Fall, 2022 The Teaching Inquirer Issue 1 | |
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Teaching and Learning Consultations (TLCs)
The CTE is excited to announce a new service to our instructors: Teaching and Learning Consultations. When requested, instructors are paired with a trained consultant (ETSU faculty or CTE staff) who will work with you on a teaching goal. The process is intended to be supportive but not evaluative; TLCs are a great way to show interest in growing your instructional skills with a helpful peer. Learn more about the process or request a TLC at our website's TLC page.
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CTE Casual Chats
Stop by to talk nerdy with CTE staff about any teaching issues, big or small, during our CTE Casual Chat times. From September through November, you’ll find us in the Culp Center on designated days, at a table either on “Main Street” or in front of Starbucks (see red outlined areas below); we'll also be near Einstein's Bagels in Sherrod Library one morning per week. We’ll put up a table sign so you can find us!
Tuesdays: Einstein's (Sherrod), 9:00-10:00
Wednesdays & Thursdays: Culp, 11:30-12:30
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8/30 11:30-1:00 Purely Social: Lunch!
9/9 1:00-2:30 Creating a Community of
Learners
9/13 3:00-4:30 Grading for Fairness & Accuracy
9/15 2:00-3:30 Item-Writing for Multiple-
Choice Assessments
9/16 12:00-1:00 TED Talk Lunch & Learn: Lunch!
9/21 3:00-4:30 Faculty Book Club: Distracted
9/23 9:30-11:00 Overcoming Student Resistance
9/29 1:00-2:30 Keeping Them on the Hook
10/3 2:00-3:30 Study Skills for Students
10/5 2:00-3:30 Keeping Them on the Hook
10/6 1:00-2:30 Respect for Students
All workshops, unless otherwise noted, held in
Room 433 Sherrod Library
Learn more, register, and see additional Fall events at our CTE website.
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From Our Founding Director,
Dr. Amy Johnson
In October of this year, the Center for Teaching Excellence will celebrate its 5th anniversary. I feel so honored to have been part of the launch of this important new resource for ETSU faculty. At the time, I could not envision the community that has grown around center activities and events. And I was proud to see that community persist, and perhaps even grow stronger, during our challenges with remote and hybrid instruction. I’m encouraged each time I learn from one of you. I get a little jolt of excitement each time I hear an idea and take a note during a CTE event that challenges me to make an important (and often small change) that could make my students more engaged with their own learning.
Since its launch, center staff have worked with nearly 600 ETSU faculty. That’s a number that helps me feel both pride and motivation. While we have done good work, I know there are still ways we can grow together and build classrooms that are even more humane, inclusive, welcoming, and warm. As I step away from the CTE and we welcome the new energy and growth that will come with the leadership of Dr. Barton, I have an even stronger conviction that this center has been an important beacon for many teachers whom I have learned from and admired. I am also filled with hope because I know Dr. Barton will bring new initiatives and new enthusiasm to her role as Director. Get ready for the CTE 2.0; this community will be more challenged and more vibrant because of her vision and her passion.
With friendship and a shared commitment to the work we love, I want to leave you with a quote from this year’s CHIIPs keynote speaker. Kevin Gannon writes, “teaching is a radical act of hope. It is an assertion of faith in a better future in an increasingly uncertain and fraught present.” I want to thank all of you for letting me be a part of the faithful who come to the art of teaching with the reverence, respect, humility, and joy that the work requires and deserves.
- Dr. Amy Johnson
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The CTE Staff and many ETSU faculty gratefully acknowledge Dr. Amy Johnson’s dedication to excellence in teaching during her tenure as CTE Director.
Your leadership has been an inspiration.
From the bottom of our hearts, we all thank you!
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+1 Teaching
Small Changes, Big Impact
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What's In a Name?
When it comes to creating classroom community, a lot!
Students appreciate it when instructors know their names, and they can become more engaged and focused in class when teachers respectfully use their preferred name - and try their best to pronounce them correctly.
There are many strategies and tools to improve your ability to recall and pronounce names. Here are a few that not only help you remember but can also spark engagement:
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Mnemonics: For many of us, remembering faces comes naturally but names are more difficult in part because we usually lack context. Therefore, when students introduce themselves, ask them to share something with the class that will help everyone remember their name. Is there an interesting backstory to your name or nickname? Or a good rhyme or alliteration, for instance, I'm “fun-filled Phil.”
