FOUR TIPS THAT SHOW YOU WANT YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN

NOTE:   This is my 267^th posting on this blog.   Over all the years, the writings have never really varied.  They have always been about my observations on teaching in college, which is, I truly believe, one of the most important professions in the world.  We should all approach this job as if the fate of our planet depends on us.

I tend to author 5 to 15 new essays each year.  If you would like to receive a short notification from me whenever I post a new essay, send me an email at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.   I will not email you for any other reason – I respect your privacy.  I will just let you know when I have posted a new entry to the blog.  

Over the years, these 267 postings have had 450,644 page views (as of two minutes ago).   That is approximately 450,000 more than I expected when I first began writing.  Periodically, I feel a need to thank everyone who has read these postings, who has emailed me with comments/questions/suggestions, and who has passed along these thoughts to their colleagues.  Spread the word.   As teachers, we have a responsibility to share ideas about motivating and guiding students.  College education can and should get better every day.  Sharing thoughts is an important aspect of that evolution.  (Start your own blog, for example.)

In case you are interested, here are the individual essays in this blog that have had the most page views over the years.

--What Do We Add?   July 22, 2010

--What Is the Purpose of a Final Examination?   May 12, 2010

--The Most Important Days of the Semester    October 1, 2017

--Thinking About Teaching – How Do We Get Them Excited?    December 7, 2015

--Two Words for Better Teaching    January 7, 2015

--Be Daring   September 14, 2015

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When I talk with college teachers, I often notice that some tend to define themselves by what they believe they cannot do.  “I cannot be a great teacher.”  “I cannot make this material interesting.”  “I cannot get my students to participate in class.”  “I cannot get the students to think.”  “I cannot convince students that this material is important.” 

These teachers are frustrated.  That is why they tend to focus on “I cannot.”   Nevertheless, I am not sure how this mindset is beneficial.  Dwelling on what you believe you cannot do is of no help to either you or your students.  A good way to improve your teaching is to identify one basic goal that you CAN achieve and then begin the task of making that happen.  As you get better in any one area, I suspect that your overall teaching will begin to improve.   The many, varied components of teaching are interconnected.   Get better at one thing and many other aspects of your teaching will also show improvement.

Okay, the next roadblock is that teachers tell me, “When it comes to improvement, I don’t even know where to start.”  Change can be difficult to initiate.  So, let me provide a suggestion.  It is summer time.  Hopefully, you have a bit more time to consider how to make good things happen in your upcoming classes.

After a semester is complete, I frequently get an email or two from students with a kind (but vague) message.  “Thanks for a great semester.”  “I learned a lot in your class.”  “I appreciate all of your help.”   I never fail to be grateful to any student who takes time to provide feedback in a positive manner.  

A few weeks ago, I received an email from one of my spring-semester students.  The note really made me stop and think because it was more specific.  This student is from China and had worked hard in my class.  She did not thank me for a great semester or for my assistance.  She did not mention learning a lot.  In fact, she wrote virtually nothing about the subject itself.  

She had a different type of observation, “I hope that I can pursue things in my life with the same passion as you have for educating your students.”  Over my 47 years in this business, I don’t think any previous student has ever said anything like that to me.   She had come to see that I really did care about my students so that I genuinely wanted them to learn.   She hoped eventually to find that same passion for things in her life.  Maybe, I began to think, she had identified a foundation step for becoming a better teacher.

Simple question – do your students think you teach purely to earn money?   Or, do they believe you have a passion for helping them to learn?   Be honest – how much passion for teaching would your students say that you have?  A lot?  A little?  Almost none?  That is an interesting question to ponder.  Moreover, here is an aspect of teaching where you can get away from “I cannot.”  There is nothing to keep you from demonstrating an intense desire for each of your students to learn.  That does not require a particular talent.   If students believe you want them to learn, I believe they will be more likely to do the work that you ask of them.   If they don’t believe you care about their learning, then why should they do more than the absolute minimum that is required?  I had teachers in college who clearly did not care if I learned one iota and my feelings quickly came to mirror theirs.  

