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.

A LITTLE BIT OF TECHNOLOGY

As I sit here working on this blog entry, the view out my window looks like a scene from the movie Doctor Zhivago. Hope it is warm and sunny wherever you are today.
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I gave my first introductory accounting exam yesterday (before the snow storm). Send me an email at jhoyle@richmond.edu if you would like a copy. I am not a fan of test banks but I do think professors should exchange their tests just to get ideas for what might work. One of my favorite blog entries is from January 31, 2010: “How You Test Is How They Will Learn.”
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Anyone who has read this blog for long already knows that I am not a fanatical user of modern technology. I have never once used Power Point in a class. Never. I do not allow computers to be open during class (too much temptation to play games or text message). I am more interested in what students can do with their minds than I am in what they can do with a computer.

However, I do make extensive use of email. I am sure that some of my students would say that I am an obsessive user of email. I believe in a lot of honest and open communication between teachers and students. I must average over one email per day for the entire semester. There are just a lot of things that I think students need to be thinking about outside of class.

As I have discussed before in this blog, I also produce audio files for my financial accounting course to help those students who are more audio learners. They are able to listen to a series of questions and answers that guide them through the material in each chapter.

Plus, my Financial Accounting textbook (written with C. J. Skender of UNC) has 68 videos that I made that approach the material from various directions.

So, I do use some technology despite my claims to avoid technology. I like to think that I pick and choose what I use based on what I am trying to accomplish. I have long admired the work of the Kahn Academy and their scratchy homemade looking presentations that students can study outside (and sometimes inside) of class.

Last week, one of our technology gurus here at the University of Richmond told me about a new app for my iPad called “Explain Everything” that cost $2.99. I downloaded it and he gave me a 15 to 20 minute lesson. Even with my limited knowledge of technology, I picked up the basics relatively quickly. One thing for sure: the more you practice with this app, the better you get at the process.

I am not yet exactly sure how I am going to use “Explain Everything” but I am certainly going to try to use it. I can see real benefits. For my first efforts, I used it after a couple of classes to help my students better understand what we had covered in class. Students often leave class with a loose, vague understanding of the material. They need some efficient way to help them solidify that knowledge in their heads. To me, how that time after class is used is often the difference in real understanding and disorganized knowledge. I think this type of presentation can help.

In the future, I am also going to use it occasionally before class to help students be better prepared. I wonder, for example, if a class will go better if I provide a 5 minute “preview of our upcoming class” the day before. Maybe yes, maybe no. But I’d like to see.

I honestly do not know how this app will work but I want to practice and see. So far I have invested $2.99 and 15 minutes of time on one lesson.

Here are two presentations that I made for my students right before our first test. I picked out end of chapter material from the textbook that we had not discussed in class and simply walked them through the answers. I am trying to take out some of the mystery.

I apologize for the primitive look of some of this but I am learning through practice and still have a long way to go. “Explain Everything” seems to have an infinite number of tools that you can play with.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgE6_hxIWWY

And, here is an entirely different type of presentation that I did just to learn more about the available tools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su_A1HpZooo

Try it. I think you might well find it quite helpful.

  

TAKE A RISK--BE INNOVATIVE

Education is highly criticized these days for (a) costing too much and (b) achieving too little.   And, if we are perfectly honest, those criticisms are not just idle chatter.   I have long argued that much of college education is not radically different than what I experienced when I started as a college freshman 47 1/2 years ago.   (Okay, we do have PowerPoint now and teachers did not have that back in 1966, but I am not sure if that is progress or regression.)   The world has changed radically over those decades but a lot of education has barely flinched.

I believe that there is not enough innovation in education.   Think of the sheer number of teachers working in the United States.   Why are there not more innovative ideas flowing from those minds?    If each teacher came up with one innovative idea, the world of education would be radically transformed almost immediately.   We would be flooded with serious improvements.

We live in a risk-averse time.   People are so fearful of failure that they are afraid to take any chances.   They try to live in a cocoon.   Yeah, failure is tough but you can never accomplish anything if you let fear push you around.   (Perhaps, we should all start bragging about our failures just to show we are not so timid.)

Last week, a friend of mine sent me a quote that he thought I would like.   It comes from Peter Drucker, one of the most famous business writers and consultants to ever live.  

