Teaching Tips: Summary of Teaching Tips

  • Get students to interact with each other and with you as much as possible through questions and discussion.
  • Have students reflect on class material by doing short writing exercises, explaining concepts to other students, and creating possible exam questions.
  • Maintain an open dialogue with your students by encouraging them to ask questions and getting feedback (written or orally) from students frequently.
  • When asking students questions about materials or concepts, or after a student answers a question, wait five seconds for students to reflect before moving on.
  • Summarize the main ideas of your lesson before and at the end of class, signal transitions between different topics/ideas, and point out how concepts interrelate to one another.
  • Ask open-ended questions that allow students to respond with their own ideas, and respond to students' answers with specific questions (e.g., instead of "Does anyone have any questions?," try "What are some other examples of x that use this same principle?").