We all get frustrated as teachers.  There might be a lot of things about teaching where “I cannot” feels like the appropriate answer.  But, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot demonstrate a genuine passion for educating your students.  And, that passion might be the first step in making a lot of other things about your teaching start to improve.  If you show a belief in the importance of education, I believe many of your students will respond with more effort than you might imagine.

How do you convince your students that you have a passion for their learning of the subject matter?   Let me give you a couple of tips.   I am sure we could list 20 more tips but these four will get you started on convincing students that you have a passion for their learning.

Tip 1 – You cannot fake it.  Students can sense when you try to create a false enthusiasm for the learning of course material.  You actually have to want each student (from the best to the worst) to learn what you are teaching.  If you really don’t care, why should they?

Try this.  About every 2-3 weeks during each semester, take your grade book and slowly read each name and pause.  If your classes are small enough, picture the person in your mind.   You want to think of every student as an individual person and not simply as a member of the herd.   I usually look at their grades to date and try to decide whether that person is living up to his or her potential.  I want to remind myself that I am working with distinct human beings who desperately need a good education (whether they want a good education or not).   It is easy to mentally group students (“good students” and “bad students”), but I want to think of John Doe and Susan Dough as separate individuals and not merely as a part of the mass of humanity sitting in front of me each day in class.  I don’t mean to sound like Mother Teresa, but I do believe she inspired the world because she was not faking it when she talked about caring for each individual person.

Tip 2 – You have to communicate.  As I often say, students cannot read your mind.   You have to tell them and tell them, “Here is what I want you to learn and here is why I want you to learn it.   There is a reason and it is for your benefit.”   As of this afternoon, I have already written 3-4 emails to the students registered for my fall classes that will not begin for three months.  For me, that communication is vital.   Will the students read every word?   Of course not, but all I want is to start building up a sense in them of (a) the importance of the material and (b) my desire to help them learn.  

Of all the things I ever write about teaching, the one that I probably believe is most true is that teachers tend to under-communicate with their students and then wonder why the students don’t do what the teacher expects of them.   Don’t drive them crazy with useless information but make sure you establish a system of essential communication.  Tell them exactly why you want them to learn the material.

Tip 3 – Be willing to be available to help.   If you teach your classes and then go hide, there is no sense that you have a passion for your students to learn.   Again, as I have written previously, you cannot urge them to leap tall buildings in a single bound unless you are willing to stick around and help them learn how to fly.  “Here are my office hours.   If you have a problem, I expect you to be at my office with your questions.  We are in this together.  I want you to succeed.   I am on your side.”  Most students are leery of seeking help from a teacher because it might make them appear stupid or lazy.   Unless the material in your class is easy, most students will need assistance now and then.  That is just a fact of life.  You have to make sure that they know you are ready and willing to answer their questions and provide needed help.  

Tip 4 – Be proactive.  If a student is not doing well in your class, you simply cannot look the other way.   If a student is not preparing for class, if a student is not able to answer simple questions, if a student is skipping class, if a student is doing poorly on quizzes and examinations, you cannot wait for them to seek help.  Many will simply give up and fail.  Before that happens, call them into your office.   Explain your concern.   Ask them, “Is there a problem that I need to know about?   I need to see better work from you before the semester gets away from you.   What can we do to get you on a track toward success?”  If a doctor walks by a bleeding person, the doctor would try to provide assistance.  The doctor would not wait for the person to seek help.  A teacher cannot sit idly by as a student drifts off toward failure.  No teacher can save every student but every teacher can make an effort.  

Want to be a better teacher?   For one semester, try these four tips.   What do you have to lose?   Don’t sit there and simply repeat, “I cannot.”  That doesn’t solve any problems.  There is nothing on this list that you cannot try.  Just see how your teaching might be different.   Convincing students that you really do have a passion for their learning might well be the key that makes other aspects of your teaching grow stronger.

MY CURRENT EXPERIMENT

If you have read this blog for long, you know that I have two interconnected goals.  

--The first is that every teacher should strive to become 5 percent better each and every year.   Never stand still.  Always push yourself to find some area of improvement.  

