On total agreement with you on #2, epistemic authority is essential. It's a performance, we're performing, and we're expecting too much of students if we want them to support us as we navigate our insecurities.
To add to the brilliant list, I'd also say never to underestimate the power of narrating your thinking. As an expert in your field, your thought processes—how you approach problems, make decisions, and solve complex issues—are invaluable to your students. Make these processes explicit by thinking out loud during lectures or discussions. For example, if you’re working through a problem or analysing a text, walk your students through your reasoning step by step: “Here’s why I’m focusing on this particular detail…,” or, “I’m considering this alternative approach because….”
Prepare your visual aids carefully, and make sure the equipment works before class.
Lecture off bullet points. Do not just read word-for-word from written text.
Start with the most important points, so if you run out of time, you have only missed less important points. One of the hardest things in preparing lectures is to know how much time they will take.
Make sure that you have a few key points that you want students to remember and hammer them home. Students will likely forget 95% of what you say, so make sure that they remember the correct 5%.
Yeah, the bullet points tip is gold. In a slide presentation, I limit myself to 3 per slide. I'm amazed at how often I see people still putting whole paragraphs or 300 word excerpts up on a projector, then stuttering their way through.
i am 62. For those younger, who have excess anxiety regarding pubic presentation I offer hope and the following:
As a young adult I had debilitating stage fright. Today I have none. As an undergraduate engineering student at McMaster University I was required to do three public presentations for a Communications Course 2C2 I did not think I could do it and thought of dropping out. The presentations were videotaped and were reviewed one on one with the professor. [This was innovative for the time]. I screwed up the courage and got through each one and the reviews showed me that I was not half as bad as I thought and I saw the improvement. I recommend this exercise.
With regard to alcohol support - I did this for decades, but beware of dose and frequency. Over time I became alcohol dependent which eventually led to divorce and 3 rehab stints [I prefer the term alcohol dependent because alcoholism has many negative connotations that did not apply]. So be cautious.
I am no longer alcohol dependent (I still drink occasionally but within reason). Today i presented at AquaTech Mexico in Mexico City through a Spanish speaking colleague/translator. It went extremely well. 40 years ago I would not have though this possible. And if you never manage to become a comfortable presenter I respond - So What? Who Cares? Most of you will become passable and there are other important aspects to education such as organization effort/skills. For a very small percentage (and I doubt it applies to those of this group) the anxiety may not be worth it and consider other career opportunities. It's not the end of the world. My youngest son became an electrician because of this.
As an aside, my translator is Mexican who went to China for graduate education and his Chinese is flawless - including complex grammar and no accent (according to my Chinese boss). He lives in Mexico City but is as also an associate professor of Chemical Engineering at Bejing University. I am jealous of his skill set and am personally not adept at learning foreign languages.
I've found that even pretty lame attempts at humor work pretty well. The students are eager to laugh at something.
Also, I've found that beta blockers (like propranolol and atenolol) are excellent for treating performance anxiety. I think they work much better than benzodiazepines (like Xanax) and certainly better than alcohol. A lot of musicians use beta blockers for stage fright. I'm a bit surprised that Scott Stossel (in your example) needs all three: Xanax, alcohol, and Inderal. I would have expected that the Inderal (which is a beta blocker) alone would work. But I guess people are different.
I now work mostly in International environment where English is not native language. For this environment, I discourage attempts at humor. The audience will not get the joke and will lead to confusion. Other advice for this environment is avoid acronyms, use simple words as much as possible, and go slow and accept that only a limited amount of information can be presented in one session. And i try and smile to show to minimize any intimidation the audience may feel.
Thanks Paul! You have crystallized for me why, whenever I did them, I always (always!) regretted using class time for student presentations.
In the spirit of "get one...give one"...
First day of class, ask the students to not get into the habit of packing up before you actually end class. Make it worth the students' attention to see and hear how you end each day by setting up a cliff hanger of some other attention grabber at close. Too many teacher obsess over the open and forget about the close!
Paul, I like to add to this insightful list, one more tip:
- help your students relearn. By this I mean that teachers should educate their students to have a critical spirit, in the sense that they should question what the teacher says, take the initiative to research for themselves, and turn this research into a re-learning of what they learn from the teacher. I'm very proud when one of my students questions what I'm trying to teach them
Thanks, Paul and other commenters. All great advice. I would add to your list:
*Do whatever it takes to learn your students’ names as early as possible. (There are now apps for this.)
*Find ways to allow students to showcase expertise that you don’t have. (E.g. “Anyone here ever [ ]?”)
*Do not fall behind on the syllabus. (It’s an objective measure that things aren’t going as planned.)
*If you can make grading less of a mystery (e.g, share old exams and model answers, clarify expectations), students will not waste energy trying tong to divine this and can instead do whatever you’re trying to get them to do in class.
