Mike Calendine

If you are creating groups, you need to let them be successful or not.  You are not making mini-yous.  This may be letting them expand on something that you know may lead them wrong.  The willingness to do this is hard...but it is part of the learning. 

If you are a strong lecturer, don't let others tell you not to lecture.  Some of the best faculty can build learning within their lecturesd and would not be considered a sage on the stage.

You need to use the rubrics....and use them fully.  Modern students will not let you just circle and 86% on the top of the paper and move on.  They...and you...need to be able to defend a score.

Being able to present, demonstrate, and explain the content will help students make a connection to it. If it is always one way...no questions...no discussions...then they start thinking you are going to fill in all the blanks.  That is NOT the goal.

I still use a lot of PPT in my current position.  It isn't that this is bad, but I really need supplemental material to help drive the text home.

The truth is you never stop teaching. I think about things outside of the class or experience life things that I bring into the class for discussion or even humor.

Faculty start out very objective...worried about crossing t's and dotting i's....but the reason you hired them was their personality and their expertise.  It is tough for new faculty to be themselves....but it is truly necessary.

Disruptive students want your attention.  In this world of transactional education, students believe their view may bed as important as yours.  Transparency is your friend.  If you are teaching a hot button topic, talk about it.   The ground rules...what you expect.  What does dissent look like in your class?  There is learning in refutation.  Are you willing to go there?

Faculty know who the bad students are.  This may be academically...or it may be socially.  Little wins will gravitate to bigger wins....but you cannot belittle adults. 

If the faculty are not excited for the content, then I don't want them in the class.  They will bring down a class faster than anything else.