How To Become A Great Teacher

My life is now officially complete.   I was mentioned recently in the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-senack/back-to-school-back-to-sk_b_3845386.html

Life will surely be downhill for me from here on out.

**

I have written about Ken Bain on this blog on a number of occasions.    He is author of What the Best College Teachers Do, a work that I have recommended to hundreds of teachers in my teaching presentations.   Several years ago, Dr. Bain spoke on our campus.   In the evening, he met with probably 75 faculty members.   During the program someone near the back of the room raised a hand and asked the direct question:   How do you become a great teacher?  Okay, the question that everyone really wanted to have answered was officially on the table.   What does a teacher need to do to become great?

Dr. Bain responded immediately with a response that went something like this:   “Oh, I can answer your question quite easily.   To become a great teacher, all you have to do is get your students to care about what you are teaching.”  

“All you have to do is get your students to care about what you are teaching.”   It sounds so simple but it can be so very difficult.

If you are teaching a course on Hamlet, a student who cares will allocate enough time to do the reading at a significant depth.   The student will check out related readings and consider their significance.  The student will pay attention in class, make comments, and ask questions.   In other words, the student will be fully engaged and do the work that is necessary to excel.   For that particular student, this class and professor will be outstanding and thought-provoking.

If a student is not enticed to care about Hamlet, the student will read (or scan) Cliff’s Notes or possibly watch one of the movie versions of the play.   The student will text during class and entirely miss the beauty of Shakespeare’s language.   Any papers will be completed with a half-hearted effort.   Although it is the same class, this student will find it boring and useless.

How much the student cares really is the key.  

As I wander around the country, I often hear faculty complaints about student apathy.

--“The students just don’t care.”

--“Why do they take the class if they don’t plan to do any work?”
--“They are not interested enough to do one bit more than is necessary.”

Great teachers rarely make those comments.

So, the question is not – how do you become a great teacher?    The real question is – how do you get your students to really care about the material?   (It is not coincidental that the two opening questions in my Financial Accounting textbook [written with C. J. Skender] are “What is financial accounting?” followed by “What makes Financial Accounting important?”   We wanted to build the concept of student caring into the material right from the start.)

Encouraging students to care about the material is a terribly complicated subject.   We could probably hold a week-long conference on that one challenge.   Obviously, we have all grown up in a system where “caring” was brought into education by the threat of a test and grades.   “You better learn this stuff or you are going to fail your test next week.”   Sounds like a haunted house warning at Halloween, doesn’t it?

I would argue that one of the problems with college education is that a lot of it is based on learning because of fear rather than developing a student who cares.

How can you get students to care about the material beyond simply threatening them with failing grades?    Here are a couple of thoughts.    This is not an all-inclusive list, just some random ideas.

1 – Communicate early and often. 

    a.   I start sending my students emails weeks before classes begin.  One of the things I tell them is “I truly believe this will be one of the most important classes you ever take in college.”   I want them to walk in on the first day with a sense of anticipation.   And, I want that feeling to be positive – there really is a potential benefit to be gained from learning this material.   Of course, then I have to back up my claim.
    b.   Whenever I see something in a movie, newspaper, the Internet, or television that relates to my course, I send a note to my students and describe why this news was relevant to them.   I really want to stretch the class beyond the four walls of the classroom.   One of my favorite comments is:   “before this semester began, you would not have understood what was written in that article but now you should understand it completely.   You are becoming educated.   Learning allows the world to open up to you.”
    c.   Whenever we talk about something in class that I think is especially important to them, I’ll drop them a quick email later and say “today we discussed X in class and here’s how this might actually prove to be beneficial to you at some point in life.”   Students often need you to make the connections for them, at least at first.   And, making connections is a skill you want to encourage.