*Stay after class. Like the good reasons for arriving early, but with the momentum of a class.
*Promise the students — and help them appreciate — that there is a level of non-obvious learning that is happening if they engage fully. This is the really good stuff!
Guest lecturers: In my experience as a finance professor, practitioners often confirmed that what I was teaching was "real world," not merely ivory tower stuff.
Not directly related, but: "...there is a Goldilocks level of anxiety." This is true for students taking exams as well. "Don't be anxious about being (a bit) anxious."
These tips are wonderful! On a related issue, I've noticed that the primary things I taught as a philosophy professor had nothing to do with the course content. Here were the main long-term messages:
• There are some big questions about reality, our place in it, and what we can know about it.
• It’s completely okay to think hard about them, even as an adult.
• It’s completely okay to not accept what your culture says about those questions.
• It’s completely okay to not let your views on those questions be dictated by your emotions, what feels right or comfortable or useful to you.
• It’s completely okay to let your views on those questions be dictated by your evaluation of the evidence you know is out there.
• In fact, it’s a really good thing to let your opinions be determined by your evaluation of evidence instead of what feels right.
• It’s completely okay to say, in response to those questions, “I just don’t know. It’s really confusing and hard”.
• It can be fun and otherwise rewarding to think hard about these questions, even if you don’t reach any big conclusions.
Many students don't know these things, and it can be a revelation for them.
As a so called mature student (ie doing a Mickey Mouse for-fun degree in my dotage, via mostly remote learning), but also with some experience teaching about three lives ago, even if at a very junior level, I'd second (1) very strongly, with a caveat that enthusiasm doesn't need to be manically energetic -- it could be quiet passion for the topic -- and expand by this corollary: try, if you at all can, to do your best to NOT teach subjects/modules you find boring and have little to no genuine interest in.
This one will be controversial and will probably vastly depend on the subject taught and the student population, but for more interesting stuff that people at least in principle do because they want to, and not because they have to, don't act as if the assessment/ assignments/ exams are the reason we've all gathered here. Don't constantly refer to the assesments, don't ASSUME all students are mostly driven by completing those etc etc. It feels highly demoralising.
On total agreement with you on #2, epistemic authority is essential. It's a performance, we're performing, and we're expecting too much of students if we want them to support us as we navigate our insecurities.
To add to the brilliant list, I'd also say never to underestimate the power of narrating your thinking. As an expert in your field, your thought processes—how you approach problems, make decisions, and solve complex issues—are invaluable to your students. Make these processes explicit by thinking out loud during lectures or discussions. For example, if you’re working through a problem or analysing a text, walk your students through your reasoning step by step: “Here’s why I’m focusing on this particular detail…,” or, “I’m considering this alternative approach because….”
Great advice. I would add a few more:
Prepare your visual aids carefully, and make sure the equipment works before class.
Lecture off bullet points. Do not just read word-for-word from written text.
Start with the most important points, so if you run out of time, you have only missed less important points. One of the hardest things in preparing lectures is to know how much time they will take.
Make sure that you have a few key points that you want students to remember and hammer them home. Students will likely forget 95% of what you say, so make sure that they remember the correct 5%.
>Do not just read word-for-word from written text.
+1
Yeah, the bullet points tip is gold. In a slide presentation, I limit myself to 3 per slide. I'm amazed at how often I see people still putting whole paragraphs or 300 word excerpts up on a projector, then stuttering their way through.
Fantastic tips.
i am 62. For those younger, who have excess anxiety regarding pubic presentation I offer hope and the following:
As a young adult I had debilitating stage fright. Today I have none. As an undergraduate engineering student at McMaster University I was required to do three public presentations for a Communications Course 2C2 I did not think I could do it and thought of dropping out. The presentations were videotaped and were reviewed one on one with the professor. [This was innovative for the time]. I screwed up the courage and got through each one and the reviews showed me that I was not half as bad as I thought and I saw the improvement. I recommend this exercise.
With regard to alcohol support - I did this for decades, but beware of dose and frequency. Over time I became alcohol dependent which eventually led to divorce and 3 rehab stints [I prefer the term alcohol dependent because alcoholism has many negative connotations that did not apply]. So be cautious.
I am no longer alcohol dependent (I still drink occasionally but within reason). Today i presented at AquaTech Mexico in Mexico City through a Spanish speaking colleague/translator. It went extremely well. 40 years ago I would not have though this possible. And if you never manage to become a comfortable presenter I respond - So What? Who Cares? Most of you will become passable and there are other important aspects to education such as organization effort/skills. For a very small percentage (and I doubt it applies to those of this group) the anxiety may not be worth it and consider other career opportunities. It's not the end of the world. My youngest son became an electrician because of this.
