GIVING TEACHING ADVICE TO SOMEONE YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER MEET

I am giving a speech on teaching tomorrow evening here at the University of Richmond.   I look forward to it with great anticipation.   There is a genuine thrill in talking with teachers about teaching.   It is a wonderful way to get the new semester off to a great start.  

As always, I am a big believer in preparation – both my own preparation and that of the audience.   For this program to go well, everyone needs to spend some time and be ready.   To get that process started, I sent the 105 participants a message about an email that I had recently received.   I asked them to read the question that I had been sent as well as my response.   Then, I asked them to add one additional tip to my response.   What did I leave out?   What more should I have suggested?   What other idea should have I have given this young person?

Okay, I have the same question for you.   Read the question.   Read my answer.   Tell me what else I should have added.   That's your assignment.

THE EMAIL

I received the following email from a person whom I did not know and will likely never meet.   But, I appreciated her question and the sheer interest she had in reaching out to a stranger for advice.  

“I am a TA for Organic Chemistry at Ohio State University. Over the past several semesters, I have become very interested in teaching, and I started reading your blog a few weeks ago. I have found it incredibly helpful and insightful, and your passion for teaching is admirable. I was reading through your blog post about teaching tips for the new semester, and I would love to hear yours (at your earliest convenience, of course).”

MY RESPONSE TO THE TA’S QUESTION ABOUT TEACHING TIPS

Thanks so much for writing about my teaching blog (have you seen my Teaching Tips book -- it is also free on the Internet).   I'm always delighted to hear from teachers, especially new teachers.   From my perspective, it is one of the most thrilling and rewarding careers that you can have.   Enjoy every day.

As far as advice for you as you begin the spring semester, I could probably write three thick books of advice and honestly believe that each new idea was even more important than the previous one.   But, having said that, here are a few that I view as absolutely essential.

--Figure out how to get your students to prepare before they walk into your class.  99.9 percent of students are under-prepared when they enter the classroom each day and that sets a severe limit on what any teacher can accomplish.  There are a lot of ways to get students to prepare (threatening bodily harm might be one) but student preparation in my mind is the number one key to great teaching.  Without that, everything is a challenge.

--Communicate with your students early and often.   For example, I've already sent a couple of emails to my students ​ and my first class is not for nearly three weeks.   During the semester, I send emails to the students roughly once a day.   But, I work to make those emails worth their time.   I give practice problems.   I give study hints.   I talk about interesting developments that I read in today's paper.   I occasionally talk about books I'm reading or movies I've seen because I want my teaching to go beyond just accounting.   If you limit your interaction with students to 150 minutes in class each week, it is difficult to be a great teacher.

--Teach by using puzzles.   That, I think, is one of the most missed paths to great teaching.  I don't know anything about your field (organic chemistry) so I cannot give examples but think about questions that begin:  "Why would it work like this?"   "How might this be different in a science fiction story?"  "What happens if we do something backwards?"   "If X happens, what is most like to happen next and why?"  Everyone loves puzzles.  They make you think and reason.   Any boring class can become immediately engaging through the use of puzzles.

--Students come to learn based on how they expect to be tested (or graded).   No matter what you tell them, if they believe you are going to test their memory skills, all they will do is memorize.   The hope of developing their critical thinking skills will then fly out the window.   One way to avoid this problem is to give open book tests (I actually allow my students to bring in three pages of notes to every test which forces them to make decisions as to what they should include).   Open books tests are good for you because they will force you to learn to write good test questions and that will make you a better teacher.   They are also good for the students because they will quickly understand that you are not going to test them on memory since you are allowing them to have access to notes or books.

--I don't know how big your classes are but, if possible, never say more than 50 percent of the words in class.   Teachers are hypnotized by the sound of their own voices.   Teachers love that they can easily fill up the passing minutes with their own words.   Students let the teachers rattle on because they like to sit and daydream.   Force your students to do half of the talking.   I do that by using an intense Socratic Method where no student can hide.   But there are other approaches that work.   Teachers feel an obsession to convey information.   Get over it--there are books and videos that do that.   Use the class for talking—especially student talking.  

--Follow the three E's:   Experiment, Evaluate, Evolve.   You are never going to stand out by doing things the way everyone else does them.   Try new things each week or each month just to see what works and what does not work.   This is especially important as you get older and the age gap between you and your students gets wider.   Most teachers experiment less as they get older.   They settle into a comfortable rut.   You should experiment more as you get older to keep things fresh for you and your students.

