by Hillary Gravendyk, English I was ... impressed to find myself in a room full of well-trained environmental studies, engineering, and biochemistry majors who were fearless (it seemed to me) in the face of those mysteries of math and science that had so baffled me as a college student. But I quickly realized that there was one thing about which these poised young scientists were utterly perplexed, even terrified: poetry.
by Veronica Herrera, Political Science I thought that many of these students would go on to teach, facilitate presentations in future careers, give public speeches, or otherwise coordinate and instruct a group of colleagues, students, etc. The way sections were commonly taught did not allow for them to be constructors of the material in order to prepare for such a career, but rather the students were often passive digesters.
by Mary Trahanovsky, Materials Science & Engineering These methods consume lab and instructor time and neither method is effective in getting students to really think about what will be going on in the lab or how difficult the experiments and lab questions will be. The strategy I used was to make students responsible for deciding what they do in lab.
by Timothy Randazzo, Ethnic Studies Last summer I made the decision to alter my approach to teaching radically, and the result was the highest level of analytical thinking and enthusiasm among my students that I have ever seen in my six years of teaching...I decided upon three principles to guide my formulation of class activities and assignments: 1) there will be no lectures, 2) there will be no exams, and 3) whenever possible, student work will be reintegrated into the class, rather than being just “for the instructor.”
by Badr Albanna, Physics I decided to reverse the dynamic of our discussion sections. When it came time to work on problems, instead of my standing in front of the class begging the students to explain how they reasoned the first part of problem one to their classmates, they would become the teachers and I would adopt the role of a particularly knowledgeable assistant.
by Catherine Becker, History of Art I, the eager GSI, launched into an examination of Jomon pots and Yayoi bells; however, so many of the students’ basic questions had no answer that the class became frustrated and uninterested...I wanted to encourage more student participation. How could I engage my students in a productive and thoughtful conversation about objects from the distant past?
by Elzbieta Benson, Sociology Well-prepared and active students make successful discussion sections. However, not all students read and not all of them participate. As a Graduate Student Instructor, I strive to encourage all students to read their assignments and engage in class discussions.
by Mathew Wedel, Integrative Biology The most serious problem I encountered was the tendency of students to skip the lectures. Many students assumed that that they could get all the information they needed in lab or discussion sections, or by reading the textbook on their own time... I needed a way to encourage students to attend lecture, something that did not rely on the nebulous threat of poor performance on future exams.
by Huma Dar, South and South East Asian Studies Their final test entailed writing a detailed account in Urdu of the experiences of their families during the Partition. What I read made me re-read each essay and weep afresh at the depth of reflection, pathos, and the stubborn optimism in spite of it all, all in excellent Urdu!
by Bryan Zeitler, Molecular and Cell Biology One thing I find particularly frustrating is achieving a meaningful class dialogue after student presentations. Despite repeated calls for questions or comments from the class, it is not unusual for me to be the only one speaking after a student talk...[so] I implemented a written and oral peer review process that encouraged students to actively participate during and after student presentations.