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Teaching & Learning Center

Observation #1 – Fall 2014

Principles of College Teaching – EDCI 943
Observation #1 – Fall 2014

Here you and your partner can post your interview questions and the observed instructor’s responses to these questions. Please refrain from listing the instructor’s name in your post. We will discuss your observation and interview experiences during class on 9/25.

About Monica E. Vaca-Cárdenas

Mónica Elva Vaca-Cárdenas is a Ph.D student at Kansas State University in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She has also been the Graduate Research Assistant at the Teaching and Learning Center of the Kansas State University for the last two years. Monica is from Ecuador, where she obtained the following qualifications: Doctor in Languages, mention International Cooperation, Diploma in teaching (EFL) English as a Foreign Language and a Master degree in Linguistics applied to EFL. Teaching experience: Monica has been teaching English as a Foreign Language for fifteen years in Ecuador, at elementary, high school and University level; and teaching Spanish for a couple of semesters in the International Student Center of K-State.
12 thoughts on “Observation #1 – Fall 2014
  1. Observation #1
    Molly Lass and Tasha Dove
    Obeserved 9/19/14

    How long have you taught this course or a variation of it?
    37 years in total, previously taught at Kent State and Louisiana State University.

    How has the course plan changed/remained the same since you began teaching the course?
    The syllabus remains the same, but I added many things in the beginning, some things are now included that were still being looked at back in the day. I’ve always had same order of content, what does change is delivery in the class. That isn’t fixed because each class is different.

    What are the student learning outcomes for the course? How do you accomplish these outcomes during class? How to you assess these outcomes?
    My SLO’s are very basic which then progress towards sophisticated understandings. This is to give the students a familiarity with architectural styles, an understanding of important and famous buildings, and most important individuals, patrons, and clients. Then, going more deeply, differentiate between styles, connoisseurship, chronological order, build up to complex topics, and how architecture relates to other human phenomenon like politics, religion, themes, local materials, and function.

    How do you get students engaged/interested in the class?
    I get them to talk to each other, give quizzes that they fill out during class that forces them to pay attention, we use word clouds so that we may assess where everyone is at in the class. We also use world clouds to see this is what students know about the subject, and see where there are strengths and weaknesses.

    Any advice for current/future instructors?
    Be well prepared; students appreciate organization and confidence. Never be afraid to admit that you made a mistake. A change in pronouns, we instead of I, connects the class better to the instructor. Some students are frustrating and are going to challenge you so keep in the anger, and let it out later.

  2. 1. How long have you taught this course?
    I have taught this course for three years so this is my fourth year.

    2. How has the course plan (e.g., lesson plans, activities, syllabus, etc.,) changed/remained the same since you began teaching the course?
    When I first began teaching this course, I used more lecturing and the content from textbooks, while now I utilize more interactive teaching techniques to engage the students and encourage the student to get involved in class.

    3. What are the student learning outcomes for the course?
    To understand the process of facilitating change in self, others, and systems.
    To exercise leadership to make progress on personal and community issues.

    4. How do you accomplish these outcomes during class?
    I try to create an environment where the student becomes the facilitator and in which they talk to each other and I sometimes I just sit and listen.

    5. How do you assess these outcomes?
    The students are required to read the course-related materials and write the reflections weekly on K-State Online message board.
    They are also required to do the group projects for the community to gain the hands-on experience in leadership.

    6. How do you get student engaged/interested in the class?
    As you saw it, I kind of monitor students’ energy and I have them stand up and do an improv game after 30 minutes of siting down. I also have them do groups activities in which we all reflect of what we just learned.

    7. What is your teaching philosophy?
    It is experiential learning as well as the benefit for the larger community. Service learning and challenging students. I also believe in students dictate what they are learning, but not a book dictates what the students are learning.

    8. Any advice for current/future instructors?
    I would say to be yourself and after watching and learning new things from other teachers, just add your own style to the way you teach. I would say to new teachers to integrate their passion into the classroom and it is always very important to be transparent and be honest with your students and if you do not know something that needs to be covered in the curriculum, at least try to familiarize yourself wit the material and let the students know that it is a hard concept to get and that you are still wrestling to understand it and have them all learn together.

    9. How do you usually prepare to teach this course?
    I invest about 5 hours each session. Three hours would be mental work of trying to figure out what and how I will do the lessons. The other two hours would be invested in actually writing things down and preparing all the materials.

    10. What challenges did you face when you began teaching this course? If any.
    The biggest challenge that I have would be the continuing learning commitment of the students. It is difficult to get them interested in the subject and continue to explore more knowledge and make progress gradually. Therefore, it is important for me to get them involved and excited about the topics of our course and direct them to be the center of the classroom and establish a concrete learning relationship between them and the course content with the implementation of various activities and group projects.