2 – Keep the proper attitude in class.

    a.    I majored in accounting because I thoroughly enjoy it.   I try to share that interest with my students.   No one gets into college teaching because they hate the subject matter.   I hope to open that same window of interest to my students.   I do admit that there is a fine line between being enthusiastic and being obsessively geeky.   So, I try to share my excitement in small doses.
    b.   As I have written innumerable times on this blog, people love puzzles.   I try to present as much of my material as possible in the form of a puzzle.   Even students who hate accounting, enjoy puzzles.   If you work at it, everything you teach can be twisted into a puzzle.   Puzzles are so much more interesting to students than the straight conveyance of information.   Plus, digging out the solutions helps them develop their critical thinking skills.  
    c.   Students tend to resist caring about material that is boringly easy.    Students also tend to resist material that is so complex that is it beyond their reach.   For me, one of the true challenges of teaching is presenting material at a level that maximizes caring.   I believe material should be challenging without being impossible.   Work is required but that work offers success.   Most people like to be stretched as long as they know there is a reasonable chance of success.    

3 – Bend over backwards to be fair.   Student response to the perception that class is not fair is to stop caring.

    a.   Make sure the daily assignments are of an appropriate length and clearly germane to the learning process.   “That is more work than anyone could possibly do” is not what you want to hear too often.   “I spent hours on that assignment and it was never mentioned in any way” is a response that is likely to signal a future loss of caring.

    b.   Make sure that the tests and grading accomplish what you want them to accomplish.   For me, a student who understands the material should get a B; a student who understands the material extremely well should get an A.   I believe that is fair.   I think the students (deep in their hearts) believe that is fair.   If the testing process rewards students who did what you asked, more students will follow along.   If the testing process does not reward the students who did what you asked, don’t be surprised by a future lack of caring.  

You can get your students to care in many different ways.   How are you doing it now?   Is it working?   That thinking can help you become a great teacher.

NEW YEAR STARTING: WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE IN THE CLASSROOM?

Before I get started today, I want to send out a big Thank You to all the readers of this blog.   Several days ago, we went over 90,000 total pageviews.   When I first started writing these essays, I would have bet a gazillion dollars that I’d never get 5,000 pageviews.   And, I would not have gotten to even that lower mark without folks like you passing along good words about this site.   Thanks – I would have probably stopped writing years ago except that the traffic remains strong and actually seems to grow over time.   You provide the energy.   I continue to be convinced that people really do like to think and talk about teaching because it is both extremely important to our lives and our future and a whole lot of fun.

**

A new school year is starting.   For me, it will be my 43^rd year in the classroom.   I have written before that I believe every teacher should consider the “teaching personality” that you want to have with your students.  This is a great time to reconsider that question.    Do you want to be a fiery pulpit pastor who inspires everyone to do better with their lives or do you want to be a kindly nurse who helps everyone get well?   Do you want to be a coach who pushes everyone toward a winning grade or Socrates who prods student thinking with careful questions?   Those are all legitimate teaching personalities but you probably cannot be all things to all students.    You have to choose.

I think contemplating the idea of a teaching personality is important because, without one, it is easy to simply become a mechanical conveyor of information.   Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492.   Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina.   There’s nothing too exciting about that.   It doesn’t even sound terribly important.   I would argue that many teachers let themselves fall into a classroom role that really doesn’t seem important.   They then wonder why students aren’t inclined to do what they ask.   Maybe it is not the students’ fault but the personality you are projecting.

As I have mentioned previously, I was out in Anaheim, California, a few weeks ago at the American Accounting Association annual meeting.   I was sitting at a table one morning with several excellent teachers and this question of “who are you in the classroom?” came up.    It was an interesting conversation because several people knew right away their personality model while others seemed mystified by the question.

Historically, I have given one answer to that question but on that morning I gave a different answer.   People are entitled to change/evolve over time.   My comment was that I viewed myself as “half drill sergeant” because I push each of my students almost unmercifully to succeed.   In the military, the drill sergeant is in charge of turning weak civilians into strong soldiers who can survive in combat.   That requires the sergeant to get in their faces and drive them to go beyond what they ever thought they could accomplish.   My goal is to turn students (who come to me knowing little or nothing about accounting) into people who can go out into the business world and be successful.   I don’t want half of them to reach that goal.   I want them all to make it through.   During the semester, that drive is on my mind all of the time.   I feel, in a nutshell, that my responsibility as a college teacher is to push my students to succeed in learning and understanding.  

