55 Strategies

PREFACE
This book is the culmination of my 40 years of teaching, from a beginning as a graduate from Christchurch Teachers
College, New Zealand, to an active retirement as a workshop presenter on teaching and learning in North America, the UK
and elsewhere. Of course, no one is born a teacher. Some claim there are personality characteristics and behavioral traits
that may help, as can excellent role models and mentors. More to the point of this book is the fact that a group of practical
skills can greatly enhance teaching.
My expertise came from a unique opportunity. I was appointed as an inspector of schools, which meant I was required to
watch others teach. From these observations, I was required to prepare reports on the quality of what I observed. I did this
for nine years, and estimate that I saw some 9,000 lessons in high school (secondary) classrooms. I was able to put this
experience to work in the subsequent 11 years when I was a faculty developer at Lincoln University in the South Island of
New Zealand.
I acknowledge the contributions from a wide variety of sources, both textual and personal. They are from my collection of
papers, from my contact with teachers and students and from workshops I facilitated with colleagues. The ideas in this
book are not newly found. They are my collection of the simple and complex ideas that make up the skills of an expert
teacher. By “expert” I mean someone who can still identify with the struggles of a novice teachers.
As a working thesis for best practice, I believe that it is possible for all who want to learn to do so. Success is a matter of
choosing the ways that best suit your learning. In a similar vein, all who appreciate and enjoy other people can become
effective teachers.
There is nothing more rewarding than to see the glimmer of understanding—the “Ahas”—in your students. And the
teachable moments. To see these more often, we have to become learners ourselves and follow German philosopher, Henri
Foubert’s dictum: “To teach is to learn—twice.” When we understand something well enough to teach it, we can claim to
really know it.
DATA, INFORMATION AND WISDOM
I wrote the following paper for teachers at Lincoln University, New Zealand, under the title Coping with a Revolution: Will
the Internet Change Learning?
Libraries are full of information. Universities and colleges are full of knowledge. Their core business is “to know”. This is
what sustains me through an increasing bombardment of information from a range of sources, old and new, and from
messages telling me that I will not be able to cope with the flood of information from the Information Revolution.
Many years ago, the amount of information in my fields of interest was greater than I could handle or cope with, so I
learned to forage and search. Nothing has changed that process. The fact that the amount of information is now 1,000
million times more than I can handle or cope with is immaterial to the processes I use. Exponential growth in information
ceases to be a problem once it passed my ability to cope with it all. The skills are selection, prioritizing and constructing,
just as they were before. Surprised?
I have always had access to more information than I needed, so what else is new? Even as a five-year-old, I could get
information from Mum or Dad or my brothers and sisters. I learned where the best source was for each need. It was my
use of that information (learning) that gave me “knowledge”. We only know something when we attach it to the framework
of our being. Information can pass through us with the speed of thought and make no impression on what or how much we
know. Only when we choose to do some work with information do we shift it into knowledge. You may notice I stay
clear of the word “understand” because it is a more complex concept.
Reading is not knowing. As most students can attest, they can lift their eyes after reading a page and wonder what they
have read. Believing that they must not have read it at all, they return to the top of the page and read it again only to find
that it seems familiar. There is something magic about reading for the first time. On the second run-through, their brains
say "We have read this all before". The intra-personal response is "Yes. But we don’t know it do we?” It is familiar. It is
just information. It is not known. If access to information were knowledge, then libraries would grant degrees to every
student who borrowed 65 books.
At one time in my past, encyclopedias were sold door to door by salespeople who told parents that if they didn’t buy this
wonderful (but expensive) set of books, their child would be deprived and would not do well at school. They spoke about
other and prestigious people who lived on our street who had copies. But if parents bought the books, they sat on the shelf,
just like other sources of information. Knowledge didn’t leap into children’s heads. Those who didn’t have them were still
able to learn. A CD-ROM containing a description of all the weeds in the world does not make you a good gardener. When
you want to know, you will seek someone who knows or some place where you can find out.
Twenty years ago, an educational guru returned from an overseas visit having “seen the future”. He had seen rows of
cubicles in which Japanese five-year-olds were “interacting” (?) with their own computers. This, he said, was the way
things would be in 2003. There are still pundits who say that future students will do their learning alone. The popular
phrase is “alone, at their own pace and in their own time.” For some, a minority, that may be the case. For others, a
majority, education and knowing will be “at the pace of the group, and at a time when they can be together.”
I recently read a fatuous statement proclaiming (in the only paragraph I read), that if students had access to more and more
information (maybe even more than their teachers), why would they come to a university? What twaddle! Nerds can learn
alone and should be encouraged to do so. Students don’t come to a university because it has access to information. They
come to socialize, to find partners, to have fun, to talk long into the night about deep things, to play games, to be with
others with whom they will make friendships for life at a time in their life when that is most easily done. The fabric on
which all of this activity is appliquéd is the desire to know, to learn about themselves and their world, and to do so in a
social setting of their choice and in a pleasant physical environment. As long as a university provides a venue for all of the
“activities” above, it will attract groups of people who want to be together.
I am helped frequently by a notice on my wall.
a collection of data is not information

a collection of information is not
knowledge
a collection of knowledge is not wisdom
a collection of wisdom is not truth
We at Lincoln University are in the “knowledge” business. If you want to collect information, there are other places where
you can go. A university uses information to make knowledge. Research makes new knowledge from information and
data. Teachers encourage their students to make knowledge. Assessment events measure the extent to which students have
increased their knowledge. Only the students know that extent. That is why we have to ask them.
How do I combat the information overload? On my e-mail bulletin boards, I get the computer to filter out those authors
who have little to say. From the titles of the 150 messages that I get each week, I delete those that are informing me about
coming events, conferences, new additions to the list. I can get those elsewhere. I avoid, or do other things, in meetings
that spend time Informing rather than Discussing or Deciding. I try to attend meetings for only an hour and to make my
contribution in that hour. I do not schedule any of my own meetings for more than an hour. I spell-check incoming
information to see if it has the word “know” or “student” in it, and delete the whole thing if it doesn’t. You would be
surprised how many things whirling around on e-mail or paper fail this simple test. But I do respond promptly to personal
requests where somebody wants to know something from me.
Maybe I am a modern-day Luddite. I checked this out with a few people and they thought not. I use the tools available
just as others do. Currently, I belong to three e-mail bulletin boards for my better understanding of learning, staff
development and communication. I am using e-mail to write to each individual in my class of 48 students —not to inform
them about the next essay or to tell them there is no class on Thanksgiving Day; a subject outline is a better medium for
that. I am writing to the students to get to know them and their capacity for knowledge. I frequently ask them if they are
learning. I never ask them if they want more information.
I started by saying that our university library has information. That is what is on the shelves. The library staff are
knowledge brokers, as are the library teachers. If you want to know something, you can ask and they will help you.
Library information is on the shelves and the disks. Library knowledge is in the library staff.
So, will the information revolution mean that by 2010 students will have stopped coming to universities? NO! As long as
university teachers still make knowledge and demonstrate and guide others to do the same, students will still gather on
Mondays and Tuesdays to learn.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
None of these strategies will meet the learning needs of all your students or any one student all the time. The diversity in
student preferences for instruction is an important dimension of teaching, and should be respected. The research into modal
preferences in the two books How do I learn Best?:A Student’s guide to Improved Learning and Teaching and Learning
Styles: VARK strategies, clearly indicates that there are no universals on how students learn. Use the techniques in this
book and watch how your students react. Some will enjoy them; others will not. Only students know best how they learn.
It is not necessary to read this book from cover to cover. If there is a theme, it is - teaching has to be about learning -
otherwise, there is only talking. Beginning teachers are invited to turn the pages and find items that are within their
capability and that suit their circumstances. Those who are more experienced, can fine-tune their skills by reading some
pages and adjusting already excellent skills to reach even more students. No single page will make a huge difference, but
the skills on many pages have the potential to make a better teacher.
Try a technique more than once. Students may look at you strangely when you try something new, so repeat it several
times before you decide whether it is helping them. Trying a new strategy late in a semester is also risky. The students will
have adjusted to your quirks and habits, and the introduction of something from left-field in week 14 will undoubtedly
upset some of them. Students are adaptable people adjusting to the quite different teaching styles of a range of teachers
each day. Don’t confuse them by being erratic. A new semester with a new class is the best time to change your style.
The format of single pages was chosen on purpose and is not artificial. If a strategy for teaching cannot be explained in a
page, then it is probably a teaching philosophy, and requires a book. Use any extra space to document what happened when
you tried a strategy for the first time. There are many other sources for teaching tips, including the Internet. Just type
“teaching tips” into your search engine. For example, there is an excellent one at //ctl.Stanford.edu and at
http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/Resources.html. Also, use the ERIC database on teaching at www.askeric.org/. The
Internet references included with each strategy are just a beginning.
I am indebted to Melinda Robins of Emerson College, Boston, U.S.A for helpful advice and professional editing of the
text. Any errors remain my responsibility.
Neil D Fleming, Revised September 2009

EXPECTATION SURVEYS
At the beginning of your semester, it is helpful to get to know something about your students and to encourage informal
feedback and an open approach. One way to help this process is to conduct an expectations survey. Unlike a knowledge
probe, which attempts to find out students’ prior knowledge, an expectations survey seeks to find out their views on
your course. In doing so, you are better informed about your students and it may lead you to make changes to the ways
in which you approach your teaching.
Here are some sample questions that you might include in an expectations survey. The intention is not to pry into
private information, but to extract information that will assist you and your students to learn more.
• What prompted you to take this subject?

• What previous courses/experiences have you had in this subject/area?
• What knowledge do you expect to learn in this course?
• What skills do you want to gain from this course?
• Of the XX sessions, how many do you expect to attend?
• How do you learn best: Formal lectures, set readings, individual assignments, small group
discussions, practical experiences, videos, textbooks, group projects, whole-class discussions,
PowerPoint notes…?
• What things might get in the way of your passing this course at the level you hope for? For
example: My own ability, ill health, part time work, fulltime work, family commitments, lack of
self-motivation, poor study habits, I don’t know how to learn, inadequate writing skills,
shyness, reading difficulties, no access to library/computer…
• I expect to get a grade/mark of XXX.
• I am also studying for these other papers/courses…
• My workload at present is high/low/normal for this time of the year…
• I expect the workload in this course will be:
 difficult
 like other courses I have done
 less than other courses I have done
 more than other course I have done.
Knowledge probes
Use these to find out what your students know before you teach them. These are made up of content-based questions
where the students respond with a simple “Know” or “Don’t Know” or the Angelo and Cross1 model that uses these
options for each question.
(1) Have never heard of this.
(2) Have heard of it, but don’t really know what it means.
(3) Have some idea of what this means, but not too clear.
(4) Have a clear idea of what this means and can explain it.
Of course, you as the teacher must redesign your curriculum to adjust to the knowledge that students have and don’t
have.
1
Source or acknowledgments. T.A. Angelo and K. P. Cross, 1993. Classroom Assessment Techniques, 2nd ed.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p. 121-5. (Knowledge Probes).
Internet references: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1pk.htm
See also in this book: “All beginnings are difficult” and Prior knowledge and how to use it.
LUMPERS AND SPLITTERS
This is a phrase that substitutes for some more theoretical descriptions. Some would use the terms global and analytic,
or wholist and serialist and some might choose to use Witken’s 1 concepts of field dependent and field independent.
Whatever the terminology, we are describing the behavior of students when they are learning. Some prefer to have an
overview of the whole concept or topic before they are comfortable with an analysis of its parts. We call that group of
students “lumpers” because they want to see the apple before they discuss the component parts of core, pip, flesh, skin
and stalk.
The “splitters” are content to analyze a problem from the outset. They burrow into the problem looking at matters of
detail as being the essential things on which to focus. The bigger picture is not necessary for them to do their work.
As an example of these differences you can conduct a simple experiment in your classroom. Place an overhead
projector transparency that has some sentences or phrases or bullet points on it. Quickly cover it with a blank sheet of
paper so that only the first item is shown. Proceed to reveal each item as you speak about it. Pause midway. Ask your
class to give you some feedback about these two questions. How many prefer to see the whole transparency all the
time? How many prefer to have the later detail covered so they can concentrate on the items one at a time? You can use
a PowerPoint slide for the same effect. It would be helpful to know what your own choice would be.
The “lumpers” tend to choose the first question positively. They are conscious that the overhead projector transparency
has more to it than the first item and they need to see the shape of what is to follow. They may well say they want to
know whether the first point is one of two that you will make, or one of 22. They will be keen to see the structure of
the remainder of the overhead so they can relate the items to an overall whole. Some of the lumpers may want to see
the whole transparency so that they know whether to start a new page or not in their notes. Some may feel that you are
hiding something from them or that you are not treating them as mature adults able to cope with the whole picture.
The “splitters” choose the second option. They are content with the focus on one point at a time. They have no need to
see the whole picture or the size or structure of what follows. They are zeroing in on the detail, and to have any more
details would distract them.
In my classes, these two options were chosen by an equal proportion of my students – about one-third for each. The
other third were ambivalent about the choices. You can satisfy both groups easily. Show the whole slide first so that the
lumpers can get a sense of wholeness and then cover the lower detail to satisfy the splitters’ need for focus. This
simplified example is easy to do in class, and your students will find it interesting. The bigger point is that your
teaching techniques need to encompass both groups of students by providing frequent overviews of where you are in a
topic and providing enough detail for those who want to engage in it. That is why some excellent textbooks and online
programs provide at the chapter beginnings a linked diagram showing where that chapter fits into the overall scheme of
the book.
1
Source or acknowledgments. Witken, H.A. & Goodenough, D.R. (1981) Cognitive Styles: Essence and
Origins. N.Y.: International Universities Press.
Internet references: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/RMF.html
http://tip.psychology.org/ausubel.html
http://faculty.mdc.edu/jmcnair/Joe13pages/field_dependence.htm
http://social.jrank.org/pages/147/Cognitive-Style-Field-Dependence-Field-
Independence.html
See also in this book: Teaching those with a Visual Preference.
TEACHING STUDENTS WITH A VISUAL/GRAPHIC PREFERENCE
The five strategies that begin this book come from the author’s work on modal preferences. Modal preferences are one
part of a learning style and they contribute to our understanding of how students learn best. We have known for some
time about visual, kinesthetic and aural preferences for taking in and giving out information but the author split the
visual preference into two – visual graphic (symbols) and visual read/write (text). You can find out more by visiting
this website www.vark-learn.com.
Those in your class who have a preference for Visual information will appreciate your using techniques that include
that preference. Such a preference may not be part of your makeup so it may be difficult for you to do this with any
natural flair. Practice may be required so that it becomes habitual for you to use these to reach more of your students.
Here is a list of what your students with a Visual preference would like you to use.
maps
charts
graphs
symbols
diagrams
brochures
underlining
flow charts
highlighters
different colors
pictures, posters, slides...
textbooks with diagrams, pictures
gestures and picturesque language.
word pictures – e.g. "building an essay with ideas"
different spatial arrangements on the page (like this list)
whitespace- making the blank areas around text more significant.
These students attach meaning to the placement

of things and the use of color and capital letters
and other highlighting has meaning for them.
Don’t use them indiscriminately; the students
may be taking different things from what you
intended. If in doubt ask them or check their
written notes. Students with this preference say
that they like to know spatially where they are
in the curriculum. So an advance organizer
such as Ausubel1 recommends or a visual plan
of the topic and its relationship to other parts of
your curriculum will be helpful.
Source or acknowledgments. See the website at www.vark-learn.com for an explanation of the VARK
typography within learning styles or, to improve your teaching, purchase one of
the VARK books from the VARK website.
Fleming, N.D & Mills, C. E; (1992), Not Another Inventory, Rather a Catalyst
for Reflection, To Improve the Academy, 11, Professional & Organisational
Development Network in Higher Education, p137-49.
1
Ausubel, D., Novak, J., & Hanesian, H. (1978). Educational Psychology: A
Cognitive View (2nd Ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Internet references: www.vark-learn.com
http://tip.psychology.org/ausubel.html
See also in this book: Lumpers and Splitters.
TEACHING STUDENTS WITH AN AURAL PREFERENCE
Those students in your class who have a preference for aural/oral information exchange will appreciate your use of
techniques that include that preference. Such a preference may not be part of your makeup so it may be difficult for
you to do this with any natural flair. Practice may be required so that it becomes habitual for you to use these to reach
more of your students.
Here is a list of what your students with an Aural preference would like you to do.
 provide opportunities to explain their new ideas to others.

