tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post1365865722702683685..comments2024-03-09T03:20:20.004-05:00Comments on Tenured Radical: College Teaching 101: Managing The Lecture ClassTenured Radicalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-15860528536794685932010-10-14T17:16:46.217-05:002010-10-14T17:16:46.217-05:00Hello.. Firstly I would like to send greetings to ...Hello.. Firstly I would like to send greetings to all readers. After this, I recognize the content so interesting about this article. For me personally I liked all the information. I would like to know of cases like this more often. In my personal experience I might mention a book called Green Parks Costa Rica in this book that I mentioned have very interesting topics, and also you have much to do with the main theme of this article.Green Parkshttp://greenparkscr.com/Inicio.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-3572628593092300482010-06-01T10:25:42.415-05:002010-06-01T10:25:42.415-05:00Interesting article! I'm looking for more on ...Interesting article! I'm looking for more on class management. I would be the opposite of you -- I'm tenured, but southern and conservative.<br /><br />Thanks!<br /><br />http://undergraduateteachingstories.blogspot.comSusan Codonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285570898400051640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-21084850812691362842010-03-30T22:08:56.716-05:002010-03-30T22:08:56.716-05:00I posted a comment when this post was fresh, but I...I posted a comment when this post was fresh, but I'll add something else that is VERY LITTLE WORK, but VERY BIG IMPACT in a lecture class. <br /><br />Ask the students several times through the class if there are any questions. You know, your lecture has a part 1, part 2, part 3. Ask at the end of 1 and 2. Sometimes they won't ask and you move on but they like that there was a chance to ask. Other times, they ask questions and you get to engage. And they like that too. It seems obvious, but it's amazing how many instructors don't do it.krisluvswoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11301389134917751361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-29469625618184104062010-03-25T10:54:31.216-05:002010-03-25T10:54:31.216-05:00Very good post, thank you! I do have a small corr...Very good post, thank you! I do have a small correction.... the students do NOT in fact know your name. Can't tell you how many students I've talked to about a professor and when I ask who the person is, the student sheepishly mumbles that they can't remember the professor's name.<br /><br />This doesn't let us off the hook for trying to learn their names, of course.Azulaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00771800031142538095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-73928236683394737852010-03-21T01:06:41.783-05:002010-03-21T01:06:41.783-05:00"The one, who you think, on bad days, is a pl..."The one, who you think, on bad days, is a plant from Campus Watch"<br /><br />Now, now. I'm sure the Campus Watch crowd is very respectful and polite. They're probably the ones sitting in the back who are too shy to make a fuss.<br /><br />AYYAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-25567660923094356062010-03-20T14:55:05.736-05:002010-03-20T14:55:05.736-05:00Dear 6:51 --
I am agog at the size of this task -...Dear 6:51 --<br /><br />I am agog at the size of this task -- I think you'll be lucky if you remember the names of your TA's. I would say the advice from 3:34 applies better. And your school needs to be reproved for imaging that what they have assigned you to do has much to do with teaching.Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-63621618241048193012010-03-20T11:39:38.366-05:002010-03-20T11:39:38.366-05:00In fact, the lecture room can sometimes begin to s...<i>In fact, the lecture room can sometimes begin to seem like a sixteenth century theater, where sex workers recruited clients in the Grand Circle and urchins flung oranges to purchasers who dropped a shilling from the balcony.<br /></i><br />Ain't that the truth.<br /><br />I've always been disgusted by those horrible shitty glurgefest movies with the passionate lover of knowledge professor douchebag played by some asshole like Robin Williams or Richard Dreyfuss TOTALLY CHANGING STUDENTS' LIVES!!!11!!!1ELEVEBYT!!!!11!Professors are there to teach kids some particular shit, not change their magical wagical snowflake lives.Comrade PhysioProfhttp://physioprof.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-50538047088738209082010-03-19T18:51:12.183-05:002010-03-19T18:51:12.183-05:00I love your suggestions and will use them for my s...I love your suggestions and will use them for my smaller classes (30 students). For names I've decided that the first day next year I will take my digital camera and printer to class, print a picture of the group in their seats (the way I will normally see them) and pass it around for everyone to print their names under their faces.<br /><br />Any suggestions for very, very large lectures? I co-teach a course for 450 with 16 sections and a staff of 12 TAs. I would like students to feel more appreciated and make the course more interactive, but I am really at a loss. I'd love to visit all of the tutorials (I teach two of them myself) but I can't afford another 32 hours during my first years tenure track. Managing the TAs alone takes so much of my time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-16843120887079594652010-03-19T11:22:59.926-05:002010-03-19T11:22:59.926-05:00When I started teaching at my huge state U., I got...When I started teaching at my huge state U., I got this tip from a senior professor on managing large lectures with sections: once every semester, go to every section. Use this section time to meet the students and let them ask you questions about the course in a small setting. It takes time, but it makes a huge difference to the class dynamic; my students really feel like I am doing my best to engage with them, and they tend to return the favor in subsequent big lectures. (Also-- it helps your overall reputation to give your TAs a break once a term.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-51647805479958096742010-03-18T22:31:30.725-05:002010-03-18T22:31:30.725-05:00Thank you so much for this post. I will definitely...Thank you so much for this post. I will definitely use the techniques offered or variations of them for my classes. I agree that students perform better when they feel that the investment is mutual.