Perhaps some guidance about how you (the professor) prefer to be addressed, e.g., by first name, Professor, or Dr. I always preferred (retired now) "Professor" because it best captures the relationship I have with the students. "Dr." strikes me as a bit arrogant and reflects a past acomplishment (earning my PhD). And the use of first name ignores the power dynamic of the relationship (as you note).
Great list; so helpful. A big part of #1, I think, is committing to the idea of the newness and freshness of a “day one.”Whenever I’m in a TSA line at an airport, I will study an agent whose attitude I recognize. They will have the “ffs, how many times do I have to tell you to [ ]?” approach, when of course the target of the frustration is a person who just arrived at the airport. Sure the agent has said a hundred times that everyone needs to remove their coats, but they’ve told THIS person only once, or maybe twice. Of course I know that feeling, “ffs, I’ve been saying this for 25 years and you still don’t know impleaders?!?” But of course the students in your class just arrived. To help me clear-the-decks, hit reset, start anew, I wish I could receive some sort of an overview of my class that would remind me of its uniqueness. My fantasy is a one-page AI-generated biography (drawn from the students’ admissions applications, transcripts, CVs, and social media accounts) that would be tailored to remind me of the uniqueness of this cohort. It would be an anonymized mix of personal and professional achievements and challenges and dreams. Thus would help remind me of what an extraordinary privilege and honor it is — not only to be a professor, but to be the professor for THIS group on this subject.
Thanks for this great Substack. My favorite! Sincerely, Thom
Regarding #8 "A well-timed “Great question. I don’t know — but I’ll find out for next class” is charming and makes everyone feel good. This is so powerful that some profs are rumored to do this even when they DO know." It's also helpful, and fun, to try to distinguish between "Great question-I don't know, but I think that is known" and "Great question-and that is not really known". Either one gives you an opening to a great discussion. In the first case, I might say "I can find out and get back to you" or, even better, "let's look into that-anyone else interested is welcome to join-and we can talk about it when we meet next". In the second case, it's an opportunity to talk about what is known and what the boundaries of that knowledge are. First, you get to sound like a smarty pants professor, and then you get to get them excited (and mildly freaked out) about "the boundaries of knowledge". And most importantly, you avoid bullshitting, and they will be less inclined to harp on "she could not answer my questions".
Depending on the class size and the level (intro/advanced/graduate course), I would also make about half of the sessions "verbal participation required", and made it clear that early on, just saying "yes" or "I'm not sure" or "I don't understand figure 2" is fine, but there is an expectation that verbal contributions will become more substantive with time. The other half of the sessions would be more like a lecture, but open to interactions and questions. Over time, they become so comfy with making verbal contributions in the required sessions that it would spill over into the "lecture" sessions.
Finally, this one may be very controversial: NO text on slides. Pictures, tables, illustration only. Then thy have to pay attention and engage with the material. Also, make it a goal to have as few slides as possible. My record is 12 for a 75 minute developmental biology course.
It took watching a documentary and seeing a famous speaker jump on a small trampoline before going on stage for me to really get that prepping my body for an experience is just fine. I've spent so much time preparing mentally, why does it seem strange to get my emotions and my body ready as well? Great suggestions!
This is some terrific stuff. I'm always thinking about the uniqueness of each class session, even beyond each class. People change and young people, especially the age I teach, change fast and need different types of attention throughout the year.
I try to help the students anticipate with excitement and not anxiety. It gives them some ownership over their learning.
I remember when I was fearful before my first ever class...crying in the bathroom...come a long way since that. Thankfully, don't feel the need to self medicate. 🙏
To your advice about it not being about you … True!! … my mantra from my teaching days …know your learner! This whole teaching thing is not about what you teach, it’s about what students learn. Meet students where they are and work together to construct the next bit of understanding. I believe the very best teaching is through questions.
Enjoy reading this list and thinking about how I've changed over the years. One new thing I started doing a couple of years ago is instead of sharing a brief academic bio (something the college tells us we should do) I let students ask me anything. Sometimes they do want to hear me talk about my credentials and how I earned them, some want to know about my dog, and sometimes we have a fun little moment talking about dragons or fairies, or whatever creature is featured in current pop-culture books or shows. Highly recommend this approach -- after years of rattling off grad school and post-doc and current research to a disinterested mass, this little invitation to peek into my head in a more personal way perks students right up. I usually limit it to "Five Questions - so make them good ones!"
I teach undergrads and recommend teaching students about how to learn, which requires instructors to study the science of learning a bit. For example, to help students remember information, teach them about retrieval practice. To improve their ability to understand difficult readings, teach them about the techniques SQRRR and elaboration. You can also cover discipline-specific learning based on your own experience in studying your field. Make all of this an explicit part of the course.
Excellent list. I have the same misgivings about students presenting in seminars, but when I've asked students about it, they consistently agree that student presentations are bad and difficult to learn from, but when I ask "should I have students present in the future" they overwhelmingly say "yes." So I'm still torn.
Years ago, when I was a lowly grad student & teaching assistant, the professor who mentored all teaching assistants in the department gave us a bit of useful advice. He told us that right off the bat, half of our students in any class would love us & half would hate us. (Possibly that was not intended literally.) The point being that their feelings about us had little to do with us, so don't take it personally.
I have found it useful to remind myself of this anytime I addressed any group: a class, a jury, or a group of my professional peers. I don't take their responses to me personally & provide what knowledge I have as well as possible.