The quote said:    “People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”

We need to stop being so risk averse.  It does not improve things.   It is not good for us.   It is not good for the world of education.   We hide our ideas under a barrel and the world is not improved.   Innovation is the cure for risk aversion.

I believe that the real problem today is that our organizations (schools, departments, businesses, and the like) do not encourage innovation.   Organizations fear innovation that does not come from “the chosen few.”    Therefore, organizations neither reward nor encourage innovation.   They do not create a path by which innovative ideas can be put forth.   You likely work at a school or in a school system.   If you suddenly had a great idea to radically improve education, is your organization open to the idea?  Would the administration encourage you and help you make it happen?   Well, if so, you are probably luckier than most.  

Most administrators claim to want innovation until someone suggests making a change.  

Organizations have a wealth of talent in their people.   The real question is how to jump start that talent pool to produce new and creative ideas and reach its potential.   Schools will never get better without a system to encourage and reward innovation.

As I have mentioned, I have a new book on Amazon (Don’t Just Dream About Success:   Stack the Odds in Your Favor).   I have one entire chapter on the idea of becoming more innovative.    I end that chapter with the following suggestion.   Okay, it is directed toward an individual and not to an organization but you get the idea.   Innovation does not happen by accident.   Each organization must truly go out of its way to make sure that every person within its ranks is encouraged to think about improvements.

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“I have long argued that the world’s economy would improve dramatically if a single action were taken.  All organizations should be required to create an annual employee award (with a significant cash prize) to be titled ‘The Weirdest Idea of the Past Year that Worked the Best.’  Every worker immediately has a good reason to look for innovative ways to create practical benefits.  Currently, too many employees lack the motivation to think differently.  Incentives do matter.  Scores of fantastic ideas undoubtedly remain locked inside heads at every organization and never emerge to make operations more effective.  Innovation is needed from everyone, not just a few.  A monetary prize should stimulate different thinking on a wide scale.  Ideas will pour in from every corner of each company.  The best are implemented and become eligible for the next award ceremony.

“Of course, organizations cannot be forced to provide prizes for creative thinking.   But, you can use this same logic to help develop a mind that is more inclined toward innovation.

“The first part of this closing assignment is to study the past year—at work, at school, at home, wherever you have been.  Consider all the ideas you produced during those 12 months.  Take the time to write them down.  Pick the one that best meets both of the above criteria.  It has to be weird or unusual.  It must have actually worked well.  This award is not for theoretical accomplishments.  Reflecting on the results of the past helps you evaluate your current level of innovative thinking.  Are you in a rut or has your brain been pumping out one great suggestion after another?  Thinking (like success) is habit-forming.  I used to tell my children:  the more ideas you have, the more ideas you will have.  

“Next, create a computer file titled ‘Weird Ideas to Increase Productivity.’  Over the next 12 months, whenever you have a unique thought, type it into this file.  Also describe what eventually happens to the idea.  Was it implemented and, if so, what was the outcome?  Monitor your thinking.  Push for results.

“During this period, encourage the incubation of new ideas by studying the ordinary aspects of everyday life.  Reconsider accepted assumptions.  Where can changes be made?  Where can you envision improvements?  Can you stack the cannonballs in a different pattern; and, if so, what possible avenues does that open?  Remember that insightful questions provide the energy to power innovation.  

“At the end of the year, look back at the ‘Weird Ideas’ file and judge whether the depth of your thinking is improving.  Becoming more aware of the innovation process helps stimulate you to think differently as a normal part of life.  That is the goal!  Creative thinking should not be a special event that happens on occasion, but one that occurs every day on a continuous basis.”

Opening Speech -- Tell Them What You Want Them to Know

 

After a sabbatical semester, I am back in the classroom.   It is interesting to be away for 8 months and then walk in to face young faces again.   In the first week, I try to do as I always do:   Set the tone that I want for the entire semester.   I see no reason to wait to say “this is how I want the semester to go.”  

During the first class, in different words on several different occasions, I explained exactly how I wanted the class to operate.   I always believe that it goes better if you are very open with the students and clear on your goals and expectations.  I think, for the most part, students rise to a challenge if they are convinced that the benefit is real.