However, I also view myself as “half cheerleader.”   Yes, I demand great things from my students but I also try to help them believe in themselves and their ability to succeed.   I am not out to crush their spirits.   I want to drive them but I also want to encourage them and show them how to succeed.

Drill sergeant.

Cheerleader.

Only speaking for myself, I would not want to be one without the other.   Being only a drill sergeant seems almost sadistic.   Being only a cheerleader seems almost useless.   But, if I can successful merge those two personalities, I can push everyone forward.   I don’t care if the students like me or not (I have enough friends).   I do care, though, if they do not make the progress that I think they are capable of making.    Some need more drill sergeant.   Some need more cheerleader.   My goal is to figure out what I can do to help each of them learn and understand and make use of the information we cover.

However, keep in mind:   That is my teaching personality.   It works for me.   You are a different person.   Your goal should never be to become me.   Your goal should be to become the kind of teacher that YOU want to be.  

So, before the 2013-2014 school year gets started in a few days, think about the teaching personality that you want.   What do you want to accomplish and what type of personality is most likely to get you there?

Who are you as a teacher?

If I Challenge You to Become a Better Teacher in 2013-2014, What Is Your First Response?

As some of you might know, besides being a college professor, I am a cofounder and president of CPAreviewforFREE.com.   In that role, I send out email lessons to about 20,000 past and future CPA candidates two or three times each month.   These lessons talk about how to pass the CPA Exam and, hopefully, encourage and assist those candidates in achieving their goal.   I’ve actually written these motivational email lessons now (off and on) for nearly 20 years.  

The following blog entry is adapted from a recent one of those lessons.   Obviously, I’ve changed the goal from “pass the CPA Exam” to “become a better teacher” but I believe that this basic message applies to teachers just as much as it does to CPA Exam candidates.   Success is success whenever you face a genuine challenge.

**

Two to four times each year, over the past 10-12 years, I have given presentations around the country on teaching.   I am always amazed by how many capable teachers show up to these sessions and immediately start telling me why they cannot improve their teaching.   Were it not so sad, it would be funny.   Over the years, I have started diagnosing this as the “I can’t do this because” disease.  

--I can’t do this because the students are lazy.

--I can’t do this because I have to focus on my research.
--I can’t do this because I have too many students.  
--I can’t do this because I am paid so poorly.  
--I can’t do this because my dean will not give me the resources that I need.
--I can’t do this because I have always gotten bad evaluations in the past.
--I can’t do this because it is not important for tenure and promotion.
--I can't do this because no else around here wants to teach well.

--I can’t do this because my students have no interest in learning.  

With all these self-imposed barriers, I often wonder how anyone ever manages to become a better teacher.   But people do improve and even become great teachers.   If you want to be one of those folks who really does improve,  it can be done.   Yes, it can!!!   It might not be easy but it can be done.   The excuses might slow you down but you can still get better.

When teachers tell me why they cannot improve, my response is always “well, don’t place too many stumbling blocks in your path.   Let’s start by looking at several places where small amounts of improvement can be made.”   Teaching in college is tough enough without you telling yourself you are going to fail.  

So, let’s practice.   Let's check your attitude.   If I were to get in your face and challenge you to become a better teacher in 2013-2014, what is your first response – would you start giving me reasons why that can’t happen or would you start thinking about changes you might make in order to become a better teacher?

I have long pondered the need of teachers to establish excuses.   For many, it is very much like a chanted mantra:   “I cannot become a better teacher because….”  This tendency seems almost universal.   A lot of humans just think in that negative way.   Every time we start a new challenge in life, especially if it pushes us outside of our comfort zone, we seem to lack faith in ourselves.    I suppose setting low expectations makes failure easier to face.  We make excuses as a way to soften the possible blow to our egos if we do fail. 

However, setting low expectations makes success so much more difficult to attain.   A negative attitude works against you.   It is hard to have the confidence to do the hard work necessary for success if you have already explained to everyone (including yourself) the many reasons you are going to fail.   Who wants to work hard if you don’t believe you can succeed?     People (teachers as well as students) live up to their own high expectations but, just as importantly, they also live down to their own low expectations.  

Attitude is vitally important in achieving success.   People rarely succeed without a “can do” attitude.   No one wants you to walk around and brag about how well you are going to do.   But, a certain degree of “I can do this” is necessary if you are going to take on tough challenges and succeed.