 discuss topics with other students.
 discuss topics with you.
 use e-mail discussion and exchanges
 use a tape recorder so they can listen again and again.
 arrange your handouts so there is space for later recall and “filling”.
 set up discussion groups and other opportunities for them to share and air ideas.
 describe your overheads, pictures and other visuals.
 use interesting examples, stories, and jokes...
 the students will attend as many classes and oral sessions as they can.
These students attach meaning to learning from what others say and from forming ideas and speaking them. They may
speak a lot of trash. That is often because they refine ideas outside themselves using others as filters to improve their
sometime ill-formed utterances. To reach them you need to provide plenty of opportunities for them to voice their
learning. They like discussions within classes (see Think, Pair, Share) and they appreciate well-spoken sessions. In
large classes and lectures they may become talkative or restless if they do not get a chance to have their say.
typography within learning styles or purchase one of the VARK books from the
website to improve your teaching.
for Reflection, To Improve The Academy, 11, Professional & Organizational
See also in this book: Think, Pair Share. Walk away when they speak quietly. Do it early in their own
voice. Quieting the noisy ones. Encouraging the quiet ones. Why do they
talk…? Students, speaking their learning. Is participation worth measuring?
TEACHING STUDENTS WITH A READ/WRITE PREFERENCE
Those students in your class who have a preference for reading and writing about their learning will appreciate your use
of techniques that include that preference. Such a preference may not be part of your makeup so it may be difficult for
Here is a list of what your students with a Read/write preference would like you to use.
 lists and bullet points

 essays
 reports
 meaningful headings
 frequent reference to the textbook(s)
 glossaries
 definitions
 quotations
 printed handouts
 reflective journals
 readings and bibliographies
 websites and web pages
 manuals (e.g. for computing and laboratory classes)
These students attach meaning to learning from printed words. They enjoy words and their usage. To reach them you
need to provide plenty of opportunities for them to write about their learning. They like your handouts and the
opportunity to test their knowledge in a quiz, report or essay. They may be adept at picking the correct answer in multi-
choice questions through their knowledge of written language. In lectures they are the ones who write down most of
what you say and who have very full notes.
for Reflection, To Improve The Academy, 11, Professional & Organizational
http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/pd/instr/strats/think/index.html
See also: Think, Pair, Share and Handling handouts.
TEACHING STUDENTS WITH A KINESTHETIC PREFERENCE
Those students in your class who have a preference for kinesthetic information exchange will appreciate your use of
techniques that include that preference. Such a preference may not be part of your makeup so it may be difficult for
Here is a list of what your students with a kinesthetic preference would like you to use.
field trips
case studies
applications
trial and error
real-life examples
examples of principles
exhibits, samples, photographs...
hands-on approaches (e.g. computing)
laboratories and other practical sessions
all their senses — sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing ...
recipes — solutions to problems, previous exam papers, examples from previous students
collections of such things as rocks, plants, anecdotes, short stories, shells, bones, legal formats or contracts...
teach from the known to the unknown—practical to abstract.
These students attach meaning to learning from a base of what they have experienced. To reach them you need to see
things from their perspective and start from where they are. They like examples before theory and practical
opportunities to test their knowledge and build confidence in what they know. Of course they can learn without having
to DO everything but they do that by translating from metaphors and allegories to the theory that lies behind them and
by practicing on problems. That takes time.
for Reflection, To Improve The Academy, 11, Professional & Organisational
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesthetic_learning
See also in this book: Using experts – professors please profess. Using last year’s class. Journeys
that learners make. Marking in front of them. The 80/20 rule.
TEACHING THOSE WHO ARE MULTI MODAL IN THEIR PREFERENCES.
Most teachers and students are multimodal. According to data from the VARK inventory (www.vark-learn.com), that is
both an advantage and a disadvantage. Being multimodal means they have equal preference for two or more of the
four modes (Visual, Aural, Read/write, Kinesthetic). They make up part of the 55-65% of students who are similarly
multimodal. As such they may be bimodal with preferences for Visual/Aural (VA), Visual, Read/write (VR),
Visual/Kinesthetic (VK) Aural Read/write (AR), Aural/Kinesthetic (AK) or Read/write/kinesthetic (RK). Or they may
be tri-modal with three modes almost nearly equally preferred in which case they will be VAR, VAK, VRK or ARK.
Or they may not distinguish preferences between any of the four modes – VARK.
The multimodal students have a choice when they are taking in and giving out information. They may use more than
one mode. They may use their visual preference in their design class and their read/write mode in their theory course or
they may even switch modes within a day or within a teaching session. Some students who are multimodal can
consciously switch from mode to mode while taking motes or phrasing questions or planning their study.
The main point for the teacher is to understand the principle of matching. When a student’s preferences match the
strategies of the teacher, then learning is more likely to happen. This does not mean that you have to match every
student in your class, but providing something in each mode over say, four teaching sessions would be desirable.
Teachers, according to the data from the VARK website, are more likely to be read/write in their preferences which
means they will tend to expect a lot of reading and writing to occur in their courses. If a teacher is multimodal in their
preferences then they too have more flexibility to move into a variety of strategies to help students learn. You can hear
such teachers say, “Well. Let’s try and solve it this way” as an indication that they may be switching modes to gather
more learners.
Are there disadvantages in being multimodal? Yes. Teachers and students who are multimodal tend to need at least
two or more modes to “get” something whereas those who have a single preference may access information more
readily when it is in their mode. So a student who is equally referenced between Read/write and Kinesthetic will need
to both read about a new concept or theory (R/w) and see it in action or take part in some experiment or have the
teacher relate it to their own experiences in life (K).
The 35% to 45% with a single preference (V or A or R or K) prefer to receive or put out information in one way.
Source or acknowledgments. See the Website at www.vark-learn.com for an explanation of the VARK
typography within learning styles or purchase one of the VARK books from
the Website to improve your teaching.
for Reflection, To Improve The Academy, 11, Professional & Organisational
Internet references: www.vark-learn.com.
http://www.edutopia.org/multimodal-learning-teaching-methods-media
See also in this book: See previous pages: Teaching students using the other modes – Visual, Aural,
Read/write and Kinesthetic.
JOURNEYS THAT LEARNERS MAKE
In the 1960s, Harvard University professor William G Perry, Jr., proposed one of the most powerful contributions to
our understanding of student cognitive development. Although dated, it remains a valuable description of the journey
that some students make while at university/college. You will have no difficulty identifying some of the characteristics
described here as being typical of some of your students.
Dualism
Truth Students believe that truth is known by teachers (i.e., authorities) and is
passed on. Because information is either right or wrong, alternative views
are not considered.
Teacher’s role Students believe that it is the teacher’s job to provide knowledge
Multiplicity
Truth Students recognize that all truth is not yet known.
Teacher’s role Students want teachers to help them learn to think.
Peers Students begin to view peers as legitimate sources of knowledge.
Strategies Students try to think in the way they believe teachers want them to think.
Relativism
Truth The realization that truth is relative emerges (i.e., truth only exists in a
context).
Teacher’s role Students and teachers become partners in a mutual search for truth.
Strategies While expert advice might be sought, students recognize the need to
evaluate expert advice. Students take greater responsibility for their own
learning.
What is also interesting in his research is that the same student may be dualist in biology class and relativist in
biochemistry. Also, students might revert to a previous stage when their views are challenged.
Source or acknowledgments. William G Perry, Jr., (1968) "Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in
the College Years: A Scheme". Most of Perry’s illustrations were produced by men
but in "Women’s Ways of Knowing", (1986) Belenkey et al, have described how
women exhibit different patterns of the development sequence in:
Belenkey, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1986).
Women’s way of knowing: The development of self, voice, and mind
: Harper Collins, Basic Books.
See also Magolda and Porterfield (1988) who elaborated the first five Perry stages
by relating them to classroom learning.
Internet references: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/perry.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Perry
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/05.27/mm.perry.html
See also: Journeys that teachers make. Helicoptering. Received and constructed knowledge.
Lumpers and splitters.
THE ID MADE VISIBLE.
Students appreciate a teacher who takes some interest in them and in their learning. Out-of-class contact is helpful in
identifying the struggle that some students face. Even without a deep knowledge of psychology, you can discuss the
role played by their inner voices, especially the inner voice (the ID or conscience) that insists on procrastinating when
there is academic work to do. Students will remember that you have been a learner too when they hear you talking
about your own struggles when you were a student. You can draw laughter and knowing looks if you tell them about
the ways in which you yourself procrastinate. If you can act this out as a simple role-play replicating the self-talk that
goes on, the student will see you as someone who knows what they are going through. Don’t prolong it, though. Insert
it at a time when it is appropriate. Here is part of the script between the ID and YOU that you might use. It is easy to
devise your own narrative:
Have you (the student) ever told yourself the night before something is due that you
will complete it “tomorrow”? You go to bed..
When you wake up, you are determined to get to work. But then your inner voice
convinces you that you need a clean work place to get started, so you tidy up.
Next, you realize you really need some reference books that are not on hand and you
have to go to the library. Or, maybe you need some special pen so that you can do the
assignment really well, so you go to the store.
Finally, you sit down, but then you feel hungry…
What is really happening here? Your ID is winning the battle with the other part of
you that wants to get this done. Is there anything you can do to get down to work and
avoid all of this?
I suggest to my students that they have separate places to work and to sleep and eat. The desire to sleep or to eat both
are often turned on by one’s surroundings, so working at the kitchen table is often a bad idea. The ID will convince you
that you really are hungry and that it would be much better to study with some food. The same applies to working in
bed or near it. Some students paint a line down their bedroom (if that is the only space they have to study) and tell the
ID that there is to be work done on the left-hand side, with sleeping, listening to music, writing home or watching
television on the other side.
It doesn’t matter what the ID is called. Some students call it the OTHER ME. Whatever it is called, students know what
you mean. The answer is to placate the ID with superior procrastination by convincing it that you will do as IT wants
after you have completed the task ahead. Discussing the ID with the teacher or other students often unlocks a whole
flood of conversation and recognition. You can facilitate this important condition for learning.
Source or acknowledgments.
Internet references: http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/Kardas/Courses/GPWeiten/C12Personality/EgoI
DSuper.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacognition
See also in this book: Helicoptering. Marking in front of them.
THE FOUR Rs
The Four Rs are important for remembering information in a useful way. If students are to benefit from teaching, it
must:
Encourage Reflection
Allow them to Recall existing knowledge
Help them to Reconstruct neural pathways
Stimulate opportunities for Repetition
Nothing is learned until something new is attached to what is already known. Therefore, reflection should become an
important part of teaching. How can reflection be built into our strategies? First, reflection requires quiet time. Some
believe that the students should do their reflecting away from the classroom but it may be more effective to have them
reflect in class. Useful strategies would be to:
• find out what the students know
• teach new material in a way that builds on what they already know, and
• create time for the students to do so.
Use these scripts to encourage reflection:
How might XYZ apply in your life?

When would it be appropriate to use XYZ?
With what do you associate XYZ?
What are the disadvantages, advantages of XYZ?
What other disciplines use the concept of XYZ?
How might XYZ interact with other variables, associates, factors…?

