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Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Using This Resource

I. Preparing to Teach
Planning a course
--Defining Instructional Objectives
--Teaching and Learning Styles: The   Academic Culture
--Choosing and Using Instructional   Materials
--Writing a Syllabus
--Syllabus Checklist
--Using the Syllabus in Class
--Summary of Course Planning
Addressing Students' Needs
--Importance of Knowing Your   Students
--Planning Considerations
--Getting to Know Your Students
--Students of Different Backgrounds
--Students with Disabilities
--Teaching Strategies: Non-Native   Speakers of English
--Creating a Learning Environment
--Dealing with Disruptive Behavior in   the Classroom
--Common Disruptive Student   Behaviors and Possible Responses
--Dealing with Apathetic Students
--Cultural Differences for International   Instructors
--Summary of Addressing Students’   Needs
Teaching Tips
--Organizing Class
--Ways to Be Accessible Outside the   Classroom
--Six Common Non-Facilitating   Teaching Behaviors
--Wireless in the Classroom: Advice   for Faculty
--Summary of Teaching Tips

II. Teaching Methods
The First Day of Class
--When the Class Meets You
--When You Meet the Class
--Diversity the Instructor Brings to the   Classroom
--Conversing with Students with   Disabilities
--Moving Forward
--Summary of the First Day of Class
Lecturing
--Strategies for Effective Learning
--Advantages and Disadvantages of   the Traditional Lecture Method
--Enhancing Learning in Large   Classes
--Chalkboard Technique
--Writing Assignments in the Lecture
--Engaging Women in Math and   Science Courses
--Formulating Effective Questions
--Summary of Lecturing
Discussion
--Brief Overview
--The “Nuts and Bolts” of Discussion
--Facilitating Discussion of Sensitive   Issues
--Encouraging Student Contributions
--Alternative Instructional Methods
--Potential Problems in Discussions
--Summary of Discussion
Expanding Teaching Strategies
--Practical Examples
--Show and Tell
--Case Studies
--Teaching with Case Studies
--Guided Design Projects
--Brainstorming
Group Work
--General Information about Using   Groups
--Group Work in an Introductory   Science Laboratory
Science Labs
--The Role of the Lab Instructor
--What Do the Students Need to   Know?
--The First Day
--Planning and Running a Laboratory
--Safety Procedures
--Summary of Science Labs
Teaching Outside the Classroom
--Tutoring
--Office Hours
--Teaching Students to Solve   Problems
--Advising and Extracurricular   Activities
--Summary of Teaching Outside the   Classroom
Overcoming Misconceptions
--Societal Attitudes and Science   Anxiety
--Misconceptions as Barriers to   Understanding Science
--Common Difficulties and   Misunderstandings

III. Teaching-as-Research
Assessing Student Performance
--Establishing Objectives for   Assessment
--Assessment Primer
--Formulating Effective Methods of   Assessment
--Helping Students Succeed on   Assignments and Exams
--The Why and How of Tests
--Grading Lab Reports, Problem Sets,   and Exam Questions
--Grading Checklist
--Grading Specific Activities
--Grading Writing
--Summary of Assessing Student   Performance
How to Evaluate Your Own Teaching
--Evaluating Your Own Teaching
--A Note on Teaching-as-Research

IV. Appendices
Inspirational Essays
--Mathematics: The Universal   Language of Science
--Transforming Quizzes into Teaching   and Learning Tools
--Teaching My Students to Fish
--Chemistry: The Other Foreign   Language
--Teaching to Different Modes of   Learning
--Notes from a Career in Teaching
Additional Resources
Websites
Graduate Assistant Handbook Outline
--Department- and Institution-Specific   Information
--18 Questions to Have Answered

Works Cited

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Perceived Diversity

When we speak of diversity in the classroom, we usually focus on the diversity of the students in the room. We often forget that the teacher also brings a range of diversity issues to the classroom. Every teacher brings his or her physical appearance and culture into the room at the same time as the students do. How you look, how you speak, how you behave, and the extent to which these differ from the physical, cultural and intellectual backgrounds of your students, will have a profound effect on the interactions in your classroom. Thus you need to be aware of possible reactions among the students to your race, gender, age, ethnicity, physical attributes, beliefs and abilities. Preparing for such reactions will involve not only knowing as much as you can about your students, but also turning the mirror toward yourself.