--The second goal is to Experiment-Evaluate-Evolve.   It is that active level of experimentation that leads to improvement.   No improvement is possible without making some change.   You should always be able to look at your current situation and point to specific changes that you are trying and evaluating.

If I stopped right now and asked you “what experiments are you trying this semester that might make you 5 percent better,” could you identify one or more? 

Experiments work better if they are directed at identified problems.  

After nearly 45 years in the classroom, one thing continues to irritate me.   I have many bright young people in my classes who have never learned how to become great students.  They are good at note-taking and they are good at memorization but they struggle when the learning goes beyond that level.   They don’t know how to respond.   How can a 20 year old who has been in school for 15 of those 20 years not know more about efficient learning?   That is an issue that seems to hold back many, if not most, students in college.   I don’t understand why we don’t exert more energy to help students learn how to become better learners.

There are a number of excellent books on the market that tell teachers what their students need to do to be better students.   Go to Amazon right now and you’ll probably find dozens.   But they all seem to be targeted at the wrong audience.   It should be the students who read and study such books rather than the teachers.  

So, last semester, around December 10, I emailed the 55 students who were going to be taking my Intermediate Accounting II class this spring.   This class is known for being particularly challenging.   Most students enter wanting a good grade but with a great amount of trepidation.  

In my email, I explained to the 55 students that I wanted them to become better students so they could be more successful in my class.  That seemed reasonable.   I also pointed out that they would probably have some spare time over the winter break.   I then offered to give them up to three bonus points on the first test of the spring semester if they would read the book Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel.  Read the book -- get three points.

On the inside cover of "Make It Stick" is the following description:   “Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners.”   Wow, that’s exactly what I want for my students.   The description goes on to say “many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive.  Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly.   More complex and durable learning comes from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another.”  

I think that is an understanding of learning that every college student should consider.   I was willing to offer bonus points just to see how many students would read the book and what the impact might be.   It was an experiment.

Fast forward three months.    Our first test was last week.   Of my 55 students, 20 said they had read less than 20 percent, one said he had read 20 to 50 percent, 7 said they had read 50 to 80 percent, and 27 said they had read 80 percent or more.   Roughly half the class claimed to have read roughly the entire book.   Interestingly, 63 percent of the top 16 students on the test (before the bonus points were added) said they had read at least 80 percent of the book.   Only 22 percent of the bottom 9 students claimed to have read that much.  

Of course, it helped that I gave them the assignment over a long holiday and offered points for a course that already begun to scare them.  It is hard to motivate students by being too easy.

Did the students tell the truth in their self-assessment?   It was only a couple of points; I accepted their word.  They are adults.   They know the rules.   I suspect that 80 percent or more told the truth.  To me, the potential benefit of the experiment far outweighed the risk that some student would falsely get 3 extra points on a single test.

More importantly, did the reading help them?   Has the book changed their behavior?   Do they now understand more about the science of learning?   I’ll wait until the end of the semester to ask them about those questions.   Unfortunately, we have lost several days to snow so it is hard to compare the test results so far this semester with that of previous semesters.

Here’s what I want to happen:

--I hope that the very assignment of this book helps to open the students' eyes to possible improvements in how they study.   Most students never seem to question how they go about learning.   It is like breathing—they just seem to do it without thought.   I wanted to raise the question:   What works in learning complex material?   I do wish that effective and efficient learning was a topic more stressed in middle school and high school.

--I hope the students threw out some of the study habits they have relied on in the past.   Cramming over the 48 hours just before a test is one “study” habit that I would love to outlaw.  Why spend time doing something that does not help?

--I hope the students considered some new study techniques that they might never have considered previously.   In that way, this voluntary assignment might well have a long lasting benefit.

I don’t want my students to learn just accounting.  That has never been my goal.   College education should be more than that.  I want them to become more successful students.   In the world after graduation, when a teacher is no longer around to provide guidance, that efficiency in learning might well be more important to them than anything else I can teach them.

Will I do this same experiment again next fall?   I am still evaluating.  I like the idea.   I would like to figure out how I could make better use of it.   I guess it is still in the planning process.  

