Teaching Tips

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Teaching Tips

• The 6 Ps ( Proper Preparation Prevents.)
• Lectures
• Exams
• Learning
• 1st day

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The 6Ps

• Few if any are natural teachers and even fewer
  are natural performers.
• No logic in dividing a course of study into 39 or
  so 50 minute delivers.
• Especially for those who have not taught before
  the Lesson Plan approach is a good foundation.
• If you are going to use technology make certain
  it is available, dont forget to book it, make
  sure classroom can cope etc etc.

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LECTURES -1

• Most people tire of a lecture in ten minutes,
  clever people can do it in five. Sensible people
  never go to lectures at all. Stephen Leacock
  1922.
• Pace the old chalk and talk was about the right
  pace modern tech (PPT), handouts etc usually
  means we try to cram in more info that ever
  before. If you add say 10 more material then
  over a degree program if everyone else did the
  same you will have effectively extended the
  program by at least 1 semester.

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Lectures 2

• You will speak faster than you had intended you
  could run out of materials in ten minutes!!!!!
• A split second hesitation seems to you like an
  eternity but the audience probably doesnt
  notice.
• Leave time for QA have it as part of the
  lesson plan.

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Exams-1

• If your first time you will set an exam that if
  either far too easy or far too difficult. ( Be
  flexible)
• You dont need to prove how clever you are.
• Decide why you are examining to discovery what
  the students have learned or to differentiate
  I.e., rank students. ( Passing a driving test or
  the Stanley Cup).
• In examinations those who do not wish to know,
  ask questions of those who cannot tell. Walter
  Raleigh The other one, 1923.

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Exams 2

• Have a colleague look over the paper
• Check marking scheme
• Check pace
• A GA/TA will try to prove they are even cleverer
  than the professor when it comes to marking
• Information, knowledge, application,
  innovation/creativity.
• In many countries the exam in set before the
  course starts.
• Check your Facultys grading policy

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Exams 3 ( Ideas for Final Exams)

• Computer Science Write a fifth-generation
  computer language. Using this language, write a
  computer program to finish the rest of this exam
  for you.
• History Describe the history of the Papacy from
  its origins to the present day, concentrating
  especially, but not exclusively, on its social,
  political, economic, religious and philosophical
  impact on Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Be
  brief, concise and specific.
• Biology Create life. Estimate the differences in
  subsequent human culture if this form of life had
  developed 500 million years earlier, with special
  attention to its probable effect on the Canadian
  Parliamentary System. Prove your thesis.

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Learning 1

• For every person who wants to learn there are
  approximately thirty who dont want to learn
  much, W C Sellar, 1932
• In my day, the principal concern of university
  students were sex, smoking dope, rioting and
  learning. Learning was something you did only
  when the first three werent available, Bill
  Bryson, 1989

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Learning - 2

• Dont expect your enthusiasm for the subject to
  be shared by all.
• There are no silly questions.
• Some students are here to learn, many are seeking
  a qualification, others want a credential.

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Teaching Learning

• Both very personal - no one universal way but
  share your experiences dont be a textbook
  wired for sound.
• Remember that 1 in 4 people are mentally unstable
  if the three students you are teaching seem
  fine then its you!
• SEEK HELP CFL, Colleagues, websites having a
  PhD does not guarantee you can teach.

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Ideas for the 1st Day

• 1 Start the lecture by dancing and lip-syncing
  to James Browns Sex Machine,
• 2 - Wear mirrored sunglasses and speak only in
  Turkish. Ignore all questions.
• 3 Wear a hood with one eyehole. Periodically
  make strange gurgling noises.
• 4 - Announce to students that their entire grades
  will be based on a single-question oral final
  exam. Imply that this could happen at any moment.

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Final Comments

• You will make mistakes.
• You will have a impact on students ( more than
  you realize).
• You will get tired ( 3 live performances a week!)
• If all else fails become a researcher.