by Meredith Thomsen, Integrative Biology
My students’ papers clearly reflected the problems they had with group writing. For some, the sections appeared to be written by different individuals and then pieced together, with big swings in quality between sections; other papers seemed to be the work of a single student who had taken over the entire project…Spring semester, I decided to break the assignment into two sections.
by Francesca Rivera, Music
Without the terminology or solid knowledge of the historical context in which the composers worked, students can’t move beyond simplistic taste statements…or value-laden judgments. My problem, then, was to help them quickly memorize key musical concepts with sufficient depth of understanding to recall the term and apply it effectively, and, to help them connect the works of individual composers with the larger time period in which they lived.
by Heidi Saleh, Near Eastern Studies
After a couple of weeks into the class, I found that coming up with fresh ways to discuss and interpret texts that have been studied for hundreds of years such as The Odyssey was becoming a problem. The students were getting tired of straight literary analysis, and quite frankly, so was I.
by Jess Wendover, Architecture
The exercise, while sometimes comically oversimplified, demonstrated the importance of not relying on a single method of gathering data in designing a space. The students really enjoyed the activity; everyone laughed at the conflicting demands for spaces within the theater…[and] they began to see the biases and drawbacks of each of the methods of inquiry.
by Mary Becker Quinn, Spanish and Portuguese
“Reading and Literary Analysis” (Spanish 25) is the first literature class required in the Spanish department. Because it is a course organized by genre, the students’ command of literary form is essential. Equally essential, therefore, is the instructor’s ability to demonstrate why such knowledge is vital to the study of literature.
by Edith Replogle Sheffer, History
I distributed piles of arrows, blank paper, and colored markers, and announced we would construct our diagram of the Revolution on the table. Following a rough chronological order, we built the map one index card at a time. A student would read their card aloud; the group then discussed its significance and debated where to place it.
by Selby Schwartz, Comparative Literature
The students were clearly struggling with the complexity of character motivations, and I could see them teetering on the verge of dismissing the whole play: mocking its archaisms, flattening its protagonists, ironizing its structure, and dispelling its magic for themselves. Their skepticism exhibited a passive kind of resistance.
by Heather McCarty, History
The journals allowed me monitor each student’s progress with the readings. I was able to track which students completed the readings, but more importantly, whether or not students understood the material. I enjoyed commenting on the journals and found that they provided me with yet one more avenue in which to individually engage with students.
by Anne Marie Richard, Education
I…[had] students divide into teams and create a children’s book that reflects the issues and concepts of one of the topic areas of the course. Each group was thus challenged to convey complex theoretical issues in simple and practical terms through developing a story (either fiction or non-fiction) that included a plot and illustrations.