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Test yourself: We expect students to do a lot of cognitive work so it is only fair to do some ourselves. Instead of just calling roll, push yourself to retrieve names first without looking. You may struggle the first few sessions but let this be one of those little opportunities for levity and modeling growth mindset.
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Encourage students to learn each other's names as well. The more connections, the stronger the community of learners!
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Student Voices
In our quote (right), we hear from a student who just wants to know “what” and “when,” and she is not alone. Imagine the following scenario: You have a regularly-occurring, mandatory meeting to ensure you are up-to-date on essential skills to do your job. You are given a vague list of topics at the beginning of the year, but you show up to every meeting with no idea what’s going to happen that day. Your supervisor sets deadlines that appear arbitrary and often feel very last-minute.
This is how students feel when their course schedule is merely a list of topics and assignments on the syllabus. Our students cannot be the kind of learners we want them to be if we handicap them by keeping them in the dark, even if it is unintentional. Students benefit immensely from knowing what is going to happen in class on a weekly or even daily basis. Just like you would feel more respected in the scenario above if your supervisor had a clear agenda and deadlines were set far in advance, your students will feel more respected if you provide them with a schedule that contains as much detail as you can possibly provide them - doing so right in D2L can help them see what's happening in all of their classes each week. And if the schedule must change (weather, illness, etc.), then clearly communicate how the schedule will change and why it was necessary.
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Patrick Brown, CTE Fellow
I just started reading Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well, by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. Lecturers at Harvard Law and cofounders of Triad Consulting, Stone and Heen have gathered strategies from experienced leaders in business, government, and nonprofits, and paired them with insights from psychology and neuroscience to help the reader understand why receiving feedback can be difficult and how to receive it better. My big focus in the Center this year is on assessment and feedback. I hope to use some of Stone and Heen’s insights into a workshop on authentic assessment that will be coming this fall.
Phil Smith, CTE Assistant Director
I’m currently making my way through Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning, by Susan Hrach. Lately, I’m very interested in experiential learning and how all the ways we can interact with our environments through all our senses and bodies can be applied to learning, inside but especially outside the classroom. “No more brains on sticks” is one of the rallying calls of this book, which is chock-full of ways to create more embodied learning activities. This will surely inform the workshop, “Campus as Text,” that I plan to present for the CTE later this fall.
Alison Barton, CTE Director
One book I’m reading, Hacking Questions:11 Answers that Create a Culture of Inquiry in Your Classroom, by Connie Hamilton, really has me thinking about the ways we can unintentionally let students out of staying cognitively engaged in our classrooms. I’m excited to share some of the ideas from this book in a few new fall workshops: “Keeping Them On the Hook,” and “Turn Students Into Their Own Teachers.”
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Brittany Butler (Senior Lecturer, Chemistry) is continuing an Internship with the CTE this Fall as part of her Educational Leadership doctoral program.
She says, “I am thrilled to be working with the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) this summer. To complete an internship in educational leadership, students were instructed to, ‘choose a site in which they could put into practice the leadership knowledge, skills, and attitudes that have been learned and developed during coursework.’ I am mentored by several professional and experienced organizational leaders, who have all shared with me their enthusiasm for teaching and learning. I’ve been able to further development my leadership skills, seeing the ‘behind–the–scenes’ planning and inner workings of the CTE. I look forward to continuing my work with the Center this Fall and know it will be a rewarding learning experience.”
| Join SoTL Writing Groups This Fall! | |
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) refers to research about teaching and learning in higher education. If you are working on a SoTL study or article, or would like to begin one, join us for Writing Group sessions on Zoom this Fall. We will begin each session by updating on our progress and goals for the session, go “dark” for writing time (or for consultation with CTE staff on SoTL matters, including first steps), then reconvene to share our progress. This is a supportive, “accountability group” model that allows time and space for academic writing on SoTL matters! To learn more and register to receive Zoom links and Outlook meeting invitations, go to our CTE website's SoTL page.
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Fall 2022 Faculty Book Club
September 21, 3:00—4:30
Sherrod 311
Register to come & receive free book!†
†while supplies last
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