Let me give you an example.    My wife has long wanted to take a pottery class.   I have always resisted because I was convinced that I could never learn how to take a lump of clay and put it on a wheel and turn it into a pot or bowl or vase that could be glazed and fired.   I always assumed that I would produce a wreck and the teacher would look at me and just shake her head in frustration.   I didn’t want to try because I was afraid that I would be embarrassed by failure.   I was afraid of looking stupid.   So, I created all kinds of excuses.   When pottery was mentioned, I found myself starting every sentence with “I can’t do this because.” 

Finally, as I have written before on this blog, we decided to take a six-week pottery class this summer after I ran out of excuses.   I figured that I would produce awful stuff but I’d get it over with.  

And, of course, you can guess what happened.   The teacher was very patient and showed me exactly how to start, how to get the clay centered, how to mold it, how to shape and trim it.   When I did something wrong, she would show me how to learn from my mistake and do better the next time.   It was a wonderful learning experience.

I enjoyed every second.  And, almost immediately, “I can’t do this because” was replaced by “with some help, I can make this happen.”   Becoming a better teacher is much the same.   Quit the excuses and give it a try.

The key was that I stopped putting roadblocks in my path.   I stopped defeating myself.   I let the teacher help me make gradual progress.   And, eventually, I could make some pottery.

After 6 weeks, my wife and I had produced over 30 pieces.   If you want to see them, you can go to the following website and see a few photos that we took:  

http://www.cpareviewforfree.com/resources.cfm?name=article&article_id=83

What is the point of this story about pottery?   When it comes to teaching, stop doubting yourself and start thinking about improvement.   You have to rid yourself of “I can’t do this because” or you will never get one bit better.   Instead, get to work and get better.      

I recently read a book titled “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed.   It was a relatively long book and quite interesting.   But one line near the start of the book really caught my attention.   I immediately jumped up and ran to find a pen so that I could write down those few words.

Ms. Strayed was 26 and had lived a tough life.   Her mother died when Ms. Strayed was in college and she had a lot of trouble getting over it.   She had married and divorced and experimented with some dangerous drugs.

In hopes of getting her life straightened out, she decided to walk 1,100 miles of the very challenging Pacific Crest Trail by herself with little training or experience.   In the book, about the time she gets ready to start this grand adventure, she gets scared and almost backs out.   It is there that she includes the line that I appreciated so much:  

 

“Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves.”

 A line well worth remembering.

If you tell yourself that you cannot become a better teacher, you will become afraid and will not even try.   You are letting your own story defeat you.

If you tell yourself that you are going to keep pushing forward and learning from your mistakes, your chances of improving go up immediately.   Don’t let your excuses hold you back.  

When you look at becoming a better teacher, what story are you telling yourself?   In many ways, that question is the entire point of this blog entry.   What story are you telling yourself?

--The students don’t care so why should I waste my time as the teacher

Or
--If I improve, I’ll have a positive impact on more of my students

--I need to shut my door and work on my research; the students keep me from doing the work that is really important.

Or

--If I improve, I can change my students for the better and there is simply not a much better way to live a life.

--I have always gotten bad student evaluations; that is never going to change no matter what I do.

Or
--I cannot become great overnight but I can make small improvements and if I keep working and have patience, I can become a good (maybe outstanding) teacher.  

 Before the fall semester begins, ask yourself: “What stories am I telling myself about my teaching?”   Am I telling myself stories that are going to make me afraid and hold me back from getting better?   Am I convincing myself that I am weak and flawed?   Or, am I telling myself stories that will provide me with the courage, energy, and enthusiasm that I need to improve?   Am I convincing myself that I am strong and able?

There are no guarantees in life.   But that doesn’t mean that you have to view yourself as chained to failure.  Everyone can teach better; I guarantee it.   Tell yourself stories of courage and determination and, quite possibly, like Cheryl Strayed, you’ll succeed at a very difficult task and become a better teacher.

It is easy to have weak stories in your head.   But your chances for improvement go up dramatically if you can replace them with strong positive stories.

