an A student to be able to remember after five minutes of review? In all honesty, I would love to say “what should I expect an A student to be able to remember immediately” but I don’t think that is realistic. People forget everything quickly (even financial accounting). 39 years of teaching has shown me that students never remember quite as much as you might hope.

Based on the answer to that question, I write a problem to see if they still hold that level of knowledge now. For example, a company buys a truck on January 1, Year One for $80,000 with a $6,000 residual value. It has an estimated life of 10 years and the company is using double-declining balance depreciation without the half-year convention. On April 1, Year Three, when this truck is worth $53,200, it is traded for another truck which is worth $53,600. What gain or loss (if any) does the company record on the exchange?

The rule is straight-forward here. Not an easy question but not an impossibly hard question.
If students truly understand GAAP in this area, even after six months, with five-minutes of solid review, they should be able to answer this question.
Thus, I would use it as an appropriate final examination question.

Setting up the final exam in this way keeps the students (I hope) thinking about financial accounting all the way until the end of the semester. And, it gives them one last chance to make up for any poor grades they have earned during the semester.

What’s your philosophy? Why do you give a final exam?

Request for Assistance

2010-05-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

If you teach financial accounting, I have a request for you. A friend of mine recently gave me a list of articles (from newspapers, journals, and the like) that he uses in teaching financial accounting. I thought it might be interesting to create a more complete reading list of articles about financial accounting or the topics within financial accounting that I could post for teachers in connection with the new Financial Accounting textbook that I recently wrote with CJ Skender. I am always looking for creative/innovative things to add to "the package" to make the learning process better for teachers and students both. Consequently, if any of you who read this blog have articles that you use in teaching financial accounting or know of articles that might apply, could you send them to me? Just a list of the publication and date would be fine - I can dig them up from there. Just send me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

Likewise, if you've ever thought "I wish a textbook had the following," let me know. FlatWorldKnowledge (the book’s publisher) has let me do whatever I thought might be helpful for student learning but I'm always limited to my own ideas. If you have suggestions, I would love to hear them.

I always believe that a textbook should be more of a community project. I would love for you to be part of that community in connection with this textbook.

Making Summer Count

2010-05-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about how much knowledge students lose over the summer time. Although he is looking at younger students, the amount is incredible. For some reason, we seem to hold the philosophy that summer time is a “no brain” time where students should do as little as possible that might stimulate their thinking. I’m not sure that is a very good idea.

Consequently, last week, I sent an email message to the 37 students who will be in my Financial Accounting courses next fall. (I will also be teaching one section of Intermediate Accounting II.)

I wanted to get the students’ attention.
I wanted to start convincing them that Financial Accounting was going to be challenging but very much worth that challenge.

Most importantly, I wanted them to have the opportunity to make use of their summer vacation to get ready for next fall. Why not? What is wrong with wanting to learn more? I don’t accept the premise that my students want to learn as little as possible. Some students certainly have little ambition but most, from my experience, don’t mind spending the time if they think the effort is worthwhile.

So, I sent them the following email. Please note that I have assigned my own Financial Accounting textbook here. However, since the textbook is a FREE online textbook, you can still use this “summer assignment” even if you have chosen to use some other book in the fall. There are some real advantages to “FREE online.”

(Interestingly, I got several emails in return from my future students talking about how much they were looking forward to the class.)

Email sent to the students who signed up for my Financial Accounting course in the fall:

“Hi, I’m on the faculty here at the University of Richmond and I am sending this note to the 37 students who have signed up for my two Accounting 201 sections for the fall semester. Okay, I realize that some of you will have to switch sections before the fall semester begins but I imagine that 80-90 percent of you will be in my class next fall.

“I want this to be a great experience for you. I don’t want this to be “just another class.” I want you to work hard; I want you to learn a ton; I want you to enjoy the process. On the last day of the class, I want you to walk away and say “Wow, I didn’t know learning could be that great.”

“To help make this happen, I want to convey a bit of information to you today before you leave campus for the summer. Please take time to read all of this note so that we are on the same page.

“First--My 201 classes in the fall semester will use the Financial Accounting textbook that I wrote with C. J. Skender (of UNC). This is a free online textbook. So, if you get bored over the summer, you can start reading now. That would give you a huge head start for the fall. Instead of rushing to finish assignments, you could read the book leisurely over the summer. Go to www.flatworldknowledge.com. Click on “catalogue.” Then, under “Business and Economics,” click on “Accounting and Tax” and then on “Financial Accounting.” At that point, you should see a list of chapters. Click on Chapter 1 and start reading. If you read 5 minutes per day, you could read the entire book over the summer.

“When I designed this book, I was trying to “revolutionize” textbooks so you’ll find that it is different. It is written entirely in a question and answer format (the Socratic Method) and has videos and embedded multiple-choice questions. I used it in my class this semester and, although they might not be too honest with me, the students seemed to find the reading interesting and informative.

“When you come back in the fall, the book store will have color copies available for roughly $60.00 and black and white copies for roughly $30.00. However, as far as I’m concerned, use the online version and save your money.

