Education 教育: The Art of Teaching: Best Practices from a Master Educator

I recommend every teacher watch this DVD.

Nostalgia is the enemy of history. 'Downton Abbey' is great fun but it's not history. If seeing or reading something historical makes you feel warm and cosy, it's probably very inaccurate. --Patrick N. Allitt, Ph.D.

The Art of Teaching (produced in 2009 by the Teaching Company) is delivered by award-winning Professor Patrick N. Allitt of Emory University. A distinguished teacher with more than 30 years of classroom experience and 5 years as Director of Emory College's Center for Teaching and Curriculum (designed to study and improve the art and craft of university teaching). He interviews with an all-star group of veteran Great Courses professors. These teachers are:

John Hale, Director of Liberal Studies at the University of Louisville
Jeanette Norden, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Stephen Nowicki, Dean and Provost of Undergraduate Education and Professor of Biology at Duke University
Scott E. Page, Collegiate Professor of Political Science, Complex Systems, and Economics at the University of Michigan
Steve Pollock, Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder
Michael Roberto, Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University

You'll learn in these 24 lectures:

How to handle the first day: The first day of your class is critical, because it gives your students an idea of what their learning experience will be like. Make sure that, during your first class, you explain your subject and establish your credentials for teaching it, demonstrate why the subject matters, set your expectations, learn your students' names, and immediately engage your students.

How to give a dynamic lecture: Excellent lectures are both informative and interesting. Some tips to make your lectures more dynamic and memorable: Start your lecture with something stimulating or controversial; vary your vocal volume, tone, and expression to maintain attention; occasionally ask rhetorical questions; and avoid overfilling your lecture with content.

How to effectively use technologies: When dealing with aids like PowerPoint, remember that the more teaching technology you use, the more time you're likely to devote to it instead of to your students. Keep your PowerPoint presentations bold and simple, and don't forget the usefulness of "traditional" technologies like blackboards. When using a teaching aid, always ask yourself: What does this method of teaching add? How will it help my students to learn?

How to create and administer exams: Exams should fully test your students' knowledge and thinking ability. Before writing an exam, ask yourself what you want the students to take from your course. Decide whether to administer a multiple-choice test, a take-home exam, or an oral exam; each has its benefits and drawbacks. Similarly, decide beforehand whether you're going to grade on a curve or according to an absolute standard, and what your policy will be for handling potential grade disputes.

How to survive the challenges of teaching: Teaching can be stressful at times, but there are many ways for you to remain focused. First, never take conflict with students personally; remember that your relationship with them is professional, and any disagreements should be handled professionally. It's also important to periodically reflect on your life as a teacher to ensure that you still view it as a vocation and not just a job to suffer through.

24 lectures:

Successful Teaching
The Broad Range of Learners
Starting Out Right ***** *(your first lesson)
The Teacher's Persona
Planning the Work
The Teacher-Student Relationship
Dynamic Lecturing
Teaching with PowerPoint
Demonstrations, Old and New
Teaching the Critical Skills
Engaging with Discussion, Part 1
Engaging with Discussion, Part 2
Cogent Thinking and Effective Writing
Teaching Revision and Editing
Coaching Students on Presentation Skills
One-on-One Teaching
The Learner's Perspective
Exams, Evaluation, and Feedback
Maintaining Your Enthusiasm
Managing the Challenges of Teaching
Creativity and Innovation
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
The Anatomy of a Great Teacher
Teaching and Civilization

Glossary

active learning: opportunities for students to be engaged and interactive with the material; activities that help the students learn through doing.

critical thinking: Using logic to explore questions for which there are no clear-cut answers.

Learning to learn: process of enhancing one's ability to attain and apply knowledge.

What I learn

The goal of teaching is to cultivate a student to be a life-long learner. To be a life-long leaner is to realize "the more you know the less you know".
The initiative has to come from students.
Learners need to learn how to teach themselves.
Not teach the body of language but ways of thinking.
Don't discredit yourself if not all of your students succeed. You can only influcene that much when they are in school.
Teach less not more
Don't be afraid of repetition.
The capacity for self-criticism is essential for professional development.
Take pictures of your students who hold the names they write. By putting pictures and names together, each student can know each other. By knowing names can greatly facilitate learning, especially when in the discussions,

Lecture 1:

The drive for self-improvement and the willingness to accept criticism are essential in teaching.

Seminar teaching: discussion style vs. tutoring teaching: one-to-one.

In seminar teaching, students are required to read aloud to the teacher. This makes students be aware of their writing, force them to better prepare.

Lecture 2: The Broad Range of Learners

Engagement increases in grouping learning. build rapport with students.

There is an intimate and symbiotic relationship between learning and teaching.

Lecture 3: Starting Out Right

You never get second chance make first impression

The first meeting is critical-plan for it carefully
Learning your students' names
Show your enthusiasm for the subject. The subject is lovable. Teachers must love the subject.
Show why the subject is important
Give the students a sense of difficulty and challenge of the material
Demonstrate your expertise, build your authority
Set rules for the learning environment and make it clear that you will not tolerate annoyance, such as surfing the Web or texting in class.
Above all, engage the students in the subject itself immediately.

For historians, they don't study right vs. wrong. They study one right idea vs. another right idea. For example, study slave in slave owners', slaves', abolitionist's point of view.

Lecture 4: The Teacher's Persona

A teaching persona makes it easier for the teacher and for the students to meet each other's expectations. You can and say necessary things to a student as "teacher" more easily than you can as yourself. Your student can respond with more freedom.
Use your own distinctive characteristic in developing your teaching persona. These may include your age, your gender, and other characteristics, such as regionalisms or national origin.
Don't underestimate the importance of dress in creating your teaching persona.
Keep your teaching persona consistent.
User your teaching persona to develop an appropriate relationship and a suitable rapport with your students.
Personal friendships with students are forbidden and, in many instances, a form of professional misconduct.
Take pride in helping students succeed, but don't forget their limitations.
Don't act as though you're like students- emphasize the differences, not similarities.

Lecture 5: Planning the work

Set goals for yourself and your students and know what you hope to achieve by the end of our course before it begins.
Break the material down into manageable units.
Sequence the units logically.
Leave time for review and repetition
Don't plan too many details but allow room for flexibility and to take advantage of unforeseen learning opportunities and difficulties.
Don't try to cran too much material into each meeting. It's better for students to understand the material than to have more material thrown at them than you can comprehend.
Anticipate where your students will struggle and plan for it.

Lecture 6: The Teacher-Student Relationship

Teaching is a relationship based on inequality. The teacher knows something the student doesn't and has the responsibility to teach it. The teacher also has the authority to judge the quality of the student's learning.

In Britain, there is usually a distinct separation between teachers and students. In America, many teachers prefer to stress the egalitarian aspect of the teacher-student relationship. ... Creating ground rules establishes the classroom as a special place for the work of learning.

You should never show signs of favoritism or special preference, which is a perversion of the proper relationship and deeply unsettling both to the favorite and to those who are not favorites.

Lecture 7: Dynamic Lecturing

Lecture 8: Teaching with PowerPoint

Lecture 9: Demonstrations, Old and New

Lecture 10:Teaching the Critical Skills

Lecture 11:Engaging with Discussion, Part 1

Lecture 12:Engaging with Discussion, Part 2

Lecture 13: Cogent Thinking and Effective Writing

Describe, explain, persuade
Filler is not impermissible
For Technical writing, the important things are contrary to mystery novels.
The introduction is the last to write
Using active voice. Passive voice is acceptable because it is repetitive and who did it is not important?
simple, clarification not complexity writing
elaborate
5W Who, when, where, why, what.