HELPING YOUR AUDITORY LEARNERS

I am beginning an experiment today to help more of my students be successful in the classroom. If you look on the upper left hand side of this page, you should see a link titled “FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING – 2nd Edition.” If you click on that link, you will come to a page that has a series of audio clips between 8 and 11 minutes in length.

These audio clips were created by me to accompany the Financial Accounting textbook that I have written with CJ Skender at UNC (and published by FlatWorldKnowledge). Although these audio files are specifically designed for our book, they could probably be used quite well with any book. Debits are debits and credits are credits in every textbook.

Right now, I have five audio files posted but I hope to have many more soon. If you are teaching financial accounting, please feel free to suggest that your students listen to these files to see if they are helpful. Heck, they are free. What do they have to lose except for a few minutes of their time?

Each file is a carefully sequenced series of questions and answers. I ask a question and pause for a few seconds so the student can consider the answer. Then, I provide the answer and move on to the next logical question. I am quite literally trying to guide the students, step by step through the reading material.

As I explain in the rest of this posting, I started to create these audio files as a result of reading an article in the Wall Street Journal. I have long felt that our educational system is designed more for visual learners than it is for auditory learners. The article below pushed me to stop thinking about that problem and start trying to do something about it. If you have students who are struggling (in any course that you teach), you might consider whether they are auditory learners who are having trouble in visual learning system.
**

On Thursday, November 29, 2012, I was sitting at my very favorite deli having my very favorite lunch. I was reading the Wall Street Journal for that day as I ate. On page D6, I came across a story about Joe Moglia, the head football coach at Coastal Carolina.

He is the 63 year-old, first-year head coach of that team. And, he is a successful coach – his team made the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. However, five years earlier, Moglia had been the chief executive of TD Ameritrade (a company with a market capitalization of $8.9 billion). Of course, the article was about the mystery of how a very successful corporate executive could retire and then become a very successful college football coach.

It was a fascinating story. But, if all the story had told me was about blocking and tackling, I would have moved on to the next article. But one sentence really caught my attention. It is a sentence that I have thought of often since that day. “In his first months, Moglia tested each of his players to figure out whether they were auditory, visual or kinesthetic (touch-and-feel) learners so he and his coaching staff KNEW THE BEST WAY TO TEACH EACH OF THEM.” (emphasis added).

Okay, how many of the teachers reading this blog have ever done anything to figure out how each of your students learn? My best guess is that the answer is close to absolutely zero. Which of your students are visual learners? Which of your students are auditory learners? (I understand that only a relatively small percentage of students are kinesthetic learners.) We tend to treat all students exactly alike. Or, if we classify them at all, it is not as auditory learners versus visual learners but rather as “smart students” versus “not so smart students.”

I have read that roughly 30 percent of students are auditory learners. That’s a pretty large percentage of any class. Wikipedia provides this information:

“Auditory learning is a learning style in which a person learns through listening. An auditory learner depends on hearing and speaking as a main way of learning. Auditory learners must be able to hear what is being said in order to understand and may have difficulty with instructions that are written. They also use their listening and repeating skills to sort through the information that is sent to them.”

Now, in most classes, we will tell students “go read Chapter Two in the textbook” or “go to the library and read this journal article.” Some students come back with a clear understanding of the material whereas others come back lost and confused. Maybe, those lost students are not just being lazy. Maybe, those lost students are auditory learners who struggle with comprehending the visual words.

In class, we write things on a board which is visual but we usually talk about what we have written so that we are meeting the needs of both visual learners and auditory learners. However, many of our assignments are purely visual – especially assignments that are textbook based: read the chapter, answer the questions, do the problems.

After finishing the WSJ article and leaving the deli, I started trying to figure out how we could use our textbook to help both visual and auditory learners. We already have 68 videos which are both visual and auditory. But, I wanted to try something different. The result of that thinking is the audio files that will now be attached to this website.

Will they work? I honestly do not know. But, as I often say, the only way you can find out in teaching whether something works is by trying it. If you have a financial accounting course (even if you are using a different textbook), suggest that your students (especially any who seem to struggle with the visual words) try listening to these files. After all, they are free. It might prove to be helpful.