“During this semester, I will devise weird situations each day and then I will guide you as you figure out proper responses.   We’ll make lots of mistakes along the way but if we work hard we’ll eventually get to good, firm, logical conclusions.   I am never going to ask you to memorize anything.   If I do, someone should raise a hand and demand a refund.   In the real world, after you graduate, no one is ever going to ask you to memorize something and then give you a test on it.   That’s never going to happen.   I am not sure what a school is preparing you for when it asks you to do that.   But, if you are going to be successful, people will start showing you weird situations that they cannot solve and get your help in arriving at a reasonable resolution.   That is a skill worth having.   That is a skill you can develop.   My role here is not to teach you anything.   My role is to help guide you to figure this stuff out.   My three favorite words are:   ‘figure it out.’   There is logic to this subject.  It is not random.   Nothing is accidental.   But you have to learn how to see that logic.   Once you see and understand that logic, you can start making use of it.   Often, it is like an elephant hidden in a picture, you won’t see it until it is pointed out.   After that, you will never understand how you ever missed it.   By the end of the semester, I want you to see every hidden elephant without any prompting.   The process takes some patience.   That process requires you to look beyond the superficial.   But everything worth having requires patience.   More importantly, it takes time and effort.   If you put in the time and effort, what you get from this class will be well worth having.   I guarantee that.   You have to walk in to class each day prepared.   No one wins a football game without preparation.    No one wins an election without preparation.   No one learns anything serious in class without preparation.   In my classes, I like to ask questions.   I think that is the essence of developing critical thinking skills.   Every question is slightly different.   Every question pokes at a different part of your thinking.   Every question asks ‘how is this different than that?’   Your preparation is to think through those questions.   Your preparation is to look for logical conclusions.   Not in some superficial way just so I will not fuss at you.   No, you have to think through the questions like you are tearing them apart so that you can put them back together with the answer sticking out.  At the end of the semester, I have one goal.   I want you to walk out of this room on the final day and say ‘I never thought I could work so hard; I never thought I could learn so much; I never thought I could think so deeply; and it was fun.’   When I hear that, I’ll know we’ve accomplished something worthwhile.”  

Okay, I don’t know if we will accomplish all of that this semester but I am 100 percent sure that we would never accomplish much of it if the proper tone did not get set on the very first day.

 

 

TEACHING IN JUST TWO WORDS

 

I am delighted to report that last week this blog went over 100,000 page views since its inception.   That is certainly a dream come true for me.   Many thanks to everyone who has been kind enough over the years to mention this blog to all of the teachers around you.   As a new year begins, please continue to let people in the education profession know that I try to post my thoughts on teaching 2 or 3 times each month.   Thanks!!!

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About 10 days ago, I released my new book on Amazon:   Don’t Just Dream about Success:   Stack the Odds in Your Favor.   As the title clearly implies, I believe that everyone can become more successful more of the time by following certain tactics.   Proceeds from the sale of this book go to finance CPA review for FREE, the website (www.CPAreviewforFREE.com) where candidates can prepare to pass the CPA exam without having to spend a fortune.   I simply do not believe entrance into the accounting profession should be limited to people who can afford to spend $2,000-$3,000 for preparatory materials.   I am not trying to be a rebel or a missionary but I do not think barriers should be set up that basically keep out people who are poor.   For five years, we have been getting 500,000 hits per year on that site.   We need help in financing this project so I wrote this book for that purpose.

You can locate both the Kindle and paperback version of Don’t Just Dream about Success:   Stack the Odds in Your Favor by going to www.Amazon.com and doing a search for “Hoyle Success.”   The book is available for under $9.00.

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One quote that I discuss in my new Success book comes from the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi.   In that particular chapter of the Success book, I write about failures that arise because of our tendency to make things in life too complicated.   That is an attitude that can prevent us from achieving our most important goals.   Keeping things as simple as possible is usually the best strategy.  

Coach Lombardi said:  “Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things—blocking and tackling.”

So, in today's blog entry, as we are all looking forward to a brand new year, I want you to think about success in teaching (or whatever else you seek to accomplish during 2014) and try to narrow that success down to just two words.   Just two.  For once, let’s keep things truly simple.   Becoming a great teacher should be a simpler task for you.   As a new year starts, I think focusing the whole process of teaching on just two words might help us all get more comfortable with what it really takes to succeed. 

What would your answer be if I asked you to describe “Becoming a Better Teacher” in just two words?

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this question and quickly came up with dozens of possibilities.   Here are just three of the words that I considered at first.  They are all extremely important but I didn’t think they were the MOST important.