How might XYZ be applied in the market place?
In what ways is XYZ true or not true?
Solve this problem using XYZ.
What other ideas compete with XYZ?
What do you see as the special features of XYZ?
Recall requires that you provide opportunities for your students to remember work that has recently been covered. A
review session at the end of each week or each session helps this process. It is the students who should be recalling not
the teacher.
Reconstruction relies on providing different applications of the new knowledge. Students need to be challenged to fit
the new ideas to things that they have experienced or known about. Applying knowledge to new situations can be
accomplished by using assessment tasks and by questioning in class.
Repetition means that the teacher needs to do more than merely say something. It needs to be said in a variety of
different contexts so that it is meaningful repletion not mindless repetition. In one example a students told the teacher
that he did not understand. The teacher merely solved the statistics problem the same way but in a louder voice. That is
not helpful repetition. Do it again differently.
Internet references: http://www.infed.org/foundations/w-inf4.htm
http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:_OARlSxNsRsJ:www.uky.edu/Stu
dentAffairs/NewStudentPrograms/pdf/learnRecall.pdf+recall+learning&hl=en&
gl=nz
http://txtwriter.com/Onscience/Articles/repetitionlearn.html
See also in this book: Pauses. Questioning. Received and constructed knowledge. Prior knowledge
and how to use it.
“ALL BEGINNINGS ARE DIFFICULT” - Goethe
Starting a new course can be a stressful time. Starting each session may also be loaded with apprehension for most
teachers. To reduce the stress levels, there is no substitute for adequate planning. After such planning, there are some
strategies that will ensure the first minutes of your teaching are effective. Here are some scripts to use and some
strategies that will “tune” your class to your beginnings.
Students are quite forgiving of idiosyncrasies among their teachers and they learn to adjust to the style of Ms. Robinson
and Mr. Fernandez even when they are in consecutive hourly sessions. What they do find difficult is any unpredictable
behavior, as they may not have the resilience or resources to cope with unexpected change. So, part of your task is to
have some strategies that are part of your teaching personality and help the class to be come accustomed to those by
making them repetitive. This is not to say that you cannot change your teaching strategies in the semester. It is your
beginning and endings that need to be consistent if students are to appreciate the learning that occurs between those two
events.
Five Minutes Before
Arrive early. Use the time to talk with students who arrive early if you are waiting for an occupied classroom. Ask
them directly about their learning. Seek feedback with some of these scripts:
• How are you learning in this class?
• What strategies do you use to remember information in my class?
• How easy or hard is it to take notes from my teaching sessions?
• What changes could I make that would make a difference for your learning?
• What other things compete for your study time outside class?
• How do you assess your progress in this and other classes?
These scripts can also be used in the classroom with early-arriving students. You can ask to see their note taking so that
you can see how you are being recorded. Remember that this is an informal feedback occasion, not a test or an
inquisition. Contribute some of your own ideas by answering these questions, e.g. “What other competition do I have
for my time?” Or, How did I take notes as a student? Or, Do you know what a teacher’s workload is like?
Place an overhead transparency or PowerPoint slide on the screen showing the objectives that you have for this session.
These should be brief. On another slide/overhead, show two or three sample questions from previous tests and
examinations. An example can be found on the facing page. This may seem like teaching to the test, but research
indicates that when students know what they are going to be asked, their learning is more focused. One teacher left the
questions in view of the students (at the side of the room using another projector) throughout the whole session and
most students found that helpful rather than distracting.
Indicate that you are about to start the session by following a predictable pattern of movement and action. For example,
move to the center of the room, or to the lectern or dais, or turn off your overhead projector. If done routinely, these
actions will cue your class to know that you are about to begin the session.
Internet references: http://www.leading-learning.co.nz/newsletters/begin-teaching.html
See also: Learning their names. Do it early in their voice. Punching through the screen.
Blanks as you speak. Eye Contact, Eye contact, Eye contact. Using last year’s
class. Objectives and outcomes.
COMMUNICATION 101: MODELS
At the end of this lecture you should:
KNOW:
The definitions of the components of the Shannon and
Weaver model.
The ways in which these components link.
BE ABLE TO:
Draw and label the model.
Apply the model in a modern context.
Choose a human communication episode and explain it
using the model.
Explain why this model superseded others.
EXAMPLES OF EXAM QUESTIONS

“Explain the concept of “noise’ as used in the SW model
and give three examples.” 1999, Question 6.
“Explain either email or talkback radio as examples of the

model in action.” 1999, Question 7.
“Take any two components of the SW model and

illustrate them through a two-person dialogue.” 2000,
Question 3a.
BLANKS AS YOU SPEAK
This is seldom a problem for those who have been teaching for some time, but beginners in academia will know it well
and others may well remember it. Here is the scene. You are doing a mini-lecture as part of a one-hour presentation.
For a variety of reasons you lose the plot. The scripts that you have rehearsed have disappeared from your brain and a
blank appears in its place. You may mumble something innocuous and meaningless to fill the void or, worse still, you
may panic as you realize that nothing is coming out of your mouth and your brain is generating a number of
inappropriate scenarios about what will happen next. At least the students don’t realize it because it will be some 15
seconds before they will think that something may be amiss. They will probably think that you are considering a new
thought, or segue, or change of direction. Some students will see it as a useful pause from note taking and be pleased
about the silence and a chance to rest their hands. Don’t panic. They want you to do well.
Most often the blanks come during the middle of some rehearsed presentation because the scripts that issue from you
have been practiced at some length. This in itself engenders some fear and apprehension and may contribute to the
mental blank.
There are no easy solutions, but a few strategies may help get you back to a coherent flow using your familiar scripts.
First, put away your full notes before the class begins. Having them in front of you gives you a false sense of security
because your brain believes that if all else fails, you can reach down and read them. Instead, use only sketchy notes that
will act as prompts for your full scripts. Put your comprehensive notes just out of reach, say in your bag or at the side
of the room. Being present, but somewhat out of reach, they will provide some comfort but not reliance.
Second, play a few videos in your head before you teach. Not every time, but whenever the context or the surroundings
change. Play the video of your worst fears when speaking. Does the audience at the conference stand and shout abuse?
Do they all walk out and you are never invited back to that conference again? Do they all stare at you as they leave?
None of these videos fits reality. Most likely your students or colleagues in front of you will not realize anything has
happened for some time—time for you to compose yourself. In the meantime, find your place on your abbreviated
notes and think of the scripts that make the linkages between point 13 and point 14.
Lastly, your audience will include some people who will be empathetic to your plight. If they realize that you have lost
your way, they will be concerned and supportive. This will show in the way they look at you, willing you to carry on.
If you suspect no one in your audience is likely to be empathetic, place a good friend three rows back in the middle of
the audience and ask them to smile and nod occasionally as you proceed through the difficult bits. This works really
well at important conference presentations.
Before a big event I get butterflies in my stomach. What causes this?1

"It’s a nervous system reaction that occurs when your body senses danger, " says Dr Diana McKay, lecturer at the
University of Sydney’s Department of Psychological Medicine. It’s an impulse needed by our ancestors for fight or
flight from a predator. Stressful situations make us breathe more rapidly and the heart beats faster to send more blood
and oxygen to the legs and arms, and away from the digestive organs which can cause nausea. McKay says the
reaction can also be triggered when there is no real danger such as for instance when you have to make a speech. For
some people the feelings are so severe they will actually flee the situation.”
Visualizing
Thirty undergraduates from introductory psychology classes, all of whom reported a strong fear of public speaking,
were assigned to read positive, neutral, or negative sentences about giving a public speech. Next, the students were
asked to visualize images of a public speech. Their heart rates were monitored, and afterward they reported their level
of fear. Analysis of variance revealed that positive thinking before the visualization of phobic images was associated
with a reduced cardiovascular response and less subjective anxiety. 2
1
Source or acknowledgments. Dr Diana McKay, lecturer at the University of Sydney’s Department of
Psychological Medicine.
2
Hu, Senqi, et al. Positive Thinking Reduces Heart Rate and Fear Responses
to Speech Phobic Imagery. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1992, 75
(December, Part 2) pp. 1067-1073, Department of Psychology, Humboldt
State University.
Internet references: http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_public_speaking_2/
http://www.public-speaking.org/
See also in this book: Eye contact, Eye contact, Eye contact. Punching through the screen. Left
hand; right hand.
EYE CONTACT, EYE CONTACT AND EYE CONTACT
An effective presentation to your students has many dimensions but eye contact is one of the key components. In fact,
some say it is the three most important aspects of public presentations! It can be learned but it requires some
precursors. First, you need to be comfortable with the range of scripts you regularly use.
This will mean that you are not speaking in a rehearsed way but that you can speak and look at the students at the same
time. If you are fixing your gaze at your notes and only looking at the students irregularly, there will be minimal eye
contact probably restricted to peeks and glimpses. To really look at your students, you need to have a level of talk that
is familiar to you. This can be practiced beforehand but essentially it is made up of a number of familiar scripts joined
together with impromptu ‘fillers’ that provide the glue and segue from paragraph to paragraph. Try to rehearse your
scripts so that they flow easily. Speak to the students as though you are trying to convince them of something. Such
familiarity with what you want to say will take some time - it may not happen often in your first semester because you
may be familiar with only about half of the content in your course. The rest has to be re-learned from your
undergraduate days.
It will help if you stand in a place where you can eyeball each student and where there are no hidden corners that
require peripheral vision. Go early to your appointed room and stand where you think you will stand in your first
session. Stretch your arms to make a right angle of 900. This is your ideal eye span, and your student audience should
fit within it. Move farther back if some student seats lie outside the span. Move forward if the students are easily
included.
Consider the communication barriers in the room. You may want the darkened PowerPoint environment. You may
need the comfort of a lectern or dais to begin your teaching career or you may want to hide behind the overhead
projector trolley. Later, you should aim to move away from these barriers and be “up front” with your students. It
takes courage, and there are a number of mental fears that your mind will raise about being so exposed. If necessary,
ask a student you know well to sit in the middle of the room about three rows back. Ask her to smile occasionally at
you and to give you other positive body signals that will help you to relax.
Sweeping your eyes 90 degrees from left to right is an acquired art, and it means looking at the students as you do so –
not just sweeping like a radar antenna. It needs to be irregular, because any mechanical left-to-right or right-to-left
pivoting of your head will distract the students. Give those in the back row some of your eye contact, too. They will
appreciate it.
Internet references: www.toastmasters.org/tips.htm
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Columns/?article=PublicSpeaking
See also in this book: Punching through the screen. Why do they talk when I am doing my best stuff?
Left hand; right hand. All beginnings are difficult.
WHY DO THEY TALK WHEN I AM DOING MY BEST STUFF?
Some teachers find this extremely annoying and it may remind them of the rules for courtesy in their own upbringing.
Conduct a little classroom research before you choose to stamp your foot or make a comment. Try to find out what
they are talking about. You may be surprised because they may be on-task, talking about interesting issues that have
arisen from something you have said. This may still be distracting or annoying for you, but if it can lead to more
learning in your classroom if it is channeled. Maybe there are too few opportunities in your classroom for student
discussion. Maybe you raise issues but don’t resolve them in a way that they see as appropriate.
Try not to use scripts that paint you into a corner where some precipitous action is required such as expelling students
from class. Remove teaching scripts such as:
To the whole class:

• If you don’t want to listen you can leave the class…
• If you have something to say why not say it to all of us?
• Please don’t talk while I am talking…
• Can you speak louder so all can hear what you are saying?
The questions you should ask in most classroom annoyance situations are:
For whom is this a problem?

