HOW TO WIN A TEACHING AWARD
Have you ever stopped to think about what it takes to win a teaching award? Dr. Stephen Chew has written an interesting essay about just that. He writes, "What, then, is the critical element for teaching success? I say the best teachers are learning driven; their teaching is wholly focused on developing a deep understanding of the subject matter in the minds of their students. This entails much more than presenting information. Learning-driven teachers don’t simply wish or hope their students learn -- they take actions to see that the desired kind of learning takes place. Consciously or not, learning-driven teachers are concerned with an array of factors that influence student learning. For example, they manage the class’s collective attention, monitor metacognitive awareness, respect the constraints of working memory and promote transfer-appropriate processing, even if these teachers are unaware of the formal names of such concepts." Read more here.
HELP FOR UNDER-PREPARED STUDENTS
African-American students’ college readiness is lagging compared with that of other underrepresented students, according to a new report released on Monday by ACT and the United Negro College Fund. Sixty-two percent of African-American students who graduated from high school in 2014 and took the ACT met none of the organization’s four benchmarks that measure college readiness, which was twice the rate for all students. Read more here including suggestions to help the situation.
INSTRUCTOR FOR A DAY
Cengage recently ran a contest asking students what they would do if they could be an instructor for one day. More specifically, they asked them to suggest ways to better engage students. The votes are in, winners have been selected, and you can watch the videos here. Although none of the winning entries were from community college students, many of the ideas are appropriate for all students and types of higher education institutions. You could certainly use this type of assignment in your class to help make a solid connection with your students. Let me know what you think of the videos.