“Second--The world of business is absolutely fascinating. Whether it is marketing, production, finance, human resources, or accounting, it is like a giant puzzle with an infinite amount to figure out. Most college students walk into a 201 class on the first day with little serious knowledge about business. As teen-agers, most students just miss out on the fun of business. What is it like to start a business? What is it like to talk customers into buying your products? What is it like to find the money needed for expansion? The more you learn, the more the business world will open to you. One strong suggestion that I would have is to spend an hour or two in the library each week and read (just randomly read) the Wall Street Journal, Forbes magazine, Business Week, or Fortune. Don’t try to learn anything – just read. You will be amazed by what you start to discover. And, it will make class in the fall go so much better. Instead of starting off at absolute zero, you will walk into class with important terms fresh in your mind. Things will just make more sense.

“Third--Around August 1, I will start sending you a few preliminary emails to get you ready for the fall semester. There is just some stuff that you need to know in advance. But, you don’t really need any of that until August. I am just trying to alert you to watch out for my emails (I’m not spam). And, to tell you the truth, if you are not going to be where you can get to your email, your life won’t be ruined if you don’t get this stuff. I simply want to make the semester as smooth for you as absolutely possible.

“Fourth--Have a great summer. Get out and enjoy life. At your age (well, at any age), that ought to be a requirement. If you need to get in touch with me, I’m always available at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

“Fifth--I’ve had a great 201 class this semester. It has been a lot of fun. The students have been active, engaged, curious, questioning, and thoughtful. When you have students like that, it is unbelievable the amount that can be accomplished. My wish for you and Accounting 201 is that you’ll wind up demonstrating those same five characteristics.”

A Dream

2010-04-25T04:51:00.000-07:00

I dreamed about teaching last night. Normally, I do not remember my dreams and, if I do, they are weird snippets that make no sense. Last night was different.

I dreamed that I flew to Arizona (not sure why it was Arizona) for a teaching conference with about 25 other college professors. At the end, one of the participants challenged the group to write down on a sheet of paper what we each believed was the secret to good teaching. In my dream, I wrote down “you have to care enough about your students that you are willing to force them to prepare for every class.” And, I woke up.

I am not sure what I would have written down in real life but it could not have been better than what I wrote down in that dream. I do not think you need to love your students but I do believe you should care about them – even the ones who occasionally drive you crazy. For a short period of time, about 14 weeks twice a year, a small piece of each student’s future is in your hands. Where they go and what they do for the rest of their lives will be influenced ever so slightly by the way you teach that class. To ignore that reality is to abdicate the responsibility you accepted when you chose to become a teacher. I think it is hard to be an excellent teacher if you are not willing to acknowledge that you have the capacity to change lives. I have 81 students this semester. I have had over 6,000 students in my career. At times, it is easy to think of each one as just another brick in the wall. But they are not. They are unique individuals who will go on to have lives and careers. Each one is affected differently by you. The last one is as deserving as the first one. I want to make those lives and those careers a little bit better. If you do not care about your students and how you will change them, why would you do all of the work that it takes to become a good teacher?

And, of course, if you have read this blog or my other writings, you know that I am obsessed about student preparation. If students walk into class having properly prepared themselves, great things can (and probably will) happen every day. Conversely, if students walk into class with no real preparation, Socrates himself would have very limited options. Students are humans. They rarely do work without proper motivation. From kindergarten until the moment before they walk into your class, they may never have had to prepare for any class on a daily basis. They are well trained in not preparing. I think our school systems do a pretty good job but class preparation is not always a priority. So, you have to address the real questions: Am I going to insist on my students being prepared each day and, if so, how will I do that? Will I do it with carrots or will I do it with sticks?

I would bet those two questions are rarely ever considered by most teachers. However, even in my dreams, I have come to believe that these questions form an essential juncture in what a teacher is able to accomplish. James Thurber was a wonderful humorist who wrote short stories and cartoons about 60-70 years ago. In 1939, he concluded: “It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all the answers.” Maybe, in teaching, we worry too much about getting specific answers and not enough about asking the right questions.

Here is my question for you today and, believe it or not, it is based on the dream I had last night: Do you care enough about your students that you are willing to force them to prepare for every class?

Third Test Available

2010-04-22T04:57:00.000-07:00

I gave my third (and last test before the final exam) last week. Many of you have asked for copies of my previous tests. Anyone who would like a copy of this one can send me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

I thought the test was pretty good -- it was a quirky type of multiple-choice test that I like to give when I have a lot of computations that I want the students to make. However, it was clearly a challenge for them. They had to push hard to finish in 75 minutes. In the end, I had 44 percent who earned an A or B. I thought that was a bit low. I believe the class has gone well this semester (they are the most engaged group that I have had in years -- I'm biased but I credit my new textbook for that) and I always prefer to have over 50 percent grades of A or B. It is an intro class in late spring with only a very few potential accounting majors so maybe 44 percent is about right.