Is it a problem for you?
For the rest of the class?
It may not be worth making an issue of it unless it becomes habitual. Then it should be dealt with on a one-to-one basis,
after class, using scripts such as:
• “I have noticed that you seem to enjoy talking in class and may not have noticed that that is
upsetting those around you…”
• “Your talking in class upsets me because I get distracted when I look up at the whole class to
make a point…I would like it to stop.”
If the teacher deals with the issue in front of the whole class it will almost certainly annoy some students who did not
think there was a problem (for them) and they may take sides with the errant students. The ideal solution is for some
individuals in the class to become annoyed with it and for them to deal with it by telling the students to be quiet.
Students will take more notice of other students’ discomfort than the discomfort of the teacher. But it may take some
time for students to take action. Be patient.
Internet references: http://www.inspiringteachers.com/classroom_resources/tips/classroom_manag
ement_and_discipline/student_talking.htmlhttp://web.sa.sc.edu/osjp/disruption
.htm
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/problemstudents.html
http://www.classroommanagement101.com/blog/students-talking-out-of-turn-
and-how-to-stop-it
See also in this book: Quieting the noisy ones. Is participation worth measuring? Eye contact, Eye
contact, Eye contact. Punching through the screen.
PAUSES
The power of the pause has been well documented in higher education. It is especially important in lectures, but it has
application in any classroom. Donald Bligh, a British educator, presented this diagram in his 1971 article, "What’s the
use of lectures?”
It shows that a pause allows learners to raise their level of performance back to a position similar to the start of the
session. Had the pause not happened, the decline in performance (dotted line) would have continued until near the end
of the session. At the end there is a short uplift as students wake up to the fact that it is ending!
Bligh was not advocating a rest period where nothing happens. Various other authors have compiled lists of the types
of breaks that could be used effectively in classes. Here is one such list from a British study by Graham Gibbs when he
was at the Oxford Centre for Staff Development.
Read notes,
Read another’s notes,
Write down one or two questions,
Ask your questions,
Tackle a problem,
Read some material,
Discuss a question,
Apply this concept,
Take a short test,
Silent reflection,
Source or acknowledgments. The Teaching More Students Project (1992). Oxford Center for Staff
Development, UK.
Isaacs, G., (1991) Performance Decrement In Lectures, HERDSA Journal,
Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia.
Donald Bligh, What’s the use of lectures? Exeter: Intellect, 1998, 5th ed.
Internet references: http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/teaching_techniques/notetaking
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file156.html
http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/ARCHIVE/CL1/CL/doingcl/pause.htm
See also: The Four Rs. Gathering feedback. Think, Pair, Share. Helicoptering
RECEIVED AND CONSTRUCTED KNOWLEDGE
Modern teaching aids such as rapid photocopying, computer word processing and PowerPoint have allowed teachers to
carefully plan and prepare for classes, and to re-use their materials. However, students may complain about a teacher’s
handouts (and jokes) that are several years old. The advantages of teaching aids are now well known, but few teachers
stop to consider that some spontaneity might be lost when they use them. Consider the teacher who scatters words or
formulae across a whiteboard or blackboard. The immediacy of that writing has an effect on the students. It is seen as
constructed by the teacher on the spot, and seems real and immediate. This phenomenon is called constructed
knowledge. On the other hand, students perceive the slick media presentations that are now commonplace as received
knowledge. Constructed knowledge can be challenged and amended, and is seen as variable. Received knowledge
appears to defy challenge and is more likely to be assumed as truth. Of course, it may not be truth, and the teacher may
not want to encourage the perception that students should not question what is said, written or shown. That is why it
may be helpful for you to vary your approach and not become a media junkie. Consider using handwritten overhead
transparencies or some whiteboard or flip chart examples. Use all the techniques possible in such materials as
PowerPoint to present them as ideas that can be challenged rather than merely written down. For example, make them
look hand crafted rather than slick. Use fonts that are more like handwriting than published print. Working an idea
through with your students will have a positive outcome for their learning, even if your handwriting bears little
relationship to Helvetica or Times Roman.
“I want to raise a general issue about the use of technology in teaching. I just completed assisting the College of
Pharmacy here with a national conference for people in pharmacy interested in using technology in teaching. They
did a wonderful job and really turned the participants on to the idea. But I had a nagging question as I watched them
demonstrate the beautiful presentation technology. To what extent was the beauty of the presentation materials
actually suppressing student interaction and inquiry? The projected outlines were so well done that they looked very
professional, and yet they also looked very set in stone. I was concerned that seeing such a polished product might
give the students the idea that the information was of the "received" knowledge type, already compiled and ready to be
copied, rather than the constructed knowledge type with which the student should interact. My question to the world is
how can we avoid having these technologies give students the wrong impression about the nature of knowledge? Or
maybe that is not the result of such well-designed presentations? What is your opinion on this? What data do you
know about that might inform this issue? Before we encourage faculty to go too far in presentation technology, we
ourselves should know what impact it might have on the learners.”1
1
Source or acknowledgments. An email posting to the POD NewsGroup from Marilla Svinicki, University
of Texas at Austin, USA.
Internet references: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dabrent/art/active.html
http://praxislanguage.com/2007/09/18/is-knowledge-delivered-or-constructed/
See also in this book: Lumpers and splitters. Prior knowledge and how to use it. Journeys that
learners make.
LATENESS TO CLASS
Some teachers perceive this as an insult or an annoyance or even flouting a rule that has been made. Personal value
systems will alter how you deal with it. Some students can arrive late in a large class and almost nobody else notices,
so it is not an issue. Others appear to advertise their lateness by making a very visible entry often accompanied by
disruptive sound (doors opening and closing, chairs moving) and even disrupting others’ view of the teacher while they
find a place in class.
For whom is this a problem? It is clearly not a problem for the late student, and he/she could be commended for
making an attempt to get to class at all. The danger for the teacher in challenging a student who is late is that they
will, almost inevitably, have a most engaging set of reasons for that lateness and their speech made to you and the
whole class may earn the sympathies of the class and alienate you for challenging under those circumstances. For
example, a teacher decided after several warnings to embarrass a student coming late. The student explained, quite
calmly, a whole pattern of disasters including a sick child who had to be delivered to childcare in a car that was
disabled. The result was that the teacher lost respect and the class empathized with the student. Find out from students
why they are habitually late. There may be good reasons - bus scheduling, between-campus travel, persuasive family
circumstances…
Lateness is a personal issue between you and the student, so avoid confrontations in class. Especially remove these
scripts from your repertoire.
“Nice to see you here, Mr. Jacobsen!!”
“I’m glad you made it to class today.”
“Do you realize how late you are…?"
“Did you not listen to my suggestion last week that if you are more than 10 minutes late, you
should stay away?”
“As I was saying before I was interrupted!”
Making rules that ban students from opportunities to learn are of little use in a learning institution. If there is value
being added by the teacher then they will certainly attend but remember attendance and learning are not the same thing.
Many students attend every class but learn little. Taking the roll is just recording who is present. One student at my
university never attended any classes on marketing after the first one. He decided he could pass the course and learn
more from reading the textbook, as that was all that the teacher was doing - reading from the text. He passed with a B+
grade.
Encourage them to come but also request that they enter without disturbing the flow of your thoughts or the attention of
too many of their student colleagues.
Internet references: The Internet has hundreds of statements from teachers claiming that punctuality
is important and that students will lose marks if they do not attend on time!
There are also claims that the business world demands punctuality!
See also in this book: Is participation worth measuring? Being fair. All beginnings are difficult.
USING LAST YEAR’S CLASS
Some students need to work from models, and want more detail even when a particular assessment task is spelled out
for them. You can easily select a successful exam or assignment from last year’s class and place it in the library or on
the world-wide web so that they can see your style. Part of the learning process at college and university is learning that
different teachers place different emphases on different things. This strategy helps students learn what you want.
In a similar vein, you can invite a student from last year’s class to speak to your class. That collegiality and peer-to peer
recognition really helps some students. Choose a student and brief them about what you want, but let them tell their
own story. They will alert the class to what is required to do well. The topic could be, “How to Learn XXX in
Professor YYY’s class”.
The former student will carry more credibility than you will and may be able to bring to life the lengthy and rather
boring syllabus that was handed out on the first day. They also may convince some students to drop your class before
wasting their time, or to stay if they were undecided.
Internet references:
See also: All beginnings are difficult. Teaching students with a Kinesthetic preference.
Using experts - professors profess please.
BEING FAIR
Students rate fairness very highly in any evaluation of a teacher’s effectiveness. They have a strong sense of fair play,
but their version of fair play may not align with what teachers regard as fair. One of the most obvious places where this
is played out is in assessment. For example, it is inadvisable to change the rules of an assessment event (assigning an
essay, for example) after students have handed in their best efforts. Changing the date due is also fraught with
problems. Students who have not handed in their assignment are perceived as being at an advantage, and those who
have met the deadline may request extra time to improve their work. Any change in the rules of an assessment is open
to challenge.
The ways in which teachers select students to answer questions also calls fairness into question. One strategy is to make
this an obviously random process by selecting a student from both the number of a row and seat (from left or right).
Another trap can be found in the comments teachers make after a student contributes in class. Teachers commonly
intend the comments listed below as mere acknowledgments, but students may interpret them as showing favor to some
and not others.
That’s excellent.
Good.
Very good.
Thanks for that.
Interesting.
Nice point.
Well done.
A perception of unfairness is possible when these words and phrases are seen as different and intermittent, and when
some students get them and others don’t. This does not mean that you should make no comment at all, but it needs to
be meant not merely a throwaway line used as filler between student contributions. If the comment is interesting, say
so. Say why it is interesting. If it is not interesting, don’t waste a valued word on it.
Teachers are often seen as having a favorite, and that perception needs to be checked out. These may be the students
you talk with before and after class, or the ones who get the easy questions. Sometimes, excellent students volunteer
answers incessantly, to the annoyance of other class members. Watch that you are not always hearing the views of a
small percentage of your class. Spread your fairness around!
Internet references: http://www.goodcharacter.com/ISOC/Fairness.html
http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/inclusive/convey.html
See also in this book: Gathering feedback. Giving feedback P-N-P. Expectation surveys.
POWERPOINT
This medium was invented to sell products, and it has a bigger role in marketing than in teaching. It is increasingly
used at conferences and has replaced 35mm slide shows even for some technical presentations. It has advantages in
terms of forcing teachers to organize their notes and keeping them brief so they fit on a screen. PowerPoint also allows
for some ideal layouts for handouts made up from the slides. And, there are some wonderful visual and highlighting
effects that can be done. Those proficient with its advanced strategies can simulate moving graphs and lines.
For the average teacher, though, there are some disadvantages. First, a level of semi-darkness may be required to get
the full effect and that may encourage students to sleep. It also tends to reduce focus on the speaker, with the effect one
of a “disembodied” voice in a darkened room, unless he/she is separately lit. Second, the visual effects can attract
attention to the extent that students miss the message because they are engrossed in the appearance and disappearance
of words and the fancy effects that can be generated. PowerPoint requires a projection system and computer technology
that means the user has to be comfortable in various venues. Sometimes the immediacy and directness of the teacher
writing on a whiteboard or on an overhead transparency is seen by students as ”real’.
PowerPoint needs to be evaluated carefully before you use it. The issues described here provide some balance to the
somewhat extravagant claims of those who use it regularly.
Internet references: http://www.thinkoutsidetheslide.com/articles/ten_secrets_for_using_powerpoint
.htm
http://www.intuitive.com/blog/use_powerpoint_to_enhance_your_presentation_
not_cripple_it.html
See also in this book: Received and constructed knowledge. Eye contact, Eye contact, Eye contact.
LEFT HAND: RIGHT HAND
Sometimes, the smallest thing can make a difference to one’s teaching. A young and keen teacher was disturbed that
some students in his class were restless and showed signs that they were neither attentive, nor learning. He tried to
vary the content and other things in an attempt to reach them. The class was small and the room wider than it was long.
He invited me to watch him teach in the hope that we might find something that would make a difference. I sat with
the noisy students and watched a class session. It was apparent to me that the teacher was not talking to me. I received
little engaging eye contact for lengthy spells within the lesson as he spoke to those on the other side of the room. I
realized that I saw more of his back than his front and I too became restless along with the students around me. I began
to listen in to their conversations.
The teacher was strongly oriented towards his left-hand side and had a tendency to face in that direction. He used an
overhead projector and stood on the left-hand side of it (our perspective) as he pointed out various aspects on his
transparencies. He was right- handed, so in pointing at the transparency he naturally turned even more of his body to
the left and gave us a view of his back throughout large parts of the lesson.
We discussed the lesson afterwards and decided to move the overhead projector and the small table to a new spot in the
room where he would be forced to stand on the other side of the projector. This meant that he faced the students
squarely as he pointed with his right hand. He found that it made a great difference to his teaching and their learning.
Watching speakers at conferences, one can often detect that they are on the “wrong” side of a table or a computer or a
projector and that they are losing eye contact with some of their audience as a result.
See also: Eye contact, Eye contact, Eye contact. Punching through the screen. Blanks as
you speak.
CASE STUDIES FOR EVERYONE?
The use of case studies in teaching is not something new, although there are a variety of “case-methods” advocated by
particular academics and particular schools. A case study is an extended metaphor for a principle or concept, or a
series of concepts and principles. It will be effective only if the connections to those principles are well made, just as
some metaphors work and others don’t.
Case studies have a cultural bias, so an example involving genetic modification of crops and animals may resonate with
students from rural areas, but alienate those from urban settings. Students from developing countries often express their
difficulties with case studies chosen from the developed world. It is probably more effective for them to grapple with
the concept without a case study than it is to have one that is itself a different concept. Often, case studies that are
chosen for their appropriateness to a particular teaching concept miss out on students’ interests. The case may be an
excellent one from your perspective, but the students have no interest in it because it lies outside their experience and
knowledge.
Some of the best case studies come from within your own experience rather than from somebody else’s book. The
students with a strong preference for kinesthetic learning will appreciate teachers retelling their experiences.
Alternatively, case studies drawn from students’ experiences will have even more immediacy. Gather and use them.
There are numerous examples in every discipline on the Internet. Use the key words ‘case studies’ on your search
engine.
Internet references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_study
http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/bus/topicguides/case_studies.htm
http://www.materials.ac.uk/guides/casestudies.asp
See also: Teaching those with a Kinesthetic preference. Journeys that learners make.
INTERPRETING CARTOONS AND DIAGRAMS
Humor is a matter of individual tastes. Although you may remember the sense of humor that your favorite teacher
exhibited, it is not easy to “become humorous” merely because it is an admired trait. Cartoons are substitutes for one’s
own humor and they too exhibit a particular taste and flavor that may not excite your students or add to their learning.
Some are apt but their appeal is with the beholder. Use them discreetly rather than as a bombardment. There are many
different styles of cartoon. Some make their humor from the drawing and therefore appeal to those with a “graphic”
appreciation. Others make students laugh because of the words that are used, with the drawing being merely a vehicle
to carry the words. Different groups of students like different types of cartoons, so mix the styles that you use if you
experiment wit them. Cartoons that relate to your students’ experience will be appreciated more than some of your old
favorites from another era.
There is no universal dictionary for interpreting cartoons and diagrams. Students may be taking quite different
meanings from what you draw on the whiteboard or show on your overhead. Consider the following as an example. A
sociology teacher wanted to make a point about cultural difference. She asked students to complete this drawing by
adding details to it.
Some Latino students added a cross to the roof, perhaps because they thought it had to be a church if it was that regular
in shape. Others made it into an envelope by adding stamps and an address. Others, from colder states or countries,
added chimneys and shuttered windows. Some Filipino students put the house on stilts. Some Malaysian students
made it into a long-house.
If you want to test this concept with your own students draw the diagram below on the board (or overhead) and ask
your students for their interpretation of it. My students found 13 acceptable variations! That is why it is best to add as
much as possible in written or verbal descriptions to any cartoons or diagrams.
Internet references: http://homeschool-
curricula.suite101.com/article.cfm/cartoon_drawing_in_the_classroom
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/teaching-tips/using-
cartoons-comic-strips
See also in this book: Cultural no-nos. Received and constructed knowledge. Teaching students
with a Visual preference.
HANDLING HANDOUTS
Some students prefer to have handouts and to use textbooks rather than listen to your teaching. For them, text provides
the best answers to their questions and they will be keen to receive handouts. This raises questions about the role that
you see for handouts. Are they
an extension,
a replacement,
a supplement or
an application of what you are teaching?
If you are confused, the students will also be confused so a clear purpose is important. Indicate the purpose on the
handout by stating it clearly at the top. For example: “This is for students who want to specialize in this topic”.
Provide more than text. Diagrams and overviews are useful, as are attempts to show linkages between important
concepts and ideas. Those with a Visual preference (V in VARK) will appreciate your attempts. Pay attention to
formatting. Some students take quite specific meanings from such things as headings, underlining, capitalization,
capital letters, numbering and bullet points. Some students see the order of information even within bullet-point lists as
significant although that was not your intention.
In designing handouts, you need to be an expert on plagiarism and copyright. Appropriate acknowledgments and
referencing will set standards that you want back from your students. Students are critical of teachers who plunder
other people’s materials and then criticize their students for doing the same.
You need to make some informed choices about when, and how to provide the handout. If you leave it on the front desk
for students to collect as they enter, you run the risk that they will read it during your best oratory. On the other hand
you may want the students to use the handout during your session. Avoid sending a pile of handouts around the class
as you speak. That is too much distraction for some students. Keep copies of your handouts. There are always students
who want a “full set” at the end of your teaching because they have been stolen or lost.
Although you may reassure students that all the notes are in the handout to be collected at the end of class, some will
not believe it and will still make their own handwritten notes. They are probably students with a strong Read/write
preference!!
Internet references: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/firstwords/fw113.html
http://totalcommunicator.com/vol4_1/handouts.html
http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/handouts.htm
www.wmin.ac.uk/pdf/HowToHandouts.pdf
See also: Teaching those with a Visual preference. Teaching those with a Read/write
preference. Online strategies.
GATHERING FEEDBACK
Feedback should be a regular part of your teaching. In addition to your end-of-course evaluations, you could be
gathering regular feedback on your performance. There are a number of different opportunities:
Informal feedback from the class at the beginning and end. Arriving early for class and leaving late allows you to
sample the mood and the opinions of your class. It may seem scary at first to walk toward some students and begin a
conversation about their and your performance, but it will become easier when they realize that you are gathering
feedback to make improvements for their learning.
The Minute Paper.1 This is an effective and cheap method of gathering feedback. Students are asked to answer on
paper the following questions: What was the most useful or meaningful thing that you learned during this session?
AND, What questions remain uppermost in your mind as we end this session? The teacher gathers the papers and uses
them to modify what happens next. Often the student responses can lead to a redraft of your next few sessions as you
seek to answer their questions.
The Muddiest Point.2 At the end of a class session, students write the answer to this question: What was the muddiest
point in this session? (In other words, what was least clear to you?).
Peer observation. Invite a colleague to observe some of your sessions. These are meaningless unless your colleague is
skilled at observing such interaction, and you should ask him/her to focus on only one or two aspects. For example:
Watch for the extent of student attention at the beginning and end of my session. OR Can my voice be heard clearly at
the rear of the room. Always ask for specific rather than general feedback. See the literature on Small Group
Instructional Designs (SGIDs).3
Peer-mediated class discussion. Ask a colleague to facilitate a class discussion about the students’ learning and your
teaching. Have them organize it so that other than the loudest students’ voices are heard. Written responses that
represent a considered and majority view will be most helpful.
Video record. If you are brave, ask the media experts in your campus to provide video footage of your teaching. This
can be quite severe and is also uni-dimensional, showing only the teacher and a small section of the class. The
positioning of the camera will provide different information so choose carefully so that it meets your needs.
Class “committee”. Set up a small class committee early in the semester. Meet with them regularly to gather
information about how they are learning and about suggestions for improvements. Offer them lunch once a month for
their feedback.
Expectation surveys. See elsewhere in this book.
Mid-semester evaluation “How’s it going?” Set aside a mid-semester session or half-session and facilitate a feedback
session on their learning along with any suggestions that students make about change that would help them to learn
more effectively.
Reflective journals. If part of your assignment work is based on the students’ keeping reflective journals, they can
provide you with information about your teaching and their learning. Read them for other than grading purposes.
Sampling student note-taking. Take time to gather a few students’ notes to see how you are being “written up”. That
may provide some ideas for change.
1
Source or acknowledgments. From Angelo, T.A. & Cross, K. P. Classroom assessment Techniques: A
handbook for College Teachers, 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993,
pp. 148-153.
2
Developed by Dr Frederick Mosteller, Professor of Statistics at Harvard
University.
3
Internet references: http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/consulting/sgid.html
http://www.theideacenter.org/IDEAPapers
See also: Giving feedback and P N P. Expectation surveys. Prior knowledge and how to
use it.
READING YOUR OWN X-RAYS
The interpretation of X-rays is a task for a skilled physician. It is not recommended that the patient read the X-ray
information and make decisions on their interpretation. Teaching should be no different. Feedback for teachers often
comes from evaluations conducted by the institution’s managers or students. Teachers should be wary of interpreting
the data that they are given because of the dangers of misinterpretation.
There is the danger of over-emphasizing any poor results and amplifying them. Some teachers seize on the negative
comments given by a minority of students and fail to read the majority support. The fact that one student thought your
teaching was poor outweighs the 35 who thought it was excellent. In marketing, this is called the rule of 3/33. If we
know something bad about a product we will tell 33 other people; if we know something good about a product we will
tell three others.
Conversely, there are those who underemphasize their good results. In one example, an excellent teacher remained
depressed with her results because the applause was not unanimous – some students had not rated her as “excellent”.
Meanwhile, some teachers do not see the poor results. After years of struggling, they have become immune to the
evidence and they ignore the fact that the students consider them poor teachers. They bolster their self-esteem by
reading the evaluation results selectively.
The solution is to obtain the interpretation from somebody who has a campus-wide perspective. That person will be
able to place your results in a wider context. Your self-interpretation of “mediocre” results may be countered by their
knowledge that those results are among the best on campus or that they are the best results for those who teach large
classes or part timers or off campus or late in the evening or new subjects. There are many dimensions that evaluations
do not cover and they need to be brought into the picture alongside the results.
Evaluations are valuable and they deserve your attention because they provide some feedback, but ask for a
professional interpretation of their meaning in your environment.
Source or acknowledgments. Fleming, N.D; (1993), Faculty Developers: Are they giving away the X-rays?
Journal of Staff, Program and Organisation Development, 11, 1, Spring 1993,
pp. 5-9.
Internet references: http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-925/student.htm
See also: Journeys that teachers make. Giving feedback and P-N-P.
JOURNEYS THAT TEACHERS MAKE.
In "How Professors Develop as Teachers",1 Peter Kugel suggests five distinct stages in the development of a teacher in
higher education, and the transitions between each of them:
STAGE 1 - FOCUS ON SELF
At the start of their teaching career, Kugel suggests, teachers are mainly concerned with themselves, and more
specifically with their survival in front of their classes.
Transition I - Self to subject