Perhaps some guidance about how you (the professor) prefer to be addressed, e.g., by first name, Professor, or Dr. I always preferred (retired now) "Professor" because it best captures the relationship I have with the students. "Dr." strikes me as a bit arrogant and reflects a past acomplishment (earning my PhD). And the use of first name ignores the power dynamic of the relationship (as you note).
Great list; so helpful. A big part of #1, I think, is committing to the idea of the newness and freshness of a “day one.”Whenever I’m in a TSA line at an airport, I will study an agent whose attitude I recognize. They will have the “ffs, how many times do I have to tell you to [ ]?” approach, when of course the target of the frustration is a person who just arrived at the airport. Sure the agent has said a hundred times that everyone needs to remove their coats, but they’ve told THIS person only once, or maybe twice. Of course I know that feeling, “ffs, I’ve been saying this for 25 years and you still don’t know impleaders?!?” But of course the students in your class just arrived. To help me clear-the-decks, hit reset, start anew, I wish I could receive some sort of an overview of my class that would remind me of its uniqueness. My fantasy is a one-page AI-generated biography (drawn from the students’ admissions applications, transcripts, CVs, and social media accounts) that would be tailored to remind me of the uniqueness of this cohort. It would be an anonymized mix of personal and professional achievements and challenges and dreams. Thus would help remind me of what an extraordinary privilege and honor it is — not only to be a professor, but to be the professor for THIS group on this subject.
Thanks for this great Substack. My favorite! Sincerely, Thom
Regarding #8 "A well-timed “Great question. I don’t know — but I’ll find out for next class” is charming and makes everyone feel good. This is so powerful that some profs are rumored to do this even when they DO know." It's also helpful, and fun, to try to distinguish between "Great question-I don't know, but I think that is known" and "Great question-and that is not really known". Either one gives you an opening to a great discussion. In the first case, I might say "I can find out and get back to you" or, even better, "let's look into that-anyone else interested is welcome to join-and we can talk about it when we meet next". In the second case, it's an opportunity to talk about what is known and what the boundaries of that knowledge are. First, you get to sound like a smarty pants professor, and then you get to get them excited (and mildly freaked out) about "the boundaries of knowledge". And most importantly, you avoid bullshitting, and they will be less inclined to harp on "she could not answer my questions".
Depending on the class size and the level (intro/advanced/graduate course), I would also make about half of the sessions "verbal participation required", and made it clear that early on, just saying "yes" or "I'm not sure" or "I don't understand figure 2" is fine, but there is an expectation that verbal contributions will become more substantive with time. The other half of the sessions would be more like a lecture, but open to interactions and questions. Over time, they become so comfy with making verbal contributions in the required sessions that it would spill over into the "lecture" sessions.
Finally, this one may be very controversial: NO text on slides. Pictures, tables, illustration only. Then thy have to pay attention and engage with the material. Also, make it a goal to have as few slides as possible. My record is 12 for a 75 minute developmental biology course.
It took watching a documentary and seeing a famous speaker jump on a small trampoline before going on stage for me to really get that prepping my body for an experience is just fine. I've spent so much time preparing mentally, why does it seem strange to get my emotions and my body ready as well? Great suggestions!
Great post. The guest speaker suggestion though is not very realistic if you teach Group theory for physics, as I'll have to do this semester
This is some terrific stuff. I'm always thinking about the uniqueness of each class session, even beyond each class. People change and young people, especially the age I teach, change fast and need different types of attention throughout the year.
I try to help the students anticipate with excitement and not anxiety. It gives them some ownership over their learning.
I remember when I was fearful before my first ever class...crying in the bathroom...come a long way since that. Thankfully, don't feel the need to self medicate. 🙏
To your advice about it not being about you … True!! … my mantra from my teaching days …know your learner! This whole teaching thing is not about what you teach, it’s about what students learn. Meet students where they are and work together to construct the next bit of understanding. I believe the very best teaching is through questions.
Enjoy reading this list and thinking about how I've changed over the years. One new thing I started doing a couple of years ago is instead of sharing a brief academic bio (something the college tells us we should do) I let students ask me anything. Sometimes they do want to hear me talk about my credentials and how I earned them, some want to know about my dog, and sometimes we have a fun little moment talking about dragons or fairies, or whatever creature is featured in current pop-culture books or shows. Highly recommend this approach -- after years of rattling off grad school and post-doc and current research to a disinterested mass, this little invitation to peek into my head in a more personal way perks students right up. I usually limit it to "Five Questions - so make them good ones!"
I teach undergrads and recommend teaching students about how to learn, which requires instructors to study the science of learning a bit. For example, to help students remember information, teach them about retrieval practice. To improve their ability to understand difficult readings, teach them about the techniques SQRRR and elaboration. You can also cover discipline-specific learning based on your own experience in studying your field. Make all of this an explicit part of the course.
Excellent advice. Will do my best to follow.
Excellent list. I have the same misgivings about students presenting in seminars, but when I've asked students about it, they consistently agree that student presentations are bad and difficult to learn from, but when I ask "should I have students present in the future" they overwhelmingly say "yes." So I'm still torn.
Please please please....never say, "So now, we're going to break out into discussion groups."
Elaborate please?
Years ago, when I was a lowly grad student & teaching assistant, the professor who mentored all teaching assistants in the department gave us a bit of useful advice. He told us that right off the bat, half of our students in any class would love us & half would hate us. (Possibly that was not intended literally.) The point being that their feelings about us had little to do with us, so don't take it personally.
I have found it useful to remind myself of this anytime I addressed any group: a class, a jury, or a group of my professional peers. I don't take their responses to me personally & provide what knowledge I have as well as possible.