You might identify your own attitudes toward diversity by remembering certain pivotal moments in your life. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Recall the incident in which you first became aware of differences. What was your reaction? Were you the focus of attention, or were others? How did that affect how you reacted to the situation?
2. What are the “messages” that you learned about various “minorities” or “majorities” when you were a child? At home? In school? Have your views changed considerably since then? Why or why not?
3. Recall an experience in which your own difference put you in an uncomfortable position vis-à-vis the people directly around you. What was that difference? How did it affect you?
4. How do your memories of differences affect you today? How do they (or might they) affect your teaching?

Students who perceive the teacher as belonging to a particular racial or ethnic group and who then draw initial conclusions from that classification can affect the class atmosphere either negatively or positively from the first day. One assistant professor at the University of North Carolina faced with perceived diversity issues in the classroom puts it this way:

“An issue that concerns me greatly has to do with issues of gender and race/ethnicity in student-teacher interaction. Although some of my students have shown respect (and even admiration) toward me as a professor and as a person, other students have challenged my authority and have openly questioned my knowledge. I wonder to what extent the combination of my gender and ethnicity colors students’ perception of my teaching.”

It is probably impossible to determine exactly to what extent perceptions of race, gender and ethnicity motivate such challenges to the authority of the professor. Clearly, however, such perceptions do color people’s everyday assumptions.

The above quotation shows that some students can see a professor’s gender and ethnic diversity as advantages. If a student does repeatedly challenge the teacher in a manner the teacher deems inappropriate, however, it may be wise for the teacher to ask the student privately to come to an office hour. There, they can discuss the possible reasons behind the student’s behavior in a non-threatening and less-public place. Discussing the problem privately may prevent the possibility of a single student-teacher relationship affecting the tenor of the entire class. It will also give the student the chance to explain his or her position, thus giving the student a hearing, which may in itself defuse the situation. Showing the student that you care about his or her progress, while maintaining your professional demeanor, will make the point that you both have a professional teacher/student relationship to uphold. Listening to the student and being willing to advise him or her in a friendly manner will emphasize that relationship.

The best way to minimize the likelihood that your own perceived diversity will affect student behavior is to establish a “safe” environment in which the class can discuss both your diversity and your students’ diversity. Such a safe atmosphere establishes the difference between a highly successful class and one where both teacher and students fear one another, experiencing discomfort when it comes to discussing the “real” issues. This fear can be the fear of being labeled as an outsider, or the fear of offending someone and making him or her feel unwanted in the group. Either way, fear is not a good basis on which to start any discussion.

The issue of diversity will be an important point of interest to the students you meet in your classrooms because the average 18-22 year-old student is in a stage of development where cultural identity and value orientation are being established. For the first time, students find themselves in an environment where they must form opinions on these topics without worrying about what their elders will say. For many of them, the university is the first place where they meet a wide range of people from various groups and where they leave their habitual groups behind. The university environment gives them a chance to explore these issues, and most students react well when they have the chance to reevaluate the opinions with which they grew up, and to develop independently.

Age

TAs who go directly into graduate school and immediately start teaching are less likely to have problems relating to their students’ culture than older teachers do. Younger TAs are close enough in age to have been exposed to similar television shows, music, political events and so forth. However, many young TAs fear that they will fail to command attention and respect because they are too close to their students’ age. This fear usually subsides rather quickly when it becomes clear that most students respect their teachers, young or old, as long as the teachers come to class well-prepared. TAs are considerably more knowledgeable in their field than most undergraduates, and will have little trouble commanding student respect if they prepare well for class and behave respectfully toward students.

Many professors and TAs who are four or more years older than their students, however, often experience a mini-generation gap. They no longer share the same tastes in music or in clothing, and they watch different (and often fewer) television shows. Often, older teachers have considerably different views on politics and current culture than their students simply because they grew up at a different time. Such differences are not negligible. One runs the risk of seeming so old-fashioned and out-of-touch that the topic one is presenting seems “purely academic” to the students. Such attitudes arise more often in courses that meet general undergraduate requirements, since students have not chosen those courses out of personal interest in the topic.

You can more easily engage your students if you can speak to them about their culture and put the major topics of your field into the context of their lives. Here you might take the opportunity to become a student of your students by educating yourself about their experience of the world. Some knowledge of current popular culture will be a step towards learning about the students’ interests. Such familiarity with their interests can mean the difference between being able to teach and interest students in your field, or presenting them with material that seems irrelevant.