--Caring.   It is easy for teachers to get annoyed with students.   Students tend to be lazy and forgetful and seem to set terrible priorities.   Hang around the faculty lounge and you will hear so much fussing about students that you wonder why anyone teaches.   But, if you are going to teach well, you have to be able to look out at those faces and care about those people.   They cannot just be random and anonymous.   These are human beings who will be better off in life if you can help them learn and think.   You can make a difference in their futures.   Superficially, everyone seems lazy and dull.   But, get to know them and they are, for the most part, wonderful people.   If you are not happy with your teaching, one place to start is to ask yourself a tough question:   Do I really care enough for these students so that it makes a difference to me whether they learn or not.

--Time.   Every job, everywhere goes better with the investment of an adequate amount of time.   We live in an incredibly busy society.   Thousands of things seem to call for our attention and time.  Procrastination is not just a student problem – it affects us all.   I know you might not want to hear this but if you want to be a better teacher then spend more time at it.   Class preparation can take 5 minutes or 5 hours.   When I am busy, it is easy to seek shortcuts and magic pills and try to get by with 5 minutes.   I hate to disappoint you but there are no shortcuts or magic pills.   If you invest only a little time, don’t be surprised if class seems disorganized and the results appear trivial.   Add time to every teaching task and you will become a better teacher.

--Thinking.   Teaching often comes down to thinking versus memorization.   Students prefer memorization.   Teaching based on memorization is just easier.   I have long been convinced that the enormous amount of criticism that college education faces today goes back to one issue:   We tend to teach little other than memorization.   Of course, if you have read my blog for long, you know that I think this goes back to testing.   If you test memorization, students will memorize.  If you test critical thinking, students will work to become better thinkers.   Give open book tests or open notes tests and you will force yourself to get away from testing memorization.   That will make all the difference in the world. 

Okay, those are all great terms for teaching.   I would have been happy with any of those three.   But, in the end, I thought two other terms were really the most essential for me.   I realize you might disagree.   If so, please leave a comment below and provide your own two word answer to this question.

--Motivation.   I don’t know whether this is good or bad but I do believe that the best teachers are motivators.   In some way, they convince their students to do exactly what they want them to do.   As the old saying goes, some use carrots and some use sticks but most use both carrots and sticks depending upon the student and the situation.   Whether you have 5 students or 500 students, the issue is whether you can convince those students to do what you believe they need to do.   So, as a new year starts, ask yourself the following questions:   (1) do I honestly know what I want my students to do, (2) if they do what I want them to do, will they learn what I want them to learn, (3) how have I motivated my students in the past and how well has that strategy worked, and (4) as a new semester begins what adjustments should I make that might improve the motivational aspects of my teaching.   If you don’t attempt to motivate your students, then don’t be upset if they don’t do what you want them to do.

--Explain.   It is such a simple word.   But, in teaching, it is so important.   Students don’t know the subject.   It is not that they are stupid.   It is that they are uneducated.   You do know the subject.   You have to explain it to them.   Many times you have to explain it to them many times.   It is always going to seem clear to you because you have been thinking about the material for years if not decades.   To them, it is brand new.   I looked up the word “explain” at www.dictionary.com and the first definition was:   “to make plain or clear; render understandable or intelligible.”   Yes, that sounds to me a lot like excellent teaching.

If I boil teaching down to two words, for me they are "motivation" and "explain."   As I start teaching again in 2014, I am going to keep those two words more firmly in my mind.   When faced with the goal of “Becoming a Better Teacher,” what two words come to your mind?   Keep in simple.

CREATING A FINAL EXAMINATION

“Too often, we settle for dreams that merely scratch the surface of our abilities and then wonder why we are dissatisfied with the results.”

From the book:   Don’t Just Dream about Success:   Stack the Odds in Your Favor

By:   Joe Hoyle (to be published in January 2014)

Returning from Thanksgiving break, virtually all college teachers start looking forward to creating and then grading final exams.   It is a necessary part of the job but it is also an event that can impact the education of each student rather significantly.   Below is a rewritten version of a blog entry that I posted 3 ½ years ago.   I thought it made a good point back then.   I believe the same thing today.

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Why do you give a final exam to your students?

What do you hope to accomplish?

