Teaching Tips
Syllabus Related
- Include guidelines of your expectations
- Include guidelines for behaviors expected in class
- Encourage respect for diverse perspectives
- Discuss the syllabus more than once
- Consider a syllabus “quiz”
Welcome Student Participation
- Add a welcome announcement to each course on MyGateway
- Help students meet one another as you learn their names
- Welcome latecomers and gently urge them to catch up by conferring with a classmate.
- Use “Wait Time”. That is, offer time to think about a question before calling on someone to respond to it
- Reduce the anxiety of responding by first “talking to a neighbor”
Make Course Organization Public
- Include a semester schedule with due dates, test dates, academic calendar dates (e.g. last day to withdraw, etc.)
- Note that the calendar is “subject to modification”
- Post an agenda for class meetings: students want to know your plan
- Take a restroom break in classes which meet for more than 75 minutes
- Present material that is already well organized: charts and graphs help illustrate complex concepts
Effective Learning is Engaging for Students and Professors
- Plan a variety of activities to illustrate concepts and ideas: discussion, small groups, videos, in-class exercises
- Project slides and read them aloud
- Limit the messages you send each half hour – check for student understanding
- Listen to students’ questions, comments, interpretations, misconceptions
- Refer students to UMSL resources designed to support their academic success
- Rely on campus resources that support instruction
Updated 08/2011
Center for Teaching and Learning
519 Lucas Hall, 314-516-4508
Margaret W. Cohen, Director
www.umsl.edu/services/ctl