As in: Reading

I finished reading Ken Bain's What the Best College Teachers Do a couple weeks ago, and its had me re-examining my pedagogy (as good books about teaching always do). I've posted a couple choice bits in the extended entry. The main page gets this one, though:

When introducing the class, one instructor "asks his students for a show of hands that they are willing to be on time for every class and participate intellectually in the deliberation of each day. "The decision to take the course is yours," we heard more than one person say, "but once you make that decision, you have responsibilities to everyone else in this community of learners." (113)

I like this idea—the making explicit that the first day is a choice. IF you decide to take my class, great. BUT, you make certain commitments when you do.

A few more choice quotes:

33 "...they have consistently found that most extrinsic motivators damage intrinsic motivation. That have also found that if they use "verbal reinforcement and positive feedback"--in other words, encouragement or praise--they can stimulate interest, or at least keep it from evaporating."

36 "...the "characteristics of highly respected courses" included "high demands" but "with plentiful opportunities to revise and improve their work before it receives a grade, thereby learning from their mistakes in the process."

On the first day of class, "Rather than laying out a set of requirements for the students, they usually talk about the promises of the course, about the kinds of questions the discipline will help the students answer, or about the intellectual, emotional, or physical abilities that it will help them develop."

74 Three parts of the 'promising syllabus'
1. Lays out "promises or opportunities" the course offers to students
2. Explains "what students would be doing to realize those promises" "avoiding language of demands"
3. "Summarized how the instructor and the students would understand the nature and progress of the learning."

93 On introducing the tasks/challenges to the students: ""You must want to do this," she will say, "and be willing to spend the time it takes to develop your character. But the choice is yours.""

131 they call on their students "the way they might do so around the dinner table rather than the way they might cross-exam them in a courtroom or challenge them to a duel."

Posted by briley at April 27, 2005 6:31 AM