If you don’t teach financial accounting (intermediate accounting, for example, or the history of the Roman empire), think about how you can meet the needs of your auditory learners. If a 63 year football coach at Coastal Carolina can do it, so can you.

EVERYONE CHANGES OVER TIME

Happy holidays to all the teachers out there.   This blog just went over 67,800 page views.   I have been thrilled throughout the year to have the chance to interact with so many wonderful educators.  

**

When I give teaching presentations around the country, I am often asked how my teaching has changed during the past 42 years.   Because I stress working for 5 percent improvement each year, that particular question is certainly a legitimate one.   Invariably someone will jump up and ask:   Okay, how are you managing to improve over time?

I actually have a couple of different answers for that question.   But, there is one response that I always give:   During the past decade, I have come to spend a lot more time writing my test questions.   I used to throw tests together hurridly with one goal:   to be fair.   Now, though, I view testing as a much more important element of my class environment, one that requires a significant amount of preparation time. 

I occasionally argue in this blog that the way you test students is the way they will learn.   No matter what you tell them, if you test memorization, they will memorize.   If your tests are purely mechanical, they will only learn the mechanics.   If you only test at a superficial level, they will only learn material to that same shallow depth.   I believe this is the absolute truth.   The type of tests you create has a huge influence on the type of learning that the students do.

I am always shocked by how many well intentioned faculty members turn testing over to a textbook test bank.   I want to run screaming into the night when I hear that.   In my opinion, an overworked graduate student who does not know you or your students is not in any position to write a legitimate test for your students.   When writing this blog, I sometimes discuss what I would do if I were king of education.   Burning all test banks would be one of my first royal acts.

Yes, I know you are extremely busy.   But abdicating this valuable task to a person who might never have taught a single class (or a class like yours) makes no sense.   Any test in your class should be designed for your students based on what you have covered and based on what you want them to know.   It should not be composed of randomly selected questions written by some mysterious stranger.   To me, using a test bank is like asking Mickey Mouse to pinch hit for Babe Ruth.    You are giving away an essential element of the course to someone who might not be up to the task.

Over the decades, I have worked very hard to learn how to write good questions.   During those years, I have written some questions that were horrible.   But, I have learned much from that experience.  

--The first thing I learned about test writing was that a question that everyone could answer was useless.  

--The second thing that I learned was that a question that no one could answer was also useless.  

As with any task, you practice and you look at the results and you get better.   You don’t hand off an essential part of your course to a test bank.

As everyone who has read this blog for long probably knows, one of the things I started doing about 8 years ago was allowing students to bring handwritten notes to every test.   That immediately stopped me from writing questions that required memorization because the students had all that material written down and in front of them.

That was a good start but that was not enough.   Allowing notes pushed me in the right direction but it did not get me to the tests I wanted.   It takes practice and study.  

About 3 weeks ago, I wrote a 75 minute test for my introduction to Financial Accounting class here at the University of Richmond.  This test was the last one of the semester (prior to the final exam).  By that time, I surely believed that everyone in the class had come to understand what I wanted them to accomplish.   So, I wanted to test the material in such a way as to see how deeply they really did understand it.  

I wrote 12 multiple-choice questions designed to take about 4-8 minutes each.   For accounting tests that are often numerically based, I like multiple-choice questions because I can give 6-8 potential answers and, therefore, limit the possibility of a lucky guess.  

In writing the first four of these questions, I tried to envision what an A student could figure out but that a B student could not.   In other words, I wanted these four questions to show me the point between Good and Excellent.   These were tough.   For those questions, I really didn’t worry about the C, D, or F students.   These questions were designed specifically to see if I could divide the A students from the B students.

The next four questions were created to divide the B students from the C students.   They were easier questions but a student would have to have a Good level of understanding to figure them out.  I knew the A students could work these questions and I knew the D students could not work them.   These four were written to split the B students from the C students.

The final four questions were created to divide the C students from those with a lesser level of understanding.   They were easier but still not easy.  I wanted to see who deserved a C and who did not.   If a student could get those four questions correct, that (to me) was average work.   Those students deserved at least a C.   But, if a student could not get those four, they really had failed to achieve a basic level of understanding worthy of a C.  