--Care for your students.   These are real people and not robots.   Yes, they can be lazy.   And, yes, they can be annoying.   But this is their one chance at learning this material.   Whether you are good or bad as a teacher, you have a big impact on their lives.   Care enough for them to push them to be great.

Hope this helps.   One warning:   Sometimes you have to read a lot of ideas to find one that really helps you.

ADDITIONAL TIPS THAT MY AUDIENCE FOR TOMORROW NIGHT SENT TO ME (I challenged these folks to add one tip and I got loads – here are a few that I received, selected somewhat randomly)

--Establish a class culture of respect and provide a safe environment for sharing diverse opinions.

--Make each class real, relevant and riveting.   Find examples of the subject matter you're teaching, and weave them into every class to help students connect with the content. Tell stories and share examples.

--I give students "mini cases.”  The case is related to the topic for the class and presents a hypothetical situation in a company. The students work in small groups to develop a response and then report that to the class.

--Be willing to fail and open to learning from failures. Risk-taking is not well-rewarded in academic circles because failure is seen as an ending rather than a transition. Be willing to try, fail, and admit failure to students. And be willing to let students fail at certain aspects of the class without earning a failing grade in the class.

--Captivate the students with good openers, words of wisdom, useful tips.   Collaborate often because we learn from each other.  Celebrate all accomplishments and "understandings"... no matter how small

--Differentiate your instruction based on students’ readiness for the content, their interests, and the different ways they approach learning.   This is the most challenging aspect of teaching and requires you to get to truly know your students as individuals.  Remember that your students are very much alike in some ways and very different from each other in many ways. 

--Remember the power of active engagement, which allows students to interact and reflect on the content.  This type of learning increases meaning and understanding.  It provides an opportunity to communicate with others in order to share perspectives and experiences.

--Part of each student's grade is participation in class. I give them class labs that they have to solve and each student must participate. Also, I assign each student (prior to class or during the first night of class) to write a one page paper on their expectations of the class and me. This allows me to evaluate their writing ability and it helps me design sections of my class.

Lots of Teaching Tips for the Next New Semester

My good friend Paul Clikeman (University of Richmond accounting professor) forwarded the following quote to me.   It is from the poet Robert Frost and was recently mentioned in the CPA Letter Daily:  

“I am not a teacher, but an awakener."  

Isn’t that just a wonderful quote?   Most importantly, doesn’t that put a fabulous spin on what we do every day in the classroom?   In many ways, we are working to awake the natural curiosity of our students.   I am convinced that, somewhere deep down inside, virtually all students really do want to learn.   They seek inspiration and guidance (from us).   I think a great quote such as this one can change our entire outlook in a positive manner.

***

I recently gave a teaching presentation here at the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond.   I wanted people to think about teaching as we near the end of the current semester so I asked the members of our Business School faculty to respond to the following scenario:    

   “Let’s assume that a brand new Ph. D. shows up to join our faculty and asks you the following 

   question:   ‘I want to be a really good teacher here at Richmond.   I don’t have much teaching 

   experience so far.  What one piece of advice would you give me to help me get started on my 

   way?’”

Seems like a valid question.   What really are key points to becoming a better teacher?   I received quite a number of great responses from my fellow teachers.   They are listed below.  

Okay, other than read this list of suggestions, what should you do with them?   Well, I am a big believer in the power of evaluation.   Here is my advice:   Read through them all carefully and then pick the three that seem most appropriate for you and your teaching.   You cannot possibly follow everyone’s advice.   You need to evaluate, rank, and choose.   Read them all, pick three, and try to work those three into your teaching in some way during the spring semester.  See if they really do work.

You can never improve without experimenting.   Here are some suggestions that might lead to some worthwhile experimentation during the coming semester.

And, of course, I’ve picked my top tips.   If you are curious about my selections, drop me an email at Jhoyle@richmond.edu and I’ll tell you which ones meant the most to me.

**

---Keep experimenting and make at least one change (e.g., new case; new assignment; new pedagogical approach) each semester.  Even if the “experiment” fails, you’ll still very likely learn something from it, and it keeps boredom and burnout at bay.

---Cold call. It's simple, but it works. Students will be more prepared and more engaged.

---Know yourself and be true to who you are.  Celebrate your students for who they are as unique persons. 

---The starting point is being prepared and enthusiastic. Don't be too ambitious; not everyone in your class is going to graduate school! 

---Mix up the floor plan. When discussing more personal topics, I move the tables to the side and make a circle with chairs. This changes the tone of the class.  

---My advice is to avoid using Power Point supported formal lectures to present materials.

---Understand the material so well that you can take it apart from the students' perspectives.   