Once they know they can survive, and even start to feel good about their teaching, their focus shifts rapidly to the
subject matter.
STAGE 2 - FOCUS ON SUBJECT
Here the teacher rediscovers their enthusiasm for their subject, and works hard to extend their knowledge further and
then to share it all with their students.
Transition 2 - Subject to student

After a while, the teacher may start to notice that students are not learning all that the teacher is teaching, and may not
all share the teacher’s enthusiasm. Why might this be?
STAGE 3 - FOCUS ON STUDENT
The teacher sees how greatly students differ one from another in approach to learning, in interest, in motivation, in
competence. The teacher starts to adopt a wider variety of approaches to engage the heterogeneous body of students
before them. The teacher’s interests shifts from “What am I saying?” to “What are they hearing?”
Transition 3- Student as receiver, to Student as active learner

Even when focusing on the students, the teacher is still concentrating on what she or he was doing to the students rather
than on what the students were doing. The teacher is now finding limits to what this can achieve.
STAGE 4 -FOCUS ON STUDENT LEARNING
The teacher increasingly devises appropriate student activities and opportunities for learning.
Transition 4 - Student as active learner, to Student as independent learner

The more actively the students engage with their work, the more responsibility they take for their own and each other’s
learning.
STAGE 5 — FOCUS ON THE STUDENT AS AN INDEPENDENT LEARNER
When the student truly knows how to learn for her or himself, the teacher’s work with that student is successfully
complete.
1
Source or acknowledgments. Kugel, P. (1993) How Professors Develop as Teachers, Studies in Higher
Education, 18:3, 313328
Internet references: http://www.catl.uwa.edu.au/publications/ITL/1998/6/ages
See also in this book: Journeys that students make. Reading your own x-rays.
CULTURAL NO-NOS
It is impossible to address this problem given a single page to cover its nuances. Any advice based on generalities and
universals is probably incorrect. Therefore, as a teacher, you will need to examine the diversity on your campus and do
some reading and listening to fathom the teaching techniques that may be offensive in your context. Carrying particular
strategies from your previous college to this one may be inadvisable even if the two colleges are only across town.
We know that in many cultures, pointing with an index or any single finger is offensive; learn to use an upward-facing
four-finger gesture when acknowledging or selecting among your students. It is not difficult to learn and may prove
helpful when you change teaching situations. Most cultures have taboos about parts of the body, so you will need to
read up on the significance of these. Touching the head of students is close to a universal no-no. Photographing
students or filming students will require consent in some cultures and is a courtesy if you are using that technique to
help learn their names. Some students do not like to be introduced in an icebreaker by another student because their
introduction may take away from them a sense of self-control and self-image. These paragraphs could be extended to
several books. Instead it is worth considering the broad areas of human behaviors where cultural differences might
exist. That will give you a basis for accepting difference and choosing strategies that are neutral. Here is one such
compilation from Dodd1.
“Elements of Cultural World View”

By examining some of the typical concepts by which cultures order their worlds, we develop a category system with
which to assess some fundamental belief structures of a group of people. Shame versus guilt cultures. Task-versus-
people cultures. Sacred-versus-secular cultures. The role of the dead to the living. The nature of humankind. Humans
and nature. Doing versus being cultures. Views on life cycles and fatalism.
Relationship with-
Family. A number of values center around evaluations concerning family and kin,
especially values toward elders, parents and ancestors. Respect for elders.
Respect for parents. Respect for ancestors.
Others. Another set of values focuses on interpersonal relationships. One’s personal

dealings with others are considered a sacred trust in some cultures but are treated
casually in other cultures. For example there may be issues about equality of
people, humanitarianism and honesty.
Society. Morality and ethics. Freedom. Emotions. Work and play. Time.
Self. Another set of value variables deals with personal values toward success and
material well being. These values also relate to personal qualities of
individualism.
The environment. A special set of values center around land, water and natural things associated
with them.
The following list of suggestions is intended to stimulate your continued thinking about worldviews and values and to
extend some of the principles above.
Do as others do.
Develop self-awareness.
Try to understand missing social cues.
Do not assume that you know a worldview.
Discover when to use formal and informal modes.”
1
Source or acknowledgments. Dodd, C.H. (1982) “Underlying Dimensions in a Culture in Dynamics of
Inter-cultural Communication, Wm C Brown. Chapter 4.
Internet references: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/taboo-classroom
http://www.englishclub.com/teaching-tips/teacher-taboos.htm
See also in this book: Interpreting cartoons and diagrams.
OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES
It became trendy in the 1980s and 1990s for teachers to apply the principles of management by objectives to their
teaching. It was reasoned that unless the teacher and the students knew where they were going, they would not know
when or whether they had arrived. This movement in education followed the predictable path, insisting that every
learning objective needed to have a time frame, a quality standard and an action that could be objectively observed or
measured. This straitjacket was a point of debate for those who argued that education should not be reduced to a set of
identifiable objective hurdles and that there was more to learning than measurable objectives. Rather, education
contained some indefinable aspects unrelated to observing student behavior and actions. A behavioral approach was
seen as unnecessarily narrow. There were indefinable benefits to education.
K n o w le d g e A ttitu d e s There is truth in both standpoints. Students like