Then, I shuffled the 12 questions and gave them to my students.

How did this test work out in practice?   Pretty well.   When it was over, I put the papers in order from best to worse to see if I was comfortable with the results.   I genuinely felt like I could tell the A students from the B students from the C students from everyone else.   And, isn’t that a primary reason for giving a test?

Okay, I had to create a pretty interesting curve to get the grades to line up with what I thought I was seeing.   But I am the teacher for this class.  That evaluation should be mine.  I tell my students early in the semester that I do not grade on raw percentages.   Getting 66 percent of the questions correct should not automatically be a D.   In fact, in many cases, getting 66 percent of the questions correct might well be a very impressive performance.   It depends on the difficulty of the questions.

After the first test, students will often ask something like, “I only got four questions out of 12 correct and I still got a C, how can that be?”   My answer is simple “by answering those four questions, you have shown me how much you have understood and I thought that level of understanding deserved a C.”

If I take an adequate amount of time and write good questions, I believe I can gain a good evaluation of the knowledge of the student.   And I usually find they will work harder after that to achieve a deeper level of understanding because they begin to see what I am after.   The way you test is the way your students will learn.

 

BE THE STREAM AND NOT THE ROCK

Last week, in each of my three classes, we were covering some extremely difficult material.   The students came to class well prepared for the most part.   They did a good job of analyzing and discussing the issues.   They came up with reasonable solutions.    They were certainly not perfect but they demonstrated a solid understanding of some truly complicated concepts.   I was proud of them.   They had come a long way.

We are now down to the last few days of the semester.   I was extremely happy to see such a good effort here near the end.   Even a grump like me had to be pleased.   Virtually every student in class had demonstrated a real improvement since we began back in August.   They not only knew more financial accounting but, just as importantly to me, they knew more about how to be good students.  

At times like these, I am always reminded of a quote that I heard a number of years ago, one that I think is terribly relevant to teaching:   "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins--not through strength but by perseverance."   Every semester I set out to be the stream.

In other words, no matter how frustrated I get with my students during the semester, if I keep my long-term goals in mind and if I pound on the students day in and day out to get to that goal, I WILL WIN.   I will simply wear down their resistance and teach them how to do what I want them to do.  

As long as I keep them moving toward the goals, we will get there. 

Okay, I never have a 100 percent success rate.   If a student sets out to fail, there is not much I can do about that.   However, most students really do not want to fail.   They would actually like to learn the material (at least at some level) and make a decent grade.  

To me, then, the only real question is whether I will get them to do what I want them to do so that they will learn the material and get that decent grade.

And the answer is:   "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins--not through strength but by perseverance."

I am convinced, when the students walk in on the first day of the semester, that I am the stream and they are the rocks and I will get them to learn what I think they need to know because I am going to stay focused on my long term goals.   To be a good teacher you need that extreme level of perseverance (or maybe “infinite patience” is a better way to put it).   Perseverance is a great help in becoming a good teacher.  

If you have read my blog previously, you know that I always have two long-term goals right from the beginning of each semester:

--On the last day of class, I want my students to say “I never knew I could work so hard, I never knew I could learn so much, I never knew I could think so deeply, and it was actually fun.”

--On the last day of class, I want my students to say “I understand this material so well that I can solve problems without needing the teacher.”  

I think those are educational goals worth achieving.   They make people better.   However, your goals may be radically different than mine.   That is absolutely fine.   I just feel like these two goals work best for me.   You need to determine what goals work best for you.

I also have facilitating goals that I use to help the class get to my long-term goals.  

--Every day, I want my students to come to class adequately prepared based on specific assignments that I have given them previously.   If they are not prepared, I am upset with them.

--Every day, I want my students to participate by analyzing new situations I pose in class.   I want their knowledge to always be pushing into new and unknown territory.  

--Every day, I want my students to go beyond memorization to achieve a level of understanding that allows them to solve questions and problems at a deeper level.

--After class, I want my students to organize the material that has been covered that day to help them come to a more concrete level of knowledge.   I don’t want them to quit when they just have “jello knowledge” but to keep working until they have a solid understanding.   Most student leave class with a squishy level of knowledge (jello knowledge) that requires more thought, work, and organization before it is truly solid.  