I will leave you with a line from page 226 of Make It Stick:   “Students generally are not taught how to study, and when they are, often get the wrong advice.  As a result, they gravitate to activities that are far from optimal, like rereading, massed practice, and cramming.”  

Yeah, I agree.  Let’s start introducing the students to better practices so that they can become the capable students who will make our jobs much more interesting and easier.   Sometimes all it takes is three bonus points.

ANSWERING TEN QUESTIONS WILL HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER TEACHER

As I have mentioned on my last two postings, I will be part of a panel discussion on April 17, 2015, in Asheville, NC, at the Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association.   I am thrilled to be joined by three great teachers:   Lynn Clements of Florida Southern, Eric Bostwick of the University of West Florida, and Scott Showalter of North Carolina State.  

We are planning to have a simple conversation about some of the most basic issues in teaching.   I am very much interested in knowing how other teachers deal with the challenges that I seem to face every day in my classroom.   I have long believed that we need a more open exchange of ideas if college education is going to improve as it must.

I am not sure what questions we will end up discussing in Asheville but here are ten that we are considering.  

How would you answer each of these questions?   There are no right or wrong answers here but these are wonderful questions for each of us to consider as we work to help more of our students become better educated and more deeply thinking individuals.

(1) – (This first question here is directed toward accounting education but it probably applies to almost any academic area from history to Shakespeare to philosophy.)   Any time there is a student comment about an accounting course, the initial response is that the topic is extremely dry.  Many students seem to walk into accounting classes on the first day with the firm belief that they are going to be painfully bored by the material (which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy).   ("Accounting is going to be sooooo dull.")   How do you make your classes interesting and enjoyable for your students?  

(2) – I write a blog about teaching and I recently reported that I had surveyed my students on the characteristics of great teaching.   The number one characteristic according to my students was:  “Great teachers motivate and inspire students.   They set high standards and challenge their students to reach those goals.”   One student wrote “Any teacher with a degree can teach, but it takes a great teacher to get into the hearts of his or her students and inspire them.   Great teachers inspire their students to do great things.”   Okay, how do you motivate and inspire your students?

(3) – Every book on teaching will tell you that the best learning comes about when students are actively engaged.   However, many students seem to prefer to sit very quietly and take notes (or daydream).   I sometimes refer to them as stenographer students.   How do you get students to be engaged and interactive in class?

(4) – I once wrote an essay titled “What do you want on your tombstone?”   In this essay, I asked teachers how they wanted to be remembered by their students.    How do you want to be remembered?  

(5) – What is your biggest challenge as a teacher?

(6) – I am a big believer that a teacher should always know what he or she wants to achieve in a class or the class will tend to drift around in a random fashion.   Think of your favorite course to teach.   How do you want your students to be different on the last day of the semester?  What impact do you want to have on your students?

(7) – I obsessively believe that one of the most important keys to a great class is student preparation.   If students walk in unprepared (as they often seem to want to do), there is only a limited amount that they can add to class discussion.   Almost by definition, they are limited to being quiet and taking notes because they don’t come in with the knowledge needed to make a legitimate contribution.   How do you get students to prepare before arriving at class?  

(8) – I have often said that "the way you test is the way students will learn."   For them, every day is preparation for the next test.   Schools often claim that their primary goal is to help students develop critical thinking skills.   But, testing is often based on memorization so students tend to focus on memorization.   Some of the students probably learned this strategy in middle school and high school.   In this age of Google, memorization has few benefits.  How do you test your students?   Is your testing geared toward critical thinking skills?

(9) – In every aspect of life, good communication is important so that everyone is on the same page.   Do you have any particular ways that you communicate with your students?

(10) – Students often leave class each day thinking they know the material.   I recently read a book that stated that students almost always over value what they know.   I tell my students that they actually leave class each day with “Swiss-cheese” knowledge.   It looks solid but it is really full of holes.   How do you help students realize their knowledge has holes and then how do you help them plug those holes?

Would love to see you in the audience in Asheville helping us come up with answers to these ten essential questions.   

THE DECISIVE MOMENT

 

Professional photographers sometimes talk about the “decisive moment.”   It is that one essential point in time when the photo needs to be taken to capture the true essence of the events that are taking place and the people that are involved.   

