Teaching at URI:

What All Instructors Need to Know

Julie Coiro, School of Education

Josh Caulkins, Office of Student Learning,

Outcomes Assessment and Accreditation (SLOAA)

• Introductions

• Notespace

• 1:00 http://goo.gl/oLjiqY

• 2:30 http://goo.gl/FW6vLD

• Overview of URI Teach Sheet (more details in the Course Transformation Guide)

• Three areas of teaching for discussion and reflection

Welcome – Our Agenda

• Who are we?

• Who are you?

1. Introduce yourself (position, courses you teach, years experience, etc.)

2. Discuss in your group and come to consensus: What are the top one or two things that you are most interested in learning about teaching your course this fall?

Share at https://todaysmeet.com/teachuri

Introductions

TIME TO…Share your insights AND ask questions

1. How do we motivate our students?

• Efforts to motivate students are woven into all parts of a lesson

• Contextualize and make relevant your time together, informed by student voices and concerns

• What techniques have you used that do NOT appear to motivate college-age students?

• A

• B

• C

• D

How do we motivate our students?

• What teaching techniques have you used to successfully motivate college-age students?

• Share on Google Docs Note-taking Space at http://goo.gl/oLjiqY (or Time 2: http://goo.gl/FW6vLD)

• What similarities/themes do you see across these practices?

How do we motivate our students?

Relevance

Choice

Collaborate

Feedback

Challenge

John Guthrie, 2008

How do we

motivate our

students?

How do we motivate our students?

Turn and Talk (Exit Slip):

What is one thing you will

change or do this fall in

one of your courses that

reflects these motivational

practices?

Relevance

Choice

Collaborate

Feedback

Challenge

How do we motivate our students?

2. How do we ENGAGE our students

with challenging content?

Guiding Questions For Our Next Activity:

• How might you engage your students with the challenging content that you teach?

• Where do you anticipate students having trouble and how might you intervene?

• DISCUSS: How is being “engaged” different than being “motivated”?

How do we engage our students?

Refer to your URI Teach Sheet

• SHOW

• What is required for conceptual mastery of key content in your course?

• Show how to apply the knowledge, rather than just the facts.

• REMEMBER

• Connect to/build on students’ prior knowledge, but also consider their preconceptions

• Model expert thinking (especially of steps that might be automatic for you)

How do we engage our students?

• Cognition: Thinking

• Metacognition: Thinking about thinking

• Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making these metacognitive thoughts visible

How do we engage our students with

challenging content?

Think-alouds: Deliberately planned commentary and conversational support at points where students might need explanation, elaboration, or connection.

• Expectation: I do > We do > You do

How do we engage our students with

challenging content?

Students show their thinking (and confusion)

while engaged with literature & math

PLANNING FOR A THINK-ALOUD (as a teacher)

Step 1. (Think & Write): What is a problem/process from my discipline that students often have difficulty understanding?

Step 2. (Think & Write) What steps in this process do I anticipate students might struggle with most? (Try to anticipate preconceptions and misconceptions)

Step 3. (Think Aloud) Verbally explain to a partner the steps you might take to work through this problem/process.

Step 4. (Clarify) See what questions your partner has about your process or suggestions to fill gaps in understanding.

How do we engage our students with

challenging content?

GOAL OF THINK-ALOUDS: Model and then provide students time to practice and internalize how to “walk the walk” and” talk the talk” in your discipline

REFLECTING ON THINK-ALOUDS

Reflect on this planning process and the role of think-alouds for engaging your students with challenging content

• What are your key takeaways? (post on Today’s Meet)

• How might these insights inform or transform your instruction of challenging content?

• Questions/concerns?

How do we engage our students?

3. How do we RESPOND to our students

and their efforts to engage with

challenging content?

• Formative feedback is most appropriate at those

steps where students are likely to struggle.

• The process of reflection and giving feedback can

inform your students AND your own teaching.

• What does formative feedback mean?

How do we RESPOND to our students

and their efforts to engage with

challenging content?

Refer to your URI Teach Sheet

• SHOW

– Explain how to improve with detailed, constructive

feedback; highlight precisely where in the process

students can improve and give guiding suggestions for

how to improve

• REMEMBER

– Give points for what you value (e.g., quality, quantity)

as these define your expectations

– Foster value in the process, not just points

How do we respond to our students

and their efforts?

• What are some specific examples of activities you have used that apply some of these underlying principles for practice and feedback? (discuss and if time, note briefly on the Google Docs Notes page)

• When should formative feedback happen to improve student outcomes/performance?

• How can we involve students in the feedback process?

• What are some barriers to giving formative feedback?

How do we respond to our students

and their efforts?

Formative Feedback: Two Stars & A Wish

• What is the most significant thing you’ve

learned today?

• What question do you have at the end of

today’s class?

• (Or…give a small task to solve)

• Helps evaluate your success in engaging students with

content in a way that is clear and memorable

• Quote 1-2 responses to begin conversation in next class

• Good practice for future essay questions

These are great because…

Formative Feedback: One Minute Essay

Formative Feedback:

Task Based Scoring Guides

Formative Feedback:

Double Entry Reflection Journals

From

the

text

From

your

head

Formative Feedback:

Conversation Calendars/Seminar JournalsStudent

Teacher

• Record your feedback in a podcast (AudioNote on

your iphone) rather than in writing.

• Think-aloud and critique work from a previous

year; critique another example with students

• Involve students in developing/refining a rubric or

scoring guide and then work through improving a

specific example together to meet criteria

Formative Feedback: Other Ideas

• Introductions

• URI Teach Sheet

• Your insights and questions about three areas of teaching for discussion and reflection

Wrapping Up

• Resources Available From Today

– Today’s Meet

• 1:00 https://todaysmeet.com/teachuri

• 2:30 https://todaysmeet.com/teachuri2

– Google Notes

• 1:00 http://goo.gl/oLjiqY

• 2:30 http://goo.gl/FW6vLD

– Sakai Resources

– Josh Caulkins -- caulkins@uri.edu

– Julie Coiro -- jcoiro@mail.uri.edu

Thank you!