---At the end of each week of teaching, ask students to answer two questions on a sheet of paper. “What was the most important thing you learned this week? What is it that we covered but you still don't understand?”  Then collect the papers. During the next class, go over the topics where there was some consensus that they didn't get it.  You will be a better teacher and your students will also recognize that they learned something! 

---In Week One, give students a simple example of a typical problem covered in the course. In finance, I tell them that this course is about making investment decisions which is a creative process based on assumptions, intuition and experience. Accounting and mathematics are tools that we use to help make good financial decisions.

---Be enthusiastic and creative.  It's pretty basic, but it works for me.

---Some use of the Socratic Method - Asking a lot of questions and guiding students to solve problems on their own. 

---Making students do the problems - helping them to learn by trial and error.

---Balance - Trying to find the right balance between me doing a lot of the work such as using power points / diagrams / charts / explanations to frame out the key issues and thus simplifying things for them vs. teaching the students to start doing this type of analysis / thinking on their own.  Want to turn them from simply "regurgitating" information into learning how to become problem solvers, which will be a key to future success in business.

---Vary your voice level - a monotone is the worst! - but if you add what are called "paralinguistics" or what I call "peaks and valleys," - word emphasis, loudness, body language - you are more likely to keep students' attention.  You can then use the old—and extremely effective—trick of dropping your voice to a whisper all at once or stopping completely.  The absence of sound wakes even the heaviest sleeper!

---I think my advice to a new professor would be to make one's expectations of the students very clear at the outset and emphasize them repeatedly.  For example, I post my notes, take my exam questions from my notes, and post a review sheet for each exam that clearly outlines topics that will be covered.  I also explain in class and on the syllabus that this is my methodology.  For their group presentations, I post the score sheet that I will use (and that their peers will use) in grading them.   By using this approach, I have found that most students meet my expectations, and it is VERY clear which ones are not applying themselves. 

---Ask for feedback from your students regularly during the semester and take is seriously.  Be willing to modify syllabus or schedules or assessment, based on what is helping students to be engaged and to learn.  I learn a ton from listening to my students—and have almost always made modifications (well-communicated to the students) over the course of the semester, based on how a given class learns. 

---Here is a method that I’m trying to use in my intro classes since students may not have enough background to understand how businesses work. I try to start with an appropriate real life example for the topic. For example, when I cover accounts receivable in introductory accounting, I use a short 5-minute video showing how ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning Co. recorded faked sales using receivables.   Tomorrow, I will be teaching variance analysis in 202 and I start with an example from McDonald’s.  It is about the significant price variation (90¢ vs $2) in chicken wings after McDonald’s introduced its McWrap menu.  

---I think most college students aren't adventurous thinkers.  I want the students in the class to think boldly so I've tried two things:   1. Ask them to and 2. Give them support when they do.  A student recently responded adventurously to an assignment about a marketing idea. The idea he presented to the class was silly, but it was clear he was stretching.  After talking through the merits and shortcomings of the idea, the class and I gave him a round of applause for boldness.   The compulsion to be correct inhibits bold thinking.  I think we should fight that. 

---Assign seats in the 3rd week of class. I did this for the 1st time this semester and it helps a lot with the classroom atmosphere, in my opinion. It splits up the various groups and lets them know that you are serious.  I spend 15 minutes after doing so and have them introduce their seat mate. They get one extra credit point on the final for filling out a questionnaire that I give them (so perhaps they don't see it as punitive). I am also going to do it again tomorrow because the class needs waking up. I assign the seats using excel and the random number generator in it. 

---Make a written plan for every class with specific goals and activities to achieve those goals.  Immediately after class, review how that class went within the context of the plan and make notes of what worked and what did not.  In light of this information, make a list of the changes that you will make so that this particular lesson will be more effective the next time when you teach the class.

---Don't waste the first day of class - it is the most important day of the semester. Don't tell them you use the Socratic method - start asking them questions. Don't describe what they will learn in class - put a question from last year's final exam on the board and ask them to answer it. Don't hand out the syllabus until the last 15 minutes.

---Resist the temptation to give them the answer too soon. It's hard to watch people struggle, but it's worth the extra (eternity-seeming) minute. 

---I find I'm most effective as a teacher when I remember what first got me excited about an idea or a topic and I am able to transfer that excitement and enthusiasm to my students.  Enthusiasm and true excitement are contagious or at least do not go unnoticed, and students seem to respond positively to it.  

---I've scrapped power point and I couldn't be happier. Students look at me and each other rather than trying to frantically scribble everything on the slide.