Does it work?   At first, of course not.   But, that’s normal; that is no reason to give up.  If I keep pushing them and guiding them and working on their mistakes, they gradually improve.   Learning is a slow, methodical process.   My only concern is whether I can get them to my goals by the last day of the semester.   And I have a strong belief that "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins--not through strength but by perseverance."   Keep pushing and they will make it.  

Always!

PERSONAL NOTE FROM JOE

This blog went over 50,000 views a few days ago. Obviously, no one would have ever heard of this blog over the past 27 months if it weren’t for people like you who have spread the word. First, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot tell you how very much I appreciate your helping out by telling other people about my writings.

Second, I’d like to ask you for a very personal favor. The second edition of my Financial Accounting textbook that I wrote with C. J. Skender (of UNC) came out today. (Today!!!!) I feel like I just experienced the birth of another child. I thought the first edition was good but I honestly think the second edition is great. It approaches the introduction of financial accounting differently because it is written in a Socratic Method style. It is the book that I have always wanted to write and I am thrilled with it. It covers what I think college students should learn in an introductory course. And, although I am obviously biased, I like to think it is written in an interesting and engaging style – using hundreds of real world examples.

After 41 years, I know two things for sure: (1) faculty members are often very critical of textbooks and (2) faculty members rarely change textbooks. I hear a lot of excuses for the tendency to stick with a textbook even if it is hated by all involved (the teacher and the students). I think adopting a bad textbook semester after semester is an awful educational practice, one that can only cause students to suffer.

Textbooks will never get better if professors aren’t open to new alternatives. That’s how the market system is supposed to work. Without real competition for adoptions, the products grow stale and stop being innovative.

Okay, so here’s the favor I am asking. If you teach financial accounting at a two-year or four-year college or in an MBA program, request a copy of the second edition of our Financial Accounting textbook and read one chapter. That’s all I ask. Don’t believe me. Heck, I’m biased. Read the buildings and equipment chapter (chapter 10) or the investments chapter (chapter 12) or the accounts receivable chapter (chapter 7). Or read the very first chapter where we talk about why learning financial accounting is important. Pretend you are a 19 year old college student. Could you read this book and understand it? Is it interesting? Does it cover what you want to teach?

Or, if you don’t teach financial accounting, if you know someone who does teach that course, forward this note to them. The book is published by Flat World Knowledge so the students get to use the book online for free. Yes, the students don’t pay $250 for this textbook. They can use the book online from day one for free. Why have them pay $250 for a book you hate and they hate?

Anyone who would like to receive a copy for adoption consideration should send a note to Becky Knauer at faculty@flatworldknowledge.com. It’s easy and quick. Be a wise decision maker – look at the alternatives.

And, in case you are interested, here is how the book opens. This sample provides a pretty good picture of the whole book. My goal was to catch the students’ attention right from the start and try to stimulate their curiosity. And, maybe most importantly, I wanted to push the real world into the students’ laps.

Question: In the June 30, 2011, edition of The Wall Street Journal, numerous headlines described the recent activities of various business organizations. Here are just a few:

“TMX and LSE Give Up on Planned Merger”

“Ally Financial Faces Charge for Mortgage Losses”

“HomeAway Jumps 49% in Debut”

“Ad-Seller Acquiring Myspace for a Song”

Millions of individuals around the world read such stories each day with rapt interest. From teen-agers to elderly billionaires, this type of information is analyzed obsessively. How are these people able to understand all the data and details being provided? For most, the secret is straightforward: a strong knowledge of financial accounting.

This textbook provides an introduction to financial accounting. A logical place to begin such an exploration is to ask the obvious question: What is financial accounting?

Answer: In simplest terms, financial accounting is the communication of information about a business or other type of organization (such as a charity or government) so that individuals can assess its financial health and future prospects. No single word is more relevant to financial accounting than “information.”

My Favorite Quotes about Teaching – Number Four

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.”

Annoying or Amusing?

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.

Getting The Right Answer Is Not Enough

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.

What Is The Purpose of a Final Examination?

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

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

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.”