Obviously, this is one of the never ending internal debates for a professor: how much do I push my students to challenge them without discouraging them? I want my students to be challenged to think and work but I don't want to set the bar so high that they feel defeated before they start.

Chinese Proverb

2010-04-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

A CPA friend of mine sent me the following and told me that it was an ancient Chinese proverb (Google agrees). I thought it was worth passing along.

“When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.”

14 Questions to Introduce Present Value

2010-04-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

When I talk with financial accounting teachers, the topic of present value will eventually come up. Teachers are often puzzled by how much they should cover. Some teachers tell me they skip present value entirely whereas others let me know that they believe extensive coverage is necessary. What does a sophomore in an introductory financial accounting class need to know about present value? What can they really understand? I find that if I throw terms like “discounted cash flows” and “the time value of money” at my sophomores, they quickly become lost. What seems crystal clear to me as the teacher can be puzzling to a young student.

However, if students are going to take other business courses or other accounting courses, they need to have some basic understanding of present value concepts. So, yesterday, in my classes here at the University of Richmond, we began to examine present value.

I did this by looking asking them the following series of questions:

1 – What is interest? (Interest is the charge for using money over time – students seem comfortable with that definition.)
2 – If I buy a piece of land and make a single payment of $200,000 today, how much do I pay and why am I paying that amount? (The students seem puzzled by that question because it is self-evident—you pay $200,000 and you pay it to acquire the land.)
3 – I buy a piece of land and agree to pay $200,000 in exactly two years. In the interim, I will pay an additional 10 percent (or $20,000) each year. How much do I pay and why am I paying that amount? (Students realize that $240,000 is paid--$200,000 for land and $40,000 as interest over the two years. The interest is necessary because of the introduction of time to the cash payment.)
4 – I buy a piece of land and agree to make a single payment of $200,000 in exactly two years. Nothing else is paid. If interest is the charge for using money over time, is it reasonable to believe that some part of that $200,000 will actually be paid as interest with the rest being the amount paid for the land? (This is obviously an essential question. I find that students are open to the possibility that part of the payment is for interest since there is a two-year wait for the cash.)
5 – I buy a piece of land and agree to make a single payment of $200,000 in exactly two years. GAAP requires that we view part of the $200,000 as payment for the land with the remainder as payment for interest since I am delaying my payment. What is our next problem? (Students understand that they do not know how to allocate the $200,000 between the land and the interest. They don’t mind the split but don’t know where to draw the line between the land and the interest.)
6 – Mathematically, we can determine the amount of interest. If we determine the interest and then remove it from the $200,000, what is left? (The remaining amount is what we are paying for the land. Again, that seems self-evident to most students. There are only two possibilities: land and interest.)
7 – Why do we determine the amount of interest and then remove it? (Interest is the charge for using money over time. Since no time has yet passed, there can be no interest at this time.)
8 – What do we mean by present value? (It is a future flow of cash with the interest removed because no time has yet passed.)
9 – When we are making a present value calculation, what are we doing? (Present value is the removal of the interest that we assume is included in the cash flows. The present value calculation removes interest because no time has yet passed.)
10 – If we buy land by agreeing to pay $200,000 in two years, how do we record the acquisition? (Both the land and the liability are recorded at present value. Accountants assume there is a charge for using money over time. Part of the $200,000 is assumed to be for interest. No time has yet passed. Thus, that interest is removed and the rest is the amount of the debt incurred today to buy the land.)
11 – Whether we use a formula, tables, or a spreadsheet, what is the purpose of the present value computation? (It mathematically removes the interest from future cash flows. We don’t have to guess at what part is interest and what part is for the land. The present value computation automatically removes the interest mathematically.)
12 – The land and the liability are both recorded at the present value of the cash flows. What happens at the end of Year One? (Time has now passed. The assumed interest rate is multiplied by the liability [principal] balance and that shows the interest expense to be recorded for that first period. It is not paid right then so it is compounded—the interest is added to the liability [principal] balance. The land account is not changed. Its cost was established when it was first acquired. The liability balance grows.)
13 – What happens at the end of Year Two? (More time has now passed. The assumed interest rate is multiplied by the new liability [principal] balance. That provides the interest expense for the second period. It is recognized and the liability is again increased because of compounding.)
14 – After two years, what is the reported liability balance? (The liability balance will be the $200,000 total that is now due to be paid. Present value removes the interest because no time has passed. The accountant then puts that interest back in over time. Mathematically, the amount has to come back to the total amount of the cash flows. Interest is taken out; then, the interest is put back in.)

Okay, you have to ask the questions carefully and guide your students as they work to get their answers. But I was pleased yesterday. After we had walked through these 14 questions, all of my students seemed to have a basic understanding of the concept of present value. We will practice this until they get smooth. However, that “mathematically remove the interest because time has not yet passed” line is one that they seem to grasp just fine. They are obviously not present value wizards yet but they know enough now that we can build on that knowledge and, eventually, they will be able to go into a finance class and not start out totally lost. And, to me, that is the purpose of an introductory course.