I have talked with many professors over the years and their strategies for final examinations vary greatly from one to the next.  Here are several typical strategies:
--It is a comprehensive three-hour examination on the material from the entire semester with a major grade component.    This seemed to be the strategy most of my teachers employed when I attended college back in the 60s.
--It is a one-hour test covering just the material since the last hourly exam with no added weight in comparison to other tests.
--It is basically ignored because the student’s work for the entire semester should be more important than what they can do on one day at the end of the semester.
--It is a little harder than a one-hour test but a student can only improve his or her grade; the final exam cannot hurt the course grade.

I do know that as I walk through our building during final exam week most students seem to leave well before the 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 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 entire grade for the semester on the final exam.

So, what are my goals for a final exam? Psychologically, what am I trying to accomplish?
---I want students to stay emotionally involved with my course all the way through the last day of the semester.  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 classes, the final exam is roughly 35 percent of the overall course grade.  I have found that this is enough to keep them emotionally involved until the very end.
---I want students who do poorly on the first (and, even, second) test of the semester to have 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 lose hope.  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 on the 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.  I want to be able to tell them:   “Good job on this first test but you need to realize that there is a lot of semester left and you need 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 very end.  If we cover a topic in September, I think they should be able to answer a reasonable question on that topic in early December.  Because 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 roughly 35 percent of the overall course grade.  In my introductory 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 much less than three hours.

In writing the exam, I line up all the topics for the entire semester on a sheet of paper and pick one pretty much at random (deferred income tax assets, 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 ask “what should I expect an A student to be able to remember immediately” but I don’t think that is realistic.  Students forget material quickly (even accounting). 42 years of teaching has shown me that students never remember quite as much as I might hope.

Based on the answer to the question of what I want them to remember in six months, I write a problem to test if they hold that level of knowledge.  I never want to ask an easy question because that proves nothing.   But, there is little reason to ask an impossibly hard question.   Writing a question that no one can answer will not provide me with any usable information.   
I estimate how long that first question will take the A student to answer and go back to my list and select another topic for another question.   When I have filled up my time allotment in this way, I quit.  

However, I then immediately construct an answer sheet.   I do not want to get to the final exam site and discover that a question cannot be answered because of missing information or that a typo is going to throw the students off track or that several questions are really easier than I had anticipated.   It is hard to fix a final exam once the test has been distributed.   The answer sheet is essential because it allows me to evaluate each question as well as the entire exam.   I cannot even guess how many mistakes over the years I have resolved in advance because I force myself to create an answer sheet.

Setting up the final exam in this way keeps the students (I hope) thinking about my course all the way until the end of the semester. I want accounting to be on their minds until the semester is completed.   And, it gives them a reasonable last chance to make up for any poor grades they might have earned during the semester.

What’s your philosophy? Why do you give a final exam?   How do you set it up?

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF TEACHING

As some of you might know, about five years ago I cofounded the website www.CPAreviewforFREE.com.   Since that time, we have provided CPA exam candidates with 2,400 free questions and answers which are (in my opinion) well written and well explained.  We do this because we firmly believe that everyone needs access to affordable materials so that they have a reasonable opportunity of passing the CPA exam.  The CPA profession should be open to all people, even those who cannot afford expensive study guides and review materials.  Over the years, many candidates have passed the exam solely using our questions and answers.  These are often young people with very limited resources.   These are the kinds of folks who keep the profession fresh, active, and innovative.

We have been searching for some way to fund this site so that we can continue to offer this assistance for free.   Over the last couple of months, I have been writing an entire book on Achieving Success.   I am thrilled with the way it has turned out – even better than I had hoped.   We will publish the book in January or February for under $10 (with proceeds going to support www.CPAreviewforFREE.com).   

More information will be available soon but I wanted to get this book on your radar.  It is intended as a guide for anyone who wants to become more successful:   more successful in school, more successful at work, more successful on tests, and just more successful in life.   You can never be successful 100 percent of the time but you can certainly increase the odds for success by adopting logical (and reasonable) strategies.   Success does not happen by accident.

When the book is published in early 2014, I hope you will consider buying a copy and telling your friends, neighbors, relatives, enemies, and anyone else you encounter all about it.   You will be helping us continue our mission AND I hope that my thoughts on achieving success will prove to be beneficial.

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I was in San Francisco a few days ago on business and had some time to waste.   So, I wandered around the city and played one of my favorite games.   In this game, I assume that I am a rich business owner who has an unlimited number of jobs to fill.   I need one of everything:   one bus driver, one plumber, one dish washer, etc.   As I walk from place to place and go in and out of buildings, I ask myself which people I would hire.   Who catches my attention for doing a particularly good job?   And, just as importantly, what did they do that caught my attention?  I am trying to figure out what makes someone excellent at their work.   I am obviously fascinated by success and this is one way that I can better see what leads to success.  Focusing on the essential nature of success helps a person become more successful. 

