Best Practices For Faculty
What follows is a summary of the teaching challenges that SLU professors have encountered in classes, followed by suggestions to resolve them. One excellent guide referred to below is John Bean’s Engaging Ideas (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2001), but there are many useful teaching tips available on the web as well.
Challenges in Online Teaching
For some Best Practices on Zoom, please visit our interactive document developed by Professor Stephanie Luce.
Levels of Student Preparedness
- Students frequently lack basic knowledge of the topics taught (general background).
- Students frequently lack basic knowledge of or have little practice in central academic skills – writing and research related, but also basic study skills, including doing work in a timely manner.
- How to work with ESL students and give them the support they need.
- Balancing between helping students who need it (in any of the above categories) and continuing to challenge academically proficient students.
Grading
- Uncertainty about common standards for each program
- Balancing between improvement over the course of the term and final product
- How to grade written work when written expression is subpar
Classroom Dynamics:
- How to work with difficult students whose contributions tend to derail the class
- How to break up three-hour classes to maintain student engagement
Some Suggestions
Contact Michael Rymer, michael.rymer@slu.cuny.edu to introduce students to skills specialists. Consider putting students into breakout groups to discuss specific assignments and/or skill problems, and/or encourage students to come to the How-To workshops that are offered each semester.
Recommend immersion for ESL students. The best way for English learners to learn English is to immerse themselves in English-speaking environments. They should read the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (to which subscriptions are free with a CUNY email); they should watch English- language TV; they should join discussion groups; they should read all research materials in English. If they have kids, they should read to them in English. Reading and re-reading children’s books is a useful activity for ESL learners.
It is suggested that faculty conduct an assessment of student background knowledge and writing skills at the beginning of the semester to flag students who may need more help. Based on that assessment, students can be gently advised that they may have more work to do to keep up with the class. To facilitate this work, faculty can send them to Michael Rymer, meet with them individually, and/or suggest background reading materials on the subject of the class. Faculty should also let advisers and academic directors know about students who have major skill or background knowledge deficits.
Other suggestions:
Give students the chance to write in class, in response to readings, presentations, or class discussions. Quiet students will speak more freely if they’ve already written something – or at the very least the students will have some record of their thoughts and questions.
Give students reading lists of supplemental background materials. Encourage them to organize study groups if need be.
Give mini-lectures about basic skills and provide examples of what will be involved in assignments, i.e. how to write a summary, develop a thesis, include citations, write a topic sentence, develop an outline, etc. Review common grammar problems, the difference between facts and opinions, developing an argument, etc. This is especially useful when a project has been assigned to the class, and when work is being returned to the class – both of which tend to focus student attention.
Provide lots of opportunities for students to speak in classes – to each other in groups, in pairs, or in the class as a whole. This is especially useful as preparation for writing assignments, or for tests – talking, like writing, helps students process information and increases their fluency with ideas – but with lower stakes than writing.
Meet with students individually at least once during the semester to discuss their written work. This could be done in lieu of one class session, or in extended office hours.
Consider limiting the amount of reading assigned so as to work with the students on the remaining readings more closely. Conduct close readings in class with difficult texts.
Grading
*Participate in a norming session with fellow faculty members. What do they consider to be A’s, B’s, C’s, F’s? Compare and contrast.
*Have clear expectations ahead of time, and express them to students – for the class, and for all assignments. Include these expectations in the syllabus and in the specific assignments.
*Use minimal marking. Studies show that students do not progress if their papers are marked up and all of their mistakes corrected. Indicate patterns that they need to look for, or underline WHERE the mistake is. But they should be responsible for finding it – ultimately, it’s on them.
*Assign work in stages so that feedback can be given along the way. Have students hand in notes, an annotated bibliography, a thesis, a rough draft, a work plan, an outline, the first few pages, the core analysis without intro or conclusion, answers to questions that prepare them for the final assignment, or any combination of the above before the final paper is due. Have at least three stages: thesis and plan, almost finished draft, and final draft. More stages better.
*Use peer reviews for some of the early writing. Students can help each other make their ideas and language clearer, and occasionally can help with deeper content as well. This can be done in class or electronically.
**Respond initially to ideas and the quality of their support. Wait till later drafts for writing issues of organization or error. If students are encouraged to sharpen their ideas, their writing often gets better. Bad writing is very often a result of unclear thinking. If they can figure out what they’re trying to say, the writing will often get better. **
*Develop a grading rubric. One that works nicely is explaining that meeting (specified) minimum requirements brings you to a “B” level paper. Failing to meet minimums assures a C level or below, and exceeding minimums gives you higher grades. Faculty must figure out for themselves what the minimum is.
For example, this is from John Bean, Engaging Ideas, p. 264:
How I Assign Letter Grades In grading “thesis papers,” I ask myself the following set of questions:
Does the paper have a thesis?
Does the thesis address itself to an appropriate question or topic?
Is the paper free from long stretches of quotations and summaries that exist only for their own sake and remain unanalyzed?
Can the writer produce complete sentences?
Is the paper free from grammatical errors?
If the answers to any of these questions is no, I give the paper some kind of “C”.
[Most, something lower. If “yes” so far, then:]
How thoughtful is the paper? Does it show real originality?
How adequate is the thesis?
[Relevance to topic, responds to problem, interesting, complex]
How well organized is the paper? Does it stick to the point? Does every paragraph contain a clear topic sentence?
[Transitions; conclusion]
Is the style efficient, not wordy or unclear?
Does the writing betray any special elegance?
Above all, can I hear a lively, intelligent, interesting human voice as I read this paper? Depending on my answers to such questions, I give the paper some kind of A or some kind of B grade.
*Give students examples of what an “A” paper looks like, a “B” paper, a “C” paper and an “F” paper.
*Don’t spend a ton of time on final drafts! Comment and respond when students still have time to respond to what is being suggested. (See advice about staging assignments, above.)
Classroom Dynamics Too much counterproductive participation may require active intervention. Some general tips:
Always be respectful and professional.
Work with difficult students one-on-one before taking them on in the classroom. Talk to them to see what kinds of issues they might be having. Explain to them, one on one, why they won’t be called on very often, or suggest more effective ways for them to participate. Follow up if the problem persists. If, for any reason, a faculty member doesn’t feel comfortable meeting with a student, reach out to the department chair or advisor, as one of the two can be present during the meeting.
Be as honest as possible about the problems with the student, within the bounds of respect and professionalism. Present the class with clear expectations about what constructive participation looks like. It’s easier to cut off students if clear expectations are in place.
Let the department chairs and advisors know about any very problematic students.