<br />Thanks again.J.B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07746638528787166646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-75959336038024553942010-03-18T15:34:21.596-05:002010-03-18T15:34:21.596-05:00Thanks very much for the advice. I'll have 2-...Thanks very much for the advice. I'll have 2-3 TA's who teach 3 sections each. Not many for a class of that size, and very different from my graduate school experience--my TA's will have more students in one section than I have in an entire semester. But I'll certainly visit their sections. I love the idea of inviting students to invite me to lunch, and I like the idea of offering an oral alternative to the written exam even more. Now I just need to figure out where I can get a clip-on microphone so that I can walk around! Thanks again for the response and the wonderful advice.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-27135971713501998152010-03-18T10:29:31.393-05:002010-03-18T10:29:31.393-05:00Dear Anonymous:
I can only pray that you have t...Dear Anonymous: <br /><br />I can only pray that you have teaching assistants, and the answer is no -- you probably won't learn their names. If you could, you would become a professional politician (the capacity of my congresswoman to call me by name in the the local Farmer's Market blows me away.)<br /><br />But assuming you do have TA's -- farm out these responsibilities to them, make sure that they deliver cogent reports on the various kinds of information gathering, and by all means visit their sections. <br /><br />I had several professors at Oligarch -- David Montgomery comes immediately to mind -- who announced at the beginning of term that he would like to have llunch with any students who wished to invite him. And you know what? He did. John Merriman, in French history, had a keg party every term for his students in the lecture class (ok, no kegs now, I guess, but maybe tea) and also offered the option of an oral exam rather than a written for those who wished to do it. <br /><br />You aren't going to meet every student thorugh these techniques, but you will meet more of them than you would otherwise. And with a room of 300, walking the room is essential.Tenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-56260342155490381162010-03-17T15:16:53.381-05:002010-03-17T15:16:53.381-05:00These seem like wonderful ideas for a class capped...These seem like wonderful ideas for a class capped at 50, or even 100. Many of your suggestions apply to larger classes as well, but I'm curious if you have any ideas about how to personalize a huge lecture course. I'll be starting my first semester as a history prof at a large state university in the fall, and my lectures are capped at 300. Calling roll would take the entire class, and that's an awful lot of names and faces to learn. I know Zenith's classes are different, but do you have any ideas for managing the LARGE lecture class? Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-83686581974859822572010-03-17T12:03:48.811-05:002010-03-17T12:03:48.811-05:00Thanks Radical! Great Advice! Some of it was new t...Thanks Radical! Great Advice! Some of it was new to me. Like a couple of the commenters, my surveys are capped at 30, but the budget crisis is probably going to change that. Besides, a lot of the things you mention are applicable to any size class.Matt Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-71707355949106648392010-03-16T20:06:54.648-05:002010-03-16T20:06:54.648-05:00Thanks for posting this! I've been teaching l...Thanks for posting this! I've been teaching large surveys for a couple of semesters at my Way Big U. My classes were capped at 95. You are absolutely right about the name aspect, though. I started out being frank with my students about the fact that I would try to learn their names, but that they would have to help. In the first couple of weeks I'd ask them to give their name if they asked/answered a question. Within a few weeks I was able to call on some (not all) students by name. The great thing was that by the end of the semester most of them thought I knew their names even though I might only have known half without a hint. But from the evals, it was apparent that most of them felt like I knew all of the names in the class. <br /><br />The other thing I would add to this was that I made sure the students knew my rules were reciprocal. For example: if a phone went off in lecture, that person was required to leave class for the rest of the lecture. I never had a fight with my students about them having to leave if/when it happened. The one time it happened to me, 10 minutes into class, class was over. Making it clear that the rules apply to me as well as to them, that it was a matter of mutual respect, really seemed to impact the way that they viewed their class experiences.krisluvswoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11301389134917751361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-15754070956486894672010-03-16T11:07:37.487-05:002010-03-16T11:07:37.487-05:00Great post, thanks! My classes are all capped at 3...Great post, thanks! My classes are all capped at 30--for the moment, but who knows what's in store given my university's ongoing state of financial collapse. I may need this advice some day...Shane in SLChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09009969830290878311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-13566822635325930382010-03-16T10:31:25.167-05:002010-03-16T10:31:25.167-05:00We don't have lecture classes at U.Topia (well...We don't have lecture classes at U.Topia (well, not in English), but I kinda miss them. As a student, I thought they were an efficient method of delivering new information, and as a teacher, they could be fun.<br /><br />When I taught at Sweaty Land Grant U, I combined (2) and (3) by giving one-minute quizzes every day -- a question that they answered on an index card.<br /><br />The question itself accomplished various things: It helped me gauge how well they were grokking the material, it gave them practice with my style of questions for the exam, and sometimes it would be a know-your-audience question that had no wrong answer.<br /><br />Handing them back day after day ensured that I knew everyone's name by the end of week three.<br /><br />It also meant no roll call, fewer late arrivals (no make ups), and less painful grading (a quick check or minus, maybe with a comment if the spirit dictates, was a productive way to use the post-class adrenaline crash).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com