to know what they have to learn, and to have
teachers who are clear about that. There is
general agreement that what can be learned is a
triad of knowledge, skills and attitudes
(sometimes called beliefs or values). Clear
direction to the class about what knowledge,
what skills and what attitudes should arise from
their learning is helpful.
S k ills
P ro c e s s P h y s ic a l T h in k in g
S k ills S k ills S k ills
H o w t o d e s ig n a s y s t e m . H o w t o s o lv e a n e q u a t io n .
H o w t o d r a w a la n d s c a p e d e s ig n . H o w t o p r u n e a g r a p e v in e .
H o w t o c r it iq u e a n a r t ic le . H o w t o q u e s t io n a s s u m p t io n s .
If you want your students to know where they are heading, describe what they will be able to do at the end of each
class. For example:
At the end of today’s class, you will be able to:
• Describe the differences between types of asbestos.
• State an informed personal decision about the risks posed by asbestos.
• Clearly separate testable hypotheses from advocacy of proponents as a basis for evidence.
Students find this helpful at the start of a session. An overhead transparency can be used to provide a focus for their
learning.
Internet references: http://www.cte.iastate.edu/tips/philosophy.html
http://apha.confex.com/apha/learningobjectives.htm
outcomes assessment
http://www.csuchico.edu/bss/plan.html
http://www.tamu.edu/marshome/assess/oabooks.html
http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/assmt/resource.htm
See also: All beginnings are difficult.
ONLINE STRATEGIES
The same principles that apply to good textbook writing and good teaching apply to the strategies for online instruction.
Foremost is the need for reflection. Merely to read or observe what is on a screen is not learning. It is only when these
ideas are attached to existing frameworks in the students’ minds that we can assert that learning has occurred. That
requires reflection and some attention to the learning preferences of students. The Web is a read/write tool with text
predominating over visual images that might assist learning. And online teaching will remain dominated by text in the
same way that print dominated distance learning before the Web. We may have to wait some time before other modes
(aural and visual and kinesthetic) can be flexibly used and widely received.
Reflection is the most important key to online learning. Until the learners remove their gaze from the screen and think,
there is little learning likely to happen other than the low-level navigation and motor skills associated with it. As an
online teacher, you need to focus on ways in which you can interrupt the student’s gaze and engage him/her in some
mental exercise that helps add new ideas to prior knowledge. Requiring an exercise on paper in the middle of a screen-
based session is one way to achieve this.
To accustom online learning to the needs of students requires many of the same strategies found elsewhere in this book.
There needs to be variety on the screen. Charts, graphs and diagrams are needed for those with a visual preference.
Some opportunity to discuss or chat with the teacher and other learners is essential for those who have a strong aural
preference. The kinesthetic students thrive on examples and simulations that should be made more possible with
technology but good examples exist that add to a kinesthetic student’s learning. For example, using a video made from
a previous field visit or site-tour, simulating the firing of clay or modeling an ear operation.
There are numerous references to online learning on the Internet. Use the key words distance learning and learning
online to find those associated with your discipline. Evaluate the media used carefully. Ask this question: Who, among
my students, will benefit from this type of presentation?
Internet references: www.teachingonline.org/
www.fcs.iastate.edu/computer/tips/onlinetechtips.html
http://www.uws.edu.au/uws/edc/workshops.htm
http://www.education.mcgill.ca/cutl/topics.html
http://illinois.online.uillinois.edu/
See also: Teaching those with a Visual or Aural or Read/write or Kinesthetic preference.
The four Rs. Handling handouts. Is participation worth measuring?
LEARNING THEIR NAMES
Students are often impressed with a teacher who learns their names quickly or knows their names beforehand. Some
teachers believe this is an attribute that cannot be learned and that only some people with photographic memories can
do this. Here are some strategies to prove them wrong.
If you need a visual image to help you learn the names that go with the people, try to get photos before the class begins
either from the class registration process or with a group photo taken on the second day of class. Some teachers take
time to photograph students in the classroom (with their permission, of course). Or, you can send a disposable camera
around the class and ask the students to photograph the person next to them. You will need to gather the names to
match the photographs. A seating plan can work well, but students are not usually settled in their seating patterns for a
few days. Maybe make a joke about it: “Please wear the same clothes and sit in the same place for the first three
sessions so I can learn your names…just kidding about the clothes!” Remember that most students want to help you to
learn their names. Once that is accomplished, being able to identify students by name adds to your teaching strategies
and removes some sources of annoyance.
Another technique is to ask students to introduce each other or themselves. It takes time and you will need to take notes
as they speak, and to give them a sample introduction that is brief and safe. Too much self-disclosure in your first
session may be unacceptable to some students and some cultures.
I sometimes have students make a small tent-like structure from a piece of paper and ask them to print their name on it
in large letters that I can see from my vantage points in the classroom. You may want to add some levity by suggesting
a prize or an A grade for the best “tent”.
A note of caution: In some cultures, names are given to children with great depth of meaning. They may not want to
have their name exposed or said aloud to all of the class, or the name may be quite difficult for others to pronounce.
Often, my Asian students choose a common name (Mary or John) to avoid this problem, but I have learned that it is
more respectful to pronounce their names correctly. Besides, there are usually enough Marys and Johns in any
classroom. Students say they respect somebody trying to pronounce their name correctly rather than someone who
never asks about its pronunciation and always mispronounces it. Don’t be afraid to make several attempts to
pronounce their name correctly and then write that name as you hear it rather than as it is written.
Students feel that a teacher who learns their names is showing an interest in them, and this is important to them. Even
if you only remember 60 names of the 180 students in front of you, that will be helpful. You will need to work hard in
the first few days to do it but it will be worth the effort.
Internet references: www.unl.edu/teaching/Names.html
www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/names.htm
http://www.uoregon.edu/~tep/tshooting/managing.html
See also: All beginnings are difficult. Do it early - in their own voice. Being fair.
Expectation surveys.
DO IT EARLY—IN THEIR OWN VOICE
If you want students to contribute in your classes, you will have to provide opportunities for that to happen early in
your semester. It is most unlikely that students will speak up if they have no opportunities in the first three weeks.
Research indicates that students benefit from hearing their own voices in new surroundings. It gives them the
confidence to speak a second time. Arrange for such an opportunity to occur in your first or second meeting with your
class. The opportunity should allow students to say something more than a single word or sentence. Having students
introduce themselves to each other, and to you, is one such opportunity but it can be tedious in a big class. Another
possibility is to stop your session early and have students write a question on a piece of paper that they exchange with
other students close to them. Encourage them to seek answers to their questions from other students and then invite any
unanswered questions to be read aloud to you. You can choose to answer these questions then or in the next session,
depending on time. Students will read more easily than they will speak.
Internet references: http://www.uoregon.edu/~tep/tshooting/managing.html
http://www.psu.edu/celt/largeclass/lcfaq.shtml
See also: Encouraging the quiet ones. The question belongs to the questioner… Walk
away when they speak quietly.
THINK. PAIR. SHARE.
Think refers to students being asked to reflect on something important for their learning.
Pair refers to the students talking about that reflection to another or others.
Share refers to students contributing their ideas to the whole class.
The Think process is often a written stage with students writing their own reflections or ideas on paper. The remaining
two stages are usually oral. As the teacher you will need some good strategies to get students “back” from any
discussion that ensues. Often students find this activity really helpful and prefer it to what the teacher has planned for
them, so they may be reluctant to stop talking. You will also need to be very clear about setting the task so that
students are working on the same topic. That should reduce the off-task activity and the number of strange
contributions! This is not to discourage originality and creativity. Effective teaching requires clear specification of any
task set for students.
In the Share stage, the teacher acts as a facilitator writing up contributions on a whiteboard so all can see, adding them
to an overhead transparency or flip chart summary, or in some way valuing the ideas that arise. Because students have
been through some discussion with others it is likely that there will be fewer ideas than the number of students in the
class. A script you may find helpful is, “If there are ideas that I have not already put up on the board, what are
they?” Or, “Any more new ones?”
Learning to value students’ contributions in an open forum is a valuable teaching skill.
Source or acknowledgments. Eison and Bonwell of Active Learning fame popularized this strategy. My
version came from Graham Gibbs, now at The Open Polytechnic (UK) in his,
Teaching Students To Learn, p10-12, 1981. Some claim that the originator
was:
Lyman, F. (1981). "The responsive classroom discussion." In Anderson, A. S.
(Ed.), Mainstreaming Digest, College Park, MD: University of Maryland
College of Education.
Internet references: http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~tcreed/tpsd.html
http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/CL1/CL/doingcl/thinkps.htm
http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/teaching/strategies/brainstorm/thinkpairshare.htm
See also: Gathering feedback. Encouraging the quiet ones.
PUNCHING THROUGH THE SCREEN
If you always stand still in the front of the classroom, especially in those larger classes, you will fit student perception
that you are just an impersonal “talking head” like they might see on TV in their own room. That can lead to their
holding annoying discussions, as they would if they were watching a football game.
Many distance education courses and some online ones provide the same problem and can cause student boredom. It
would be more interesting if students could be given a remote control with which to fast forward or replay the live
teacher, but that too is in the future. You may remember from your student days, teachers who were wooden in their
presentation and who clung tightly to the podium or a single marked spot on the dais floor.
Research indicates that you can break that student perception by not only moving around at the front of the class but
also moving into their space by walking up and down the aisles. This breaks the “you-are-at-home-in-your-living
room” atmosphere and may encourage more attention and less rudeness in terms of their speaking over the top of the
teacher.
There are some limits to this technique. You may need technical aids to allow your voice to be heard, as many
classrooms have good front-to-back acoustics but abominable cross acoustics so one student cannot be heard by others.
A roaming microphone will solve that problem and may allow you to gather students’ views. However, choose students
who you know will respond, because amplifying their voice is a definite no-no for some of them.
Use the technique of getting students to write a response and then read it or, safer still, have the student read someone
else’s written contribution.
You also will need to respect your students’ “personal space bubble”-the boundaries that surround them that deter
embarrassing closeness. Also, some students get nervous when you are behind them and there is no eye contact. Keep
your distance but try this technique to break the disadvantages of a rigid stance.
You will need another skill to make it work. You cannot carry the podium around with you so you will need to be able
to continue your flow of language and thought as you walk around without your background notes. Those who use
PowerPoint say this strategy works well, as their memory prompts come from the screen.
See also: Encouraging the quiet ones. Quieting the noisy ones. Is participation worth
measuring. Eye contact, eye contact, eye contact.
WALK AWAY WHEN THEY SPEAK QUIETLY
In many large and small classrooms, the side acoustics are very poor. Auditoria are designed mainly for front-to-back
acoustic performances so it is not unusual to find that some students do not easily hear the contributions of other
students. To overcome this problem, repeat the student’s contribution so that all can hear what has been said. Try to
avoid asking the student to speak louder, as they may find it daunting enough to speak at all, let alone speak in an
unnaturally loud voice. After relaying what they said to the rest of the class, you will need to go back to the student and
check that your version is acceptable.
Scripts:
Did I get that right, Jason?
Have I understood your question, Kylie?
Is that what you meant, Brad?
Another strategy is to make only limited eye contact with the student who is speaking, and walk to the other side of the
room. This should encourage them to speak to their colleagues rather than engage in a dialogue with you. They may
even raise their voice in an attempt to reach you as you retreat to the other side of the room. Be careful that your body
language does not indicate that you are not interested in what they have to say. Use you head and your eye contact to
indicate that they should be speaking to the class too.
Internet references: http://www.mdk12.org/practices/good_instruction/projectbetter/elangarts/ela-
59-61.html
http://web2010.brevard.cc.fl.us/spd/chalklines/Vol4No4.shtml
See also: The question belongs to the questioner... Do it early in their own voice. Giving
feedback and P-N-P.
HELICOPTERING IN CLASS
This is a metaphor for metacognition, or thinking about thinking. It is helpful for students to access their own mental
processing as a strategy for better understanding. Teachers can incorporate this as a useful break in a class by asking
the class to “helicopter” or hover above the class and look down on what is happening. Examining their own processes
and frameworks assists them to learn. Some of the scripts that a teacher might use to assist this are:
I want you now to consider how you know what you have just told me.
Tell me where you got that insight?
What were you thinking about just before you made that statement?
What else contributed to that idea?
Helicoptering is different from inviting students to reflect on what they have just learned. It relies on an ability to step
outside one’s immediate thinking and see the bigger picture that surrounds what the student has just said or written.
Examining processes as a whole-class strategy can sometimes reduce classroom management problems because it airs
the problem openly to the wider and involved audience. You are inviting the class to watch themselves (fishbowl).
For example, if you have discussed with your class the strategy Journeys that Students Make (elsewhere in this book)
you may want to ask a student whether his/her contribution to the discussion was a made from a dualist position or not.
Helicoptering is also a useful process for getting a class to examine what has been happening. For example, in social
science courses there may be dynamics taking place in the class that can contribute to what has to be learned. Moving
the class outside themselves to look down on their classroom and see themselves interacting may have some teaching
and learning points with it.
The scripts that one might use to initiate this are:
“Stop what you are doing and let’s helicopter for a moment. What was the class reaction to what
happened in this class when Jane spoke about her experience?”
“Can we helicopter for a few minutes and replay the classroom interaction that got us to this
point where… What do you see in that replay?”
Of course, you have to teach your class to fly! They will find it strange when you do it the first time and some will not
“get it” after the tenth time but it is nevertheless a useful strategy for some and a contribution to variety in your classes.
Internet references: http://snow.utoronto.ca/Learn2/mod2/
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1metn.htm
http://tip.psychology.org/meta.html
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed327218.html
See also: The Four Rs. Journeys that students make.
USING EXPERTS—PROFESSORS PROFESS PLEASE
While in Edinburgh, a wonderful place of learning, I heard of a strategy that should be used more often. Professors are
often at the forefront of their discipline but have few opportunities to display their skills and knowledge with
undergraduate students. One strategy is for the teachers of the “first” or introductory class in a discipline to select from
the class the ten students who scored highly on the mid-semester test. Ask the professor with the expertise in that field
to host these students to a simple brown bag lunch in his/her office at a time when those students are free from class.
While they eat, have the professor talk about the frontiers of the discipline, what he/she is doing and what others are
working on. Students feel honored to be part of this scene and may have their interest sparked to continue studying in
that discipline. The same format can be used after another test using another group of high-performing students.
Another strategy that requires a lot more planning is to call on a colleague who is also working on leading-edge science
and set up a call in the middle of next week’s class. Prime the expert with the questions that you will use and
emphasize that he/she needs to use language suitable for the students. Focus your questions on:
What are you working on today?
How will you know that you have had some form of breakthrough?
What research methods are you using or what equipment are you using?
What is your hypothesis?
How will this work serve humanity?
Tell us about how you started on this research.
How often do you get a breakthrough?
You will need a smart telephone system and amplification for the class. You may be able to accept “live” questions
from the class or have a few students prepare questions in advance. It is often more exciting to have the phone call
appear to be spontaneous, though of course it needs to be well planned. If you do not know any experts well enough to
ask, you may be surprised that they will still accept your invitation out of a sense of duty or an inflated ego. Who
cares? If it works...
Internet references: http://quest.classroom.com/help/help_sitefeatures.asp?qargs=150
See also: Prior knowledge and how to use it. Received and constructed knowledge.
Being fair. Learning their names.
ENCOURAGING THE QUIET ONES
You should first ask why you want the quiet students to make more noise! If it is to express their learning or inform
you about their prior knowledge, that is understandable. Merely wanting them to speak up because you like
participation is not sufficient reason. There are personality types that like to remain quiet as they learn, and there is no
necessary connection between speaking and learning. One of the key attributes that students like in a tertiary institution
is anonymity. From being pointed at and questioned in small classes at high school, some students look forward to
being merely “a number” at the back of a large classroom. This does not mean that they are not learning.
If you have good reason to stir them from silence, here are some strategies.
• They will object to anything that appears to be unfavorably targeting their participation, so you
need to have fair systems for calling on students to respond. Those systems might be regular or
random, but they need to be seen to be fair.
• Quiet students may be afraid of voicing anything in strange surroundings, so it is important for
the teacher to provide a safe environment and a safe topic for them to voice their views for the
first time in a “new” room.
• After half a semester of the teacher asking no questions, it is unlikely that any students will
respond to requests to contribute. Any such strategy for involvement has to begin as early as the
first week, preferably the first session.
• Quiet students may have difficulty assembling questions or statements in time to respond to the
teacher’s requests. Not everyone sits in a classroom thinking of questions. That is a particular
mindset; so “sell” the idea that a question is coming well before it is asked. Use this script:
“Shortly I will be asking you for the questions that I know you will have so you may want to write
those down as you think of them.” Or “There will be time for questions in five minutes.”
• Students will often read what someone else has written with more assurance than making up an
impromptu response on the spot. Ask the class to write something on paper. Get them to share
that idea with others and then ask them to read their own amended or somebody else’s
contribution. This is then a “reading” rather than a “speaking” and is much less risky.
Source or acknowledgments. “Encouraging Student Participation in Discussion". (from Tools for Teaching
by Barbara Gross Davis; Jossey-Bass: 1993). Strategies for increasing active
participation by students during a class.
Internet references: http://www.mdk12.org/practices/good_instruction/projectbetter/elangarts/ela-
59-61.html
http://web2010.brevard.cc.fl.us/spd/chalklines/Vol4No4.shtml
See also: Think, pair, share. Quieting the noisy ones. Questioning. Do it early in their
own voice. Walk away when they speak quietly. Is participation worth
measuring?
QUIETING THE NOISY ONES
People feed on eye contact, and it is the single most important attribute for teachers especially in large class sessions. If
the students do not feel “looked at” regularly, they are more likely to not be engaged in what is being said. This is why
prominent and effective speakers appear to have a swivel head as they switch their gaze from side to side and front and
back. The same is true for television, where those who look at the camera are more engaging than those who look
away.
However, giving eye contact back to those who are teaching or speaking encourages them to continue. In a naughty
experiment at a New Zealand teachers college, the trainee teachers decided, as a joke, to look avidly at the teacher
when he was on one side of the room and to gaze at their notes when he was at the other side of the room. Within the
50-minute session, they had “fixed” the teachers on one side of the room - the one where they gave the most return eye
contact (attention).
If you have noisy, long-winded or overbearing contributors in a small group session, you should withdraw your gaze
from them as they speak. Do not make an obvious and rude sign of looking away but focus on other students who you
want to encourage. Even rude students find it difficult to continue speaking when it appears that the teachers is not
listening. Lack of eye contact to the speaker is often interpreted as “not listening”. This strategy has implications for
seating patterns in small groups around a table or in a circle or semicircle. As a teacher, it is best to sit next to the noisy
ones—the ones you least want to listen to. That will make it difficult for you to give them eye contact. Conversely, sit
opposite quiet speakers, and give them plenty of encouragement with your eye contact.
Internet references: www.//ctl.stanford.edu/ta/tt4.html/
http://www.siue.edu/~deder/assess/cats/confid5.html
See also: Encouraging the quiet ones. Is participation worth measuring? Eye contact, eye
contact, eye contact. Punching through the screen.
WHAT ARE YOUR QUESTIONS?
As a Fulbright scholar to Lincoln University in New Zealand, Jody Nyquist of the University of Washington brought
with her a strategy that is much more powerful than it seems from first reading about it. She suggests that teachers
could benefit from eliminating these scripts:
“Do you have any questions?”
OR
“Who has a question?”
OR
“Let’s have some questions now.”
And
“Any questions?
These scripts, so common among teachers, trainers and presenters, occasionally do get a response. More often, though,
they end with the teacher rephrasing the question because she/he believes that the students either have not heard it or do
not understand it. If a teacher is particularly nervous about the silence, they may even answer the question themselves.
Students learn that the teacher will do this and it becomes a learned classroom behavior. “Let’s say nothing and he will
answer his own question.” Instead, Nyquist suggests teachers use this script:
“What are your questions?”
It is a simple but powerful change. It presumes that everyone has a question somewhere and it is only a matter of
“getting it out there”. Some students say the script “forces” them to contribute as though there is an obligation to voice
their question. Some are surprised that the teacher has assumed they have a question, and so they quickly find one.
Source or acknowledgments. Jody Nyquist and faculty at Communication Dept, University of Washington.
Internet references: www.questioning.org
See also: Wait time. Questioning. Ask everyone before Mary. Pauses. Questioning to
extend student thinking.
THE QUESTION BELONGS TO THE QUESTIONER. YOUR ANSWER BELONGS TO THE CLASS.
Watch a dialogue at your next conference. The speaker is asked a question and the questioner is answered directly by
the speaker even though nobody else is interested in that question. While the question does belong to the questioner, the
answer really belongs to the whole audience. You also can see this in classrooms. Teachers should treat the question as
one that has been asked by the whole class. Acknowledge the questioner, but don’t miss the opportunity to include
everyone in the learning. The problem is eye contact and stance. Too often, the teacher faces the questioner and gives
him/her all their eye contact. Often a second question ensues and before long a two-person discussion is held to the
exclusion of others. Learn to thank the questioner and to return to where you can make eye contact with all the class to
involve them in the answer or even to invite them to answer it.
Buying Time
If you have to “buy time” because you know the answer but cannot quite locate it in your memory, here is well-worn
strategy for delaying the answer while your brain searches for it.
Step Your Script
1. Thank the person who asks the question. “Thank you for your question.”
“That is an interesting point.”
“You have raised an interesting question.”
2. Repeat the question for everyone to hear. “What Mary has asked...”
“The question raised is…”
3. Clarify with the questioner. “Is that your question?”