In life, a few people are terrible at their vocations whereas a great majority are basically average.   Luckily, the remaining folks (a relatively small number) are absolutely excellent.   What makes this last batch so very good at what they do?   How does Mr. A manage to do his job so much better than Mr. B?   What can we learn from these people?

For example, while I was in San Francisco, I had to rush across town and then hurry back to work.   The driver of the taxicab was wonderful.   He stayed calm in heavy traffic and was both friendly and helpful.   I would have hired him for my company.   I liked his attitude.  I liked his efficiency.   I liked his calm control while he navigated through all the cars.   If I drove a cab, I would want to be like him.

Later that day, I went to a deli (a large chain) and ordered a sandwich.   Four employees stood in line behind the counter making sandwiches.   Three of these people never looked at me even once, never smiled, never seemed to care if I lived or died.   However, the third person in the line looked up with a kind smile and asked how she could be of help.   She actually listened to my request and made the sandwich in the way that I had asked.   She was quick and efficient.   I would have gladly hired her for my company.   Her attitude made my day a bit brighter and she did her work with a genuine sense of enthusiasm.   If I made sandwiches for a living, I would want to be like her.

There are two ways to do things – the right way and the wrong way.   I was looking for people who did their job the right way.   And, they are out there but you will see them only if you look.

This game got me to thinking.   Let’s assume that I was going to hire someone to teach at my school.   What characteristics would I search for?   This question intrigued me so much that, on the plane trip home, I made a list of characteristics that I would be looking for if I was given the task of hiring one exceptional teacher.   Here is my list but you might want to stop before reading and make your own list for comparison purposes.   Remember, though, how I have defined the position:   a person to teach at your school.

Because I stopped at ten items, I refer to this as my Ten Commandments of Teaching.

--Walks in every day adequately prepared.   No one ever teaches well making up the lessons on the spot.   No one becomes a great teacher by just reading Power Point slides to the students.

--Has a true sense of what he or she wants to accomplish.   If you have a reasonable understanding of what you want your students to know on the last day of class, the entire semester goes better.   (I wrote about this in one of my first blog entries “Thinking about Teaching” way back on February 28, 2010.)

--Is able to impart a sense of excitement about the material.  If the teacher shows no enthusiasm, why should the students get excited?

--Is able to engage the students so that the energy for learning comes from them instead of being forced on them.

--Is fair to all students.   The education process breaks down almost immediately if students feel they are being treated unfairly.   Fairness usually requires a lot of open and frank communications.

--Stays as far away from memorization as is humanly possible.   With modern day technology, education needs to focus on using information rather than memorizing it.

--Cares about the students as individuals.  Teachers and students should be on the same side and not come to be rivals or enemies.   

--Makes efficient use of class time.   At my school, we have the students in class for 150 minutes each week.   That is not a lot of time.   It is important to make good use of every one of those minutes.

--Works to teach 100 percent of the students and not just the top 10 percent.

--Is not put off when students claim “I am stupid,” “I am lazy,” “I cannot do this.”  Education teaches students to push for a low threshold.   Don’t let them pull that trick.   If you don’t demand excellence, you’ll never get it.

Okay, what would you add or delete?   This was just the list that I came up with on a plane flight across the country.   But, I believe that a person who followed this list would likely be an outstanding teacher.   This job is not rocket science.   I think it is important to take the mystery out of teaching.   Most of us know what it takes to become excellent.   In fact, as you can see from my list, it is basically just common sense.  

Now, do one more thing.  Take your list or take my list.   That makes no difference.   Look at each of those ten commandments very carefully and give yourself a grade on each one.    Where are you strong and where are you weak?   That can be amazingly helpful as you strive to become a better teacher.   For the 2-3 areas where you give yourself the lowest grade, make it your goal over the next week or two to focus on them in particular.   If you can locate weaknesses and address them with some serious effort, your chances of becoming a great teacher go up immediately.

Make it your long term goal to be the type of teacher that an outside person would see and immediately say “If I were hiring someone to teach at my school, it would be that person because that’s a person who knows what it takes to be successful and can make learning happen.”