I strongly believe that there are decisive moments in teaching and learning.   If you make the most of those decisive moments, the students can learn much and learn deeply.   If you miss those moments, learning becomes more of a superficial affair.

One such moment is immediately after the first test of the semester.   It is still early.   There is still plenty of time to make great things happen.   However, the students are all unsure as to whether they are doing enough to satisfy the teacher’s expectations. 

If the first test is complex without being unfair, the teacher will have caught the students’ attention.   “This is the kind of learning that I want from you.”   Making that clear is so very important.   Make sure the students know what you are looking for from them.

Students, though, are often confused.   They have had dozens of teachers over the years who taught in a variety of ways and with a wide range of expectations.   They will not necessarily respond to the first test as you want.   Some, for example, might be overwhelmed and have the tendency to simply give up.   Others may cast around aimlessly trying to figure out what they should be doing differently.   They need GUIDANCE.   That is where a teacher can create miracles.   Provide that guidance.

In my Financial Accounting class, I gave my first test last week.   Roughly half the students made an A or B with the rest making lower grades.   Obviously, it was the lower half that I wanted to address.   I didn’t want to lose them or discourage them.   I just wanted to guide them so they could do better.

I wrote them the following email.

 

To: Accounting 201 Students

From: JH

You will get your first test back today. As is always the case, some people will be happy/thrilled/excited. Some people will be less than happy.

If you are unhappy, the question you should ask of yourself is “what should I do differently?”

I’m not sure what happens to smart students in high school but they often arrive in my class believing there are short cuts to learning, tricks that enable good grades to be made with less effort. Nah, I think that is a fairy story.

Here are some things that you might consider. I know these will not all apply to everyone but a few of these might apply to you.

1 – Procrastination is the biggest enemy you have. Students (humans) put off work until the last possible moment and then hurry through the work in a rushed manner. Then, the work is not high quality. Don’t procrastinate on your class preparation. Do it as early as possible and take the time to do it right. This would be my number one recommendation (and probably my number two and three recommendation also). I occasionally walk around the room before class and notice your notes. It is surprising how often a student will have a list of our questions sitting there followed by one or two words. To myself I think, this is a student who is preparing like he really wants to make a D. Jotting down a couple of words is not preparation. Make a conscious decision to become the best prepared student in class.

2 – Read the book. Few students actually read the book. They might skim the book looking for answers to a question but they never sit down and read the book so they miss the entire thought process. Each chapter will take 60-90 minutes. The chapters are written to open the world of business to you. You should find a comfortable chair each week and actually have the self-discipline to read the chapter. You are not looking for random answers. You are looking to understand the material. That comes from actual reading and not just random skimming.

3 – Watch the opening video for the chapter and the closing video. I made those to point you toward what is really important. That will save you time and help you focus on the big stuff.

4 – I send out problems on a regular basis and put answers on my door (and occasionally make a video). You should work those immediately and, if you don’t understand the answer, come see me as soon as possible. Missing a question and then not seeking a better understanding is the kiss of death at test time.

5 – One of my top junior students comes to my office three times each week with a list of questions. Those questions come from class, from the reading, from the homework. She never leaves the office until she is comfortable that she understands. She is a tenacious student which is my favorite kind. Is it a coincidence that she is also one of the top students? Of course not. She should be your role model.

6 – I have suggested that you study together, especially in the 30 minutes or so before class. I occasionally watch those dynamics. Often, it is one student talking and the other 8 students writing down what that student says. That is not studying together. That is a waste of time (except for the one student talking). Studying is when everyone exchanges ideas and thoughts. Be very careful. It is easy to think “I sat with those other students for 30 minutes studying.” Were you really studying or just taking notes of what someone else said?

7 – I am a big believer that life is simply a game of trial and error. You’ve had a test. A pretty good percentage of the class did quite well. If you did not do so well, what did they do that you did not? You are not a robot. You can change. Make adjustments. You have plenty of time to make an A in this course but you have to learn from this first test.

Just a final note. Reading this list and doing these things are two different things. Pick a few and do them.