“So, you are interested in…?”
4. Place the question in its general context. “This question belongs in the section on...”
5. Answer the question. “I don’t know the answer.”

“I will try to find out by the next class.”
6. Check with the questioner. “Does that answer your question?”
7. Thank the questioner. “Thank you. That helped our learning.”
Source or acknowledgments. Answering and Asking Questions. W. Cashin, IDEA Paper No. 31, Kansas State
University.
Internet references: www.questioning.org
See also: Questioning to extend student thinking. Questioning. Pauses. Blanks as you
speak. Punching through the screen. Walk away when they speak quietly.
ASK EVERYONE BEFORE MARY
Questioning in class is a difficult skill, and one that is considerably improved by a number of easy-to-learn strategies.
These should be incorporated as changes in your scripts so that they become habitual and patterned when they are
triggered by a context. Asking everyone before Mary refers to working with groups in a small class or in a large
lecture. To make sure everyone in the class does some thinking when you ask a question, it is necessary to ask the
question of everyone first, to pause and then to ask a particular student the answer. The script runs like this:
“What is one of the variables that impacts most strongly on a student’s ability to learn new material?”
Pause. Be conscious of your wait time. Resist the temptation to reword the question. Just because you are receiving
blank stares does not mean they do not understand. It may mean they are thinking. Rewording rather than merely
restating the question implies that it is a new question, and that students must begin again on a quest for an answer.
Decide on a fair strategy (random or sequential) for selection of a student(s) to contribute to the question, e.g.,
“Let’s choose the third and fifth rows in this classroom and today we will select the ninth person from
the left. Mary what is your answer to that question?”
It is of course tempting to broadcast a general appeal with phrases like:
“Does anyone know…?”
“Who would like to contribute to this question…?”
“What do you think are the…?”
All of these are more likely to draw a blank so remove them from your list of scripts.
Internet references: http://web.mit.edu/tll/published/responding_effectively.htm
See also: Wait time. Questioning to extend student thinking. Questioning.
WAIT TIME
This is the gap between the teacher asking a question and a response coming from the students. For some teachers, wait
time is so short (2-5 seconds) that they answer their own questions. Students are quick to learn that if they outwait a
nervous teacher, he/she will invariably answer their own question. Some teachers with a short wait time may rephrase
their own question believing that the class either has not heard it or not understood it. That may well be the case, but
often the students are working on an answer and when another rephrased question comes they give up their first attempt
to focus on the next one. This circular process can be repeated several times between students and teachers.
There are solutions. It may be easy to advise teachers to expand their wait time to something like 10 seconds. In that
time, at least one student is likely to feel empathy for the teacher and offer some form of response. This is why
teachers should not criticize answers that appear to be irrelevant. Maybe the student is only rescuing the teacher from a
predicament!
Those whose first language is not the same as the teacher’s may be translating the question into their language to work
on it. That takes some time.
The main problem with wait time is that teachers seldom cue the students to the fact that a question is coming. After
teaching in full flow some teachers stop abruptly and say “Any questions?” This surprises the students who do not
normally sit compiling questions. They have other things to do. They are taking notes or listening for relevance or
attaching new ideas to old ones or … Cue your students by telling them that in a few minutes you will be asking them
some questions. Some of the students will do some work on that basis and you are more likely to get some answer.
Here are two typical scripts for that approach:
“Before I complete this topic, there will be a chance in another three to four minutes for you to raise
some questions. You may want to write your question down now in the margin of your notes.”
OR
“Question time is about three minutes away if you want to get those questions ready.”
Effective public speakers know that they can pause for up to 15 seconds before an audience will think that something
might be wrong. Extend your wait time. Learn to stand relaxed and let the pressure to respond fall on the students.
Keep your nerves in control throughout the silence. For most people it is their hands that indicate their nervousness.
Keep them still.
Internet references: http://questioning.org/Q7/toolkit.html
http://www.unl.edu/teaching/teachquestions.html
http://www.id.ucsb.edu/IC/TA/tips/wait.html
See also: Pauses. Ask everyone before Mary. Blanks as you speak. What are your
questions?
QUESTIONING TO EXTEND STUDENT THINKING
Remember "Wait time". Provide at least 10 seconds of thinking time after a question and after a response.
Utilize "Think-pair-share." Allow individual thinking time or discussion with a partner, and then open it up for class
discussion.
Ask "follow-ups" Why? Do you agree? Can you elaborate? Tell me more. Can you give an example?
Withhold judgment. Respond to student answers in a non-evaluative way.
Ask for a summary (to promote active listening). "Could you please summarize John’s point?"
Survey the class. "How many people agree with the author’s point of view?" (Thumbs up, thumbs down.)
Allow for student selection. "Richard, please choose someone to respond?"
Play devil’s advocate. Require students to defend their reasoning against different points of view.
Ask students to "unpack their thinking": "Describe how you arrived at your answer." Why don’t you think aloud to
help us understand where you are coming from?
Call on students randomly—not just on those with raised hands.
Let the students develop their own questions using student-to-student questioning. If necessary, get them to write them
down.
Cue student responses. "There is not a single correct answer for this question. I want you to consider alternatives."
Warn students that a question is coming so they can prepare their critical faculties rather than their pens.
Avoid asking other students to answer all the questions raised by their colleagues. Some questions will need to be
answered by you so that students perceive you as a credible source for their own learning.
Source or acknowledgments. Adapted from Wilson, J. & Wing Jan, L. Thinking For Themselves: Developing
Strategies for Reflective Learners. Eleanor Curtain, 1993.
Internet references: www.questioning.org/
www.id.ucsb.edu/IC/TA/tips/wait.html
See also: Wait time. Think, Pair, Share. Questioning.
QUESTIONING
Some more scripts to extend your questioning skills from Bloom’s taxonomy.
Knowledge — Identification and recall of information.
Who, what, when, where, how?

Describe…
Comprehension — Organization and selection of facts and ideas.
Retell in your own words…

What is the main idea of…?
Application — Use of facts, rules, principles
How is____ an example of ____?

How is _____ related to_______?
Why is _____________significant?
Analysis — Separation of a whole into component parts.
What are the parts or features of…?

Classify ____ according to_____.
Outline for us…
How does ___ compare/contrast with___?
What evidence can you list for…?
Synthesis — Combination of ideas to form a new whole
What would you predict/infer from…?

What ideas can you add to…?
How would you create/design a new…?
What might happen if you combined ___ with…?
What solutions would you suggest for…?
Evaluation — Development of opinions, judgments or decisions
Do you agree…?
What do you think about…?
What is the most important…?
Prioritize…?
How would you decide about…?
What criteria would you use to access?
Source or acknowledgments. These strategies are adapted from a handout from the Language and
Learning Improvement Branch, Division of Instruction, Maryland State
Department of Education, USA.
The categories used are from Bloom, B. (1964) Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives, New York, David McKay.
Internet references: www.questioning.org/
www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/workshops/artofquestioning.html
www.nexus.edu.au/teachstud/gat/painter.htm
faculty.washington.edu/krumme/guides/bloom.html
See also: Questioning to extend student thinking. Wait time. Ask everyone before
Mary.
QUESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER
Teachers often assume that learning has happened merely because they observe some familiar patterns happening in
their students. Unfortunately learning is difficult and it has no outward signs that can guarantee to us that it has
happened. The table below indicates confusion over some of the signals that we receive.
How will you know that learning has occurred?
Observation. Has Reason

I will know learning has happened: learning
happened?
1 when a student listens to the concept. No Input only
2 when a revered teacher has described the concept No Input only

very effectively.
3 when a student observes the concept in action – No Input only

field visit, video…
4 when a student can accurately repeat the essential No Recall memory may be all that is
ideas behind the concept in writing or speech. being used.
5 when the teacher asks a question about the concept No Recall memory may be all that is
and the student can answer it appropriately. being used.
6 when the student asks the teacher a very astute No May not be demonstrating any
question about the concept. understanding of the concept at all –
merely an intellectual enquiry.
7 when the student translates the key ideas into No The translation may be only technical.
his/her own language(s).
8 when a student makes his/her own ‘script’ to Maybe This may be internal processing only.
understand the concept. There is no outward sign or action to
confirm learning has happened.
9 when a student adjusts his/her own framework and Maybe Could be internal processing only.
belief systems to accommodate the new concept.
10 when a student makes his/her own ‘script’ about Yes It is likely that the student has
the concept and chooses to use it (accurately) with adjusted or adapted his/her own
others. framework and is using an ‘owned’
script. Learning has happened.
11 when a student teaches others about the concept Yes It is likely that the student has
using his/her own scripts. adjusted or adapted his/her own
framework and is using an ‘owned’
script. Learning has happened.
Source or acknowledgments. Author

See also: Journeys that learners make. Journeys that teachers make. Received and
constructed knowledge. The Four Rs.
AVOIDING BIAS WHEN MARKING
Although the title of this section suggests that you can remove bias, this is not an easy task. At best, you can mask them
or in other ways reduce their effect. Biases lie deep within our personality and they may not show as conscious actions.
The table on the next page indicates the types of biases that exist. Here are some strategies that will reduce some
biases.
 Hide the names of the student authors. Make them anonymous by removing the name (using numbers) or
having some other code so that you do not recognize the scripts of students you know.
 Mix up the scripts after marking each question so no script suffers from being graded first or last. Shuffle the
order of the papers after each question.
 Mark one question at a time. Evaluate all answers to one question before going on to the next one.
 Write down your marking criteria. Stick to it.
 If time permits, read a large sample of the scripts to get some ideas for your marking criteria and to assess the
overall level of knowledge.
 Reward those who exceed your criteria by giving more marks than allocated for that question, e.g., 11/10.
Resist mid-stream changes in criteria - sometimes, an excellent student will add another valid and important
criteria to those already expected by the teacher/marker. Depending on when this student’s work is marked
(early-middle-late) there will be an effect on other papers. Be prepared for creative responses.
 Have a colleague check mark some of your scripts (technically called moderation), It also is worthwhile to
have a colleague moderate your examination questions, as bias will exist in there as well. Biases even exist in
multi-choice questions merely because of the ones you choose to use or discard.
 Obscure the marks previously given for other questions.
 If you are using multiple markers, assign one person to each question or project.
 Increase inter-rater reliability when you have more than one person to marking a question by training with
sample scripts.
 Tighten the questions. The greater the freedom allowed to candidates in assembling their answers, the more
likely the marking is susceptible to bias. Reduced choice reduces the opportunities for bias.
 Obscure group membership - after randomly and artificially labeling pairs of identical essays as from
“regulars” or “honors” students, the scores given by experienced teachers to the honors essays were
significantly higher than those given to the identical regular essays.1
 Encourage your markers (and yourself) to use all of a grading scale. For example, if the question is worth 10
points, ensure that you use a wide range of marks, say from 5-10. Confining yourself to a range from 7 to 10
reduces the helpful feedback that students could get.
 Mark only those aspects that match the assessment objectives.
 Use points or mark values that are easy to assign. Competent markers seldom have the ability to categorize
across more than 15 points. Most find a range of 8-10 more comfortable. Distinctions between 67% and 68%
on a 100-point scale are not likely to be valid.
 If all else fails, make a conscious effort to eliminate bias from your judgment by thinking about it before
marking.
 Adapt a policy that giving 10 out of 10 does not have to mean perfection has been reached. Instead it means
that, at this level of understanding this student has fulfilled all of my criteria.
1
Source or acknowledgments. Some items and examples are from “Bias in Test Use” Gronlund and Lynn —
source currently not available.
Fleming, N.D; (1999), Biases in Marking Students’ Written Work. Quality?, in
Brown, S. and Glasner A., (ed.) Chapter in Assessment Matters in Higher
Education, The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open
University Press. England.
Internet references: http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/informationliteracy/criteria.htm
http://web.uvic.ca/~bioweb/biota/Grading.html
http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/home/fac/links/Fall01/
See also: Being fair. Giving feedback P-N-P. Marking in front of them.
TABLE OF BIASES
Type Description As recognized by...

The halo effect Previous performance is personally known
through:
-having marked a previous question or recalled “This is not like Jenny.”
their other work, “He has not done well on his
first two questions, so...”
OR
-recognition of some aspect of their style, “This is too good to be
handwriting... Sam’s!”
The echo effect The script(s) preceding this one have an effect
which is
- an advantage “How nice to get a good one
once in a while.”
- a disadvantage “After that wonderful answer,
this seems rather mediocre.”
Group membership, Membership is detected from a variety of cues—
clan or sect. handwriting, name, language style, ESOL clues,
format (word processed), presentation (glossy
folder), examples given, question choice, etc., so
that the following biases can come into play.
gender- [some research indicates that women “Not a bad answer on feminist
students are marked harder by women theory for a boy.”
teachers than by men.]
ethnicity “They always have trouble
with pronouns and tense.”
social class “With a folder like that and
laser printing, she must be
from the poor side of town”.
ability level “First student I’ve ever had to
use the word “paradigm”
correctly”.
Marker Factors Marking when tired, irritable, stressed,