As an aside, my translator is Mexican who went to China for graduate education and his Chinese is flawless - including complex grammar and no accent (according to my Chinese boss). He lives in Mexico City but is as also an associate professor of Chemical Engineering at Bejing University. I am jealous of his skill set and am personally not adept at learning foreign languages.
I've found that even pretty lame attempts at humor work pretty well. The students are eager to laugh at something.
Also, I've found that beta blockers (like propranolol and atenolol) are excellent for treating performance anxiety. I think they work much better than benzodiazepines (like Xanax) and certainly better than alcohol. A lot of musicians use beta blockers for stage fright. I'm a bit surprised that Scott Stossel (in your example) needs all three: Xanax, alcohol, and Inderal. I would have expected that the Inderal (which is a beta blocker) alone would work. But I guess people are different.
I now work mostly in International environment where English is not native language. For this environment, I discourage attempts at humor. The audience will not get the joke and will lead to confusion. Other advice for this environment is avoid acronyms, use simple words as much as possible, and go slow and accept that only a limited amount of information can be presented in one session. And i try and smile to show to minimize any intimidation the audience may feel.
Thanks Paul! You have crystallized for me why, whenever I did them, I always (always!) regretted using class time for student presentations.
In the spirit of "get one...give one"...
First day of class, ask the students to not get into the habit of packing up before you actually end class. Make it worth the students' attention to see and hear how you end each day by setting up a cliff hanger of some other attention grabber at close. Too many teacher obsess over the open and forget about the close!
Paul, I like to add to this insightful list, one more tip:
- help your students relearn. By this I mean that teachers should educate their students to have a critical spirit, in the sense that they should question what the teacher says, take the initiative to research for themselves, and turn this research into a re-learning of what they learn from the teacher. I'm very proud when one of my students questions what I'm trying to teach them
Such helpful and inspirational advice!
I love these. Wonderful
Thanks, Paul and other commenters. All great advice. I would add to your list:
*Do whatever it takes to learn your students’ names as early as possible. (There are now apps for this.)
*Find ways to allow students to showcase expertise that you don’t have. (E.g. “Anyone here ever [ ]?”)
*Do not fall behind on the syllabus. (It’s an objective measure that things aren’t going as planned.)
*If you can make grading less of a mystery (e.g, share old exams and model answers, clarify expectations), students will not waste energy trying tong to divine this and can instead do whatever you’re trying to get them to do in class.
*Stay after class. Like the good reasons for arriving early, but with the momentum of a class.
*Promise the students — and help them appreciate — that there is a level of non-obvious learning that is happening if they engage fully. This is the really good stuff!
#7 & #8 are so fantastic, as is the later discussion of 8. <3
Guest lecturers: In my experience as a finance professor, practitioners often confirmed that what I was teaching was "real world," not merely ivory tower stuff.
Not directly related, but: "...there is a Goldilocks level of anxiety." This is true for students taking exams as well. "Don't be anxious about being (a bit) anxious."
The 4th has also been given as sex advice.
I was relieved that you included only 1- 3 as possible sex advice. Indeed, including #4 would be going too far IMO.
These tips are wonderful! On a related issue, I've noticed that the primary things I taught as a philosophy professor had nothing to do with the course content. Here were the main long-term messages:
• There are some big questions about reality, our place in it, and what we can know about it.
• It’s completely okay to think hard about them, even as an adult.
• It’s completely okay to not accept what your culture says about those questions.
• It’s completely okay to not let your views on those questions be dictated by your emotions, what feels right or comfortable or useful to you.
• It’s completely okay to let your views on those questions be dictated by your evaluation of the evidence you know is out there.
• In fact, it’s a really good thing to let your opinions be determined by your evaluation of evidence instead of what feels right.
• It’s completely okay to say, in response to those questions, “I just don’t know. It’s really confusing and hard”.
• It can be fun and otherwise rewarding to think hard about these questions, even if you don’t reach any big conclusions.
Many students don't know these things, and it can be a revelation for them.
#14 is the best piece of advice and always the hardest to do
As a so called mature student (ie doing a Mickey Mouse for-fun degree in my dotage, via mostly remote learning), but also with some experience teaching about three lives ago, even if at a very junior level, I'd second (1) very strongly, with a caveat that enthusiasm doesn't need to be manically energetic -- it could be quiet passion for the topic -- and expand by this corollary: try, if you at all can, to do your best to NOT teach subjects/modules you find boring and have little to no genuine interest in.
This one will be controversial and will probably vastly depend on the subject taught and the student population, but for more interesting stuff that people at least in principle do because they want to, and not because they have to, don't act as if the assessment/ assignments/ exams are the reason we've all gathered here. Don't constantly refer to the assesments, don't ASSUME all students are mostly driven by completing those etc etc. It feels highly demoralising.