Or fresh, vibrant and alert!
marking paper X first “That’s not what I expected.”
marking paper X last “Hurrah! I’ve nearly

finished.”
marking without knowing what was taught “I wonder if that’s her

example or not?”
having different people do the grading “It seems those whose papers
were marked by Jason got an
advantage”.
REWARDING THOSE WHO HAND IN ON TIME
There are many ways to punish students for handing assigned work in late. Some teachers penalize the student by
deducting a percentage figure for each day late. Others accept “reasonable” excuses and get a reputation for being soft.
The principle here has much to do with fairness. Some teachers believe they are teaching the value of promptness and
meeting deadlines because those are important attributes in the employed world. That is a difficult rationale to uphold,
as there are many other valuable workplace values that teachers do not uphold and test in the classroom. The business
world does not always endorse promptness and meeting deadlines.
Students have a variety of reasons for their lateness, and teachers can increase their load by listening to all the reasons
and allowing some and not others. Confirming evidence is often skimpy. Some are legitimate in any context and do not
need punishment. Other may be the result of laziness, procrastination or competing priorities. In a study at one
university, the biggest deterrent to quality work on assignments was the workload, the competition for student effort
made by other teachers.
The main reason for punishing students for lateness is the unfairness that allows them to have more time to complete
the task and therefore the assumption that they will get better marks or grades. That argument also is tenuous, as many
students given double the time would not necessarily improve their marks and grades on an assignment.
If you prefer rewards rather than punishments, it would be better to provide some incentive for those who hand in on
time or those who hand in early. The resubmission of an assignment is one solution. Students who complete the task
early could be given advice about their assignment that could lead to its improvement on a resubmission. Be careful
with this, as you may find the whole class benefits from the advice that you give (early) to one student.
Resubmission of assignments has much to commend it, as it replicates what happens in the employed world where
work is frequently upgraded and polished. A similar strategy is to have staged marking where an assignment is broken
into its components and each part is marked graded or accepted and then forms part of the next stage. Some teachers
allocate a broad acceptable/not acceptable overview of these components and only grade the final submission. This
reduces the marking workload.
Regardless of what strategy you choose, examine the assumptions that you are making about lateness and analyze the
values you are encouraging by your behavior.
Internet references: http://www.prenhall.com/success/StudySkl/timemanage.html
www.yorku.ca/cdc/lsp/tm/time.htm
See also: Marking in front of them. Giving feedback P-N-P. Being fair.
MARKING IN FRONT OF THEM.
Students are aghast when you mark their work “live” in front of them. You will need some projection equipment so
they can see the script that you are marking. Whether it is a physics problem or an extended essay, a list of prioritized
social science processes or a paragraph, the technique works well because it shows what really happens. Use a paper
from last year’s class and make it anonymous. Either project it or give the students a copy. Then set about marking it
with your thoughts turned into speech that they can hear – thinking out loud. Talk about why chunks of the work
earned no marks at all and why the key parts of this student’s work were often quite a small part of his/her answer. A
single page is enough to make the point.
My students were surprised at how mean I was, because large chunks of their best work got no reward at all and it
seemed that I was unfairly rewarding rather small but insightful parts of their hand-in. This is usually the reality of
marking and grading. It is probably helpful to mark both a good example and a poor one to show the difference. Show
how you use objective marking criteria and also show how your inner systems for professional marking are well tuned
and based on experience rather than anything flimsy. It will sharpen their later answers and focus them on better
materials and less “filling”. One of my students was dismayed that an entire paragraph earned no marks at all. She
believed that if she wrote something, she should get some reward. You can dispel the myth that length is necessarily
strength!
Internet references: www.indiana.edu/~wts/cwp/grading.html
www.uoregon.edu/~tep/tshooting/grading.html
http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/informationliteracy/criteria.htm
See also: Avoiding bias when marking. Teaching those with kinesthetic preference. The
80/20 rule. Helicoptering.
IMPROVING MULTI-CHOICE QUESTIONS
There is much to commend in having students design multi-choice questions. They can write very good alternatives to
the correct answers because they know the attractive wrong answers. Ask the class to write down their misconceptions
about a particular point and gather those misconceptions to write detractors (the incorrect answers) for your multi-
choice questions. Teachers tend to devise rather obvious or “cute” detractors. Rather, try to come up with examples of
real student confusion, and use these.
An alternative, called OptionE, is to print an additional line underneath each multi-choice question. On that line,
students could write their reason for their choice (above). This works well and tests students’ understanding. Marks
can be awarded for both the reason and the chosen answer, reducing guesswork success. Remember that some students
may justify correctly an answer that you inserted as a wrong choice. That deserves credit, too.
Example One
Question Stem
a First distractor
b Second distractor
c Correct answer
d Third distractor
Explain why you chose your answer.
Example Two
Using the same printed line, you could invite students to write a better answer than those given above. You will need to
have some questions where the options given are incomplete answers to encourage students to write that better answer.
Question Stem
a First distractor
b Second distractor
c Third distractor or correct answer
d Fourth distractor
Write the correct answer here if it is not above.
Both these strategies will spoil your attempts to scan the answers with a machine, but it will sharpen your student’s
skills.
There are many ways to write good multi-choice questions. Some advise you to spread the correct answers randomly
around the positions a, b, c, and d. A common mistake is to make the correct answer longer than the distracters. This is
often done because correctness takes some careful definition, whereas distractors can be shorter and more easily
written. In one personal example, although I knew little if any biochemistry, I achieved a creditable pass grade in a
multi-choice test by choosing the longest option for each question.
Source or acknowledgments. Geoff Isaacs, University of Queensland, Australia, described option E.

http://au.geocities.com/geoffisaacs/MycurrCV.HTML
Internet references: http://www.uct.ac.za/projects/cbe/mcqman/mcqman01.html
http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/assess/assessment/
http://www.uoregon.edu/~tep/assessment/mc4critthink.html
http://www.robmccormack.com/qphelp/qphowto0.htm
See also: Questions to extend student thinking. Marking in front of them. Avoiding bias
when marking.
STUDENTS SPEAKING THEIR LEARNING
In higher education, requesting learners to write text most often evidences learning. But since kindergarten, learners
have used a wider variety of methods and it is worth considering whether you should provide other opportunities for
your students. Orally assessing students is one such opportunity, although in the fine arts and performing fields in the
academy it is also possible to dance or choreograph or compose or sculpt or conduct one’s way to a qualification. Oral
assessment is not rare, and in fact is a mainstay of the Ph.D. defence.
How many?
This is a strategy that is best if limited to around 20 students. If it is offered as an option, however, it may be viable for
a class of 60 if the remaining 40 choose the more traditional written test.
How long?
If you offer oral assessment as an option, you will need to work hard to ensure that the playing fields are level. For
example, the length of time given to a candidate for an oral answer to a question needs to be moderated against the time
given for a written answer. We speak faster than we can write and although speech is full of repetition, it is more
comprehensive than writing. As a rule of thumb, 20 minutes oral is similar to a three-hour written examination but you
will need to read your own context and adjust that figure.
How recorded?
Most authorities will want some form of record of what takes place in an oral assessment if only for the possibility that
the candidate appeals a grade. The easiest way is to tape the interaction from which a transcript can be made if there is
an appeal.
Bias
There is probably no more bias in an oral assessment than in a written one. Certainly the candidate has an opportunity
to use non-verbal communication to make a point but the style of written text can also give the same advantage.
Subjectivity exists in both formats, so a well-defined set of criteria for each question is required. The litmus test is
whether at the end of the assessment you could explain to the candidate why they received the grade that they did. The
order of candidates will also introduce a bias, as it does with a written test. Coming after poor performers has the
potential to lift your grades, and the reverse is true. The selection of candidate order needs to be transparent. Although
we accept a single marker/grader for written text, it may be worthwhile having another person sit in on the assessment
to provide a second opinion or merely to offer different eye contact to the candidate.
When?
If an oral assessment is held before or after a written examination, there can be leakage of information from student to
student about the examination content. Holding it at the same time is one possibility; having two sets of questions is
another.
Why?
It is easy to raise difficulties with oral assessment and to revert to the traditional written test but some students prefer to
demonstrate their learning orally and they should not be denied. There are, after all, very few written tests in life after
college and much more relies on our ability to communicate orally.
Internet references: http://www.artsnet.soton.ac.uk/learning_teaching/assessment/assessing_oralp.
htm
See also: Teaching students with an aural preference. Encouraging the quiet ones. Is
participation worth measuring? Prior knowledge and how to use it. Being
fair. Questions for the teacher.
IS PARTICIPATION WORTH MEASURING?
That depends! Participation should be measured only when it is an integral part of your objectives for the class. Don’t
try and measure it as a way to encourage attendance. That is an abuse of purpose and does nothing to encourage
effective learning.
There is a point in measuring participation when students are expected to demonstrate that they can take part orally in
class. This would be the case in a class on oratory, dialectics, debate or facilitation skills and maybe in some general
courses on oral communication. In these cases, there is a stated expectation that students will contribute. Some
teachers also make an assumption that every student in their classes has to participate so that they contribute to the
overall learning of others. They may state such assumptions in their syllabus documents. The argument is weak if we
are attempting to measure learning rather than personality and group behavior.
The main reason for removing participation as an assigned task in class is that it does not demonstrate anything at all
about the students’ learning. It does demonstrate who is shy and who is extroverted. A student who attends every class
but respectfully listens to the teacher and the contribution of others may be learning a great deal and should not be
marked down because she does not contribute.
If you do decide to measure participation, you will need to have finely tuned methods for doing so. Many systems are
open to challenge from students as being banal or unfair; simply measuring the quantity or frequency of participation
does not measure the quality of what is said.
Internet references: http://www.udel.edu/cte/TAbook/partic.html
http://www.oswego.edu/~shindler/part1.htm
http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw02/papers/refereed/ho/
http://www.aahe.org/assessment/principl.htm
http://www.uws.edu.au/uws/edc/workshops.htm
See also: Lateness to class. Encouraging the quiet ones. Quieting the noisy ones.
Avoiding bias when marking.
GIVING FEEDBACK AND P-N-P
P-N-P stands for Positive-Negative-Positive. This refers to the human tendency to balance feedback to others in a
particular pattern. When we are asked to provide feedback, we tend to begin with something positive, for example:
“This was a good attempt, Jean.”
We follow that with any critical comments that we want to make.
“However, I believe that your attempt could have been improved if you had …”
We dislike ending a relationship with a negative tone, so we tend to finish with something
that is positive.
“But, overall, I liked it a lot.”
The P-N-P pattern pervades our attempts to give criticism and it exists in the academic world too. When we give
students feedback, either written or oral, we have the same tendency to use a P-N-P pattern. Because we have been
socialized in similar ways to our students, they easily detect the pattern and may adapt predictable responses to it. For
example, a common response to P-N-P is to “not hear “ the opening positives because we believe they are merely
formulaic statements similar to “Good morning.” or “Hello”. Instinctively, we tune in much more selectively to what
follows—the negative parts of the feedback. Students may “not hear” the final positive statements because they too are
perceived as being formulaic rather than meaningful.
If you want your students to hear your praise, remove it from the patterned P-N-P response and package it differently.
Try N-P-N instead! Or, list the five features you admired and the five features that detracted from their work, or some
other pattern that breaks through the formula. This applies to written comments given on student work where the P-N-
P pattern also exists. Once you recognize it, you will realize how often you use it.
Interestingly, Rackham and Carlisle, in an article on negotiation techniques say that if you are going to disagree with a
proposition, give the reasons and then say, “No”. If you are going to agree, say “Yes” before giving the reasons. In a
parallel to P-N-P, this deters selective hearing.
Source or acknowledgments. Rackham, N., & Carlisle, J., The behavior of successful negotiators: North of
England Universities’ Management and Leadership Programme.
Internet references: www.pickens.k12.sc.us/adept/Induction/Res_to_st_answers.htm
http://www.umich.edu/~salead/resources/giving.effective.feedback.html
See also: Reading your own x-rays. Being fair. Avoiding bias when marking.
Gathering feedback. Questioning.
THE 80/20 RULE
While studying the distribution of national wealth in Italy, 19th century economist Vilfredo Pareto came to the
conclusion that 80 percent of it was owned by 20 percent of the people. This 80/20 rule, now known as the Pareto
Principle, also applies to teaching, and you can use it to good effect with your students.
Pareto Analysis. What is it?
The Pareto Principle states that only a "vital few" factors are responsible for producing most
of the problems. This principle can be applied to quality improvement to the extent that a
great majority of problems (80 percent) are produced by a few key causes (20 percent). If we
correct these few key causes, we will have a greater probability of success.
If you show students their marked essay or short answer quiz, it becomes obvious that much of their writing earned
them no marks at all. It is merely “filler”. The material that earns the real points is only 20 percent of what they have
written. How can they increase the amount of writing that earns more positive marks? One strategy is for them to
answer all the questions. Leaving a required question undone means foregoing the “easy” marks that come from stating
the obvious points. When setting examination questions, teachers often make some of them easy and others more
difficult to separate the good students from the very best students. Students are best advised to get the easy marks for
all questions rather than using time attempting to get all the marks for difficult questions.
There are other applications of Pareto’s Principle. Students soon realize that 80 percent of their study time is producing
only 20 percent of their learning, and vice versa. Therefore, suggest that they use strategies that try to maximize the
productive time and extend it. Reduce the time spent on the inefficient parts of their study time. Maybe it is not
important to do all that extra reading or to write out their notes again.
Teachers also can benefit from giving Vilfredo Pareto some thought. Maybe 20 percent of their teaching time, grading
time or preparation time is providing 80 percent of the results, and the other 80 percent of the time is much less
productive—including such things as procrastination strategies!
Source or acknowledgments. The Pareto principle is named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist in the
19th century.
Internet references: http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/pareto/
http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/pareto.htm
http://erc.msh.org/quality/pstools/pspareto.cfm
See also: Marking in front of them.

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PREFACE

DATA, INFORMATION AND WISDOM

I am helped frequently by a notice on my wall.

a collection of data is not information

Neil D Fleming, Revised September 2009

• What prompted you to take this subject?

These students attach meaning to the placement

 provide opportunities to explain their new ideas to others.

 lists and bullet points

Teacher’s role Students want teachers to help them learn to think.

Peers Students begin to view peers as legitimate sources of knowledge.

Stimulate opportunities for Repetition

• find out what the students know

• create time for the students to do so.

Use these scripts to encourage reflection:

How might XYZ apply in your life?

How might XYZ interact with other variables, associates, factors…?

Five Minutes Before

• How are you learning in this class?

• What strategies do you use to remember information in my class?

• How easy or hard is it to take notes from my teaching sessions?

• How do you assess your progress in this and other classes?

EXAMPLES OF EXAM QUESTIONS

“Explain either email or talkback radio as examples of the

“Take any two components of the SW model and

Before a big event I get butterflies in my stomach. What causes this?1

To the whole class:

• If you have something to say why not say it to all of us?

• Please don’t talk while I am talking…

For whom is this a problem?

“Nice to see you here, Mr. Jacobsen!!”

“I’m glad you made it to class today.”

“Do you realize how late you are…?"

“As I was saying before I was interrupted!”

Thanks for that.

Expectation surveys. See elsewhere in this book.

STAGE 1 - FOCUS ON SELF

Transition I - Self to subject

STAGE 2 - FOCUS ON SUBJECT

Transition 2 - Subject to student

STAGE 3 - FOCUS ON STUDENT

Transition 3- Student as receiver, to Student as active learner

STAGE 4 -FOCUS ON STUDENT LEARNING

Transition 4 - Student as active learner, to Student as independent learner

STAGE 5 — FOCUS ON THE STUDENT AS AN INDEPENDENT LEARNER

“Elements of Cultural World View”

Others. Another set of values focuses on interpersonal relationships. One’s personal

K n o w le d g e A ttitu d e s There is truth in both standpoints. Students like

Learning to value students’ contributions in an open forum is a valuable teaching skill.

Tell me where you got that insight?

What else contributed to that idea?

The scripts that one might use to initiate this are:

What are you working on today?

What is your hypothesis?

How will this work serve humanity?

Tell us about how you started on this research.

How often do you get a breakthrough?

“Do you have any questions?”

“Who has a question?”

“Let’s have some questions now.”

“What are your questions?”

Step Your Script

3. Clarify with the questioner. “Is that your question?”

5. Answer the question. “I don’t know the answer.”

How is an example of ?