  3. Observation #1
    1. What is your teaching philosophy?
    a. Active environment where you divide a class period into three or four mini sections and do something fun shortly in between the mini sessions. Try to get to know most people harder for bigger classes. Mainly have the students doing something instead of just listening.
    2. How long have you taught this course and how has it changed?
    a. Taught principles of Macroeconomics for twelve years. The class now has a facebook page. It has increased in general from a class size of 150 to 250 people. The class used to have more chalk and talk, but now he avoids chalk and talk and PowerPoint.
    3. What is the purpose of the Big 12? Are these students expected to participate in class more than the other students?
    a. Each week 12 students will be in the Big 12 at the end of the week they fill out a survey and talk about what they liked and disliked. They are expected to be a little bit more participation.
    4. What do you do to try encourage class interactions?
    a. Walk up and down the room
    b. Don’t let students sit in the back, except for people coming in late
    c. Passing the football around to have the person who catches it answer the question
    5. While preparing the students for exams, you have practice quizzes and quizzes, but could you explain further retests.
    a. Student takes the exam then they get to keep their multiple choice part of the exam. They can redo the multiple choice, before answers go out and they can get into groups of 4 answer the multiple choice together, for every 5 points they get 1 bonus point to their exam score.
    6. I noticed that you used the overhead projector, a PowerPoint, and the white board during your lecture. Is this common? Do you mean to use multiple tools while presenting the information to the students? It seems like you covered the same material at least one time on each of these tools.
    a. Pretty much use the board for a reference to look at later, also helpful for repetition, that is doing similar problems using different tools.
    7. Is there any particular reason that you play music at the beginning of class? Do you play music in all your classes, large and small?
    a. Add energy to the room, starts class when the music stops. Use music in pretty much all classes, big or small.
    8. Any advice for current future instructors.
    a. Willing to say when you’re wrong about something.
    i. It’s fine to say you don’t know
    ii. Come back to things that you’ve said that were wrong, next time
    iii. Don’t take yourself to seriously

  4. Observation #1

    Question 1: What is your teaching philosophy?

    Create an active classroom environment. One way to do this is create 3-4 mini-sessions for each class period, which allows students to approach topics in different ways and helps to move on to new topics.

    Question 2: How long have you taught this course, and how has it changed over this period of time?

    This is the 11th year instructing this course at Kansas State. There have been many changes in teaching this class over this time period, with the main change in approach being the integration of technology to present and interact with course information in new ways. This use of new technology is used in the classroom (use of different tools of presentation), and outside of class (websites with additional material and student connection through Facebook.com)

    Question 3: What is the Big 12? (The course observed was in a large lecture hall (approximately 200 students), so each week ten students are randomly chosen to be part of the Big 12.)

    The Big 12 students are required to sit in the front row, and are called upon to participate during the class. At the end of the week the Big 12 students give feedback on the class, which is covered during the next class period.

    Question 4: What do you do to prepare students for exams and help them learn the material?

    Preparations for exams begin more than a week in advance, with students taking practice quizzes and quizzes. After an exam, students have the additional opportunity to earn points and learn the material by retaking the exam with a group for bonus points.

    Question 5: You present the class materials using many different tools (overhead projector, whiteboard, projector, etc.). What is the purpose of this?

    This is done for pedagogical reasons. It helps to present the information in different ways, and each way of presenting information has different benefits. For example, something that is written on the white board can stay up for the entire class, whereas an overhead has to be changed throughout a class period.

    Question 6: Why do you play music at the beginning of class?

    It adds energy to the room. This is good for morning classes, and classes right after lunch.

    Question 7: Advice for future instructors?

    Don’t be afraid to be wrong. Even after years of teaching the same subject, there are questions that will catch an instructor off guard. It is fine to admit you don’t know something, but take the time to get an answer and address it during the next class period.

  5. Observation #1
    1) How long have you taught the course?
    25+ years in total, this is my 5th year for this smaller sized honor course, before that taught another Ag Economics course and still teach a larger class of Ag Econ.

    2) What are your student learning outcome for the course?
    My student learning outcomes include development of writing, presenting, communication, and teamwork skills for the students. I give weekly assignments to the students, which improves their writing skills. Similarly, teamwork building is a key component for these independently thinking students, such as group exams, group presentations, etc.

    3) How do you assess these outcomes?
    I assess them based on their working styles. I used multiple types of assignment styles, for example classroom discussion, collaborative trainings are given to students; based on their performance, which I use to evaluate them. Team work and team exams have definitely been the most beneficial for them to learn and interact with one another, it challenges the honor students and pushes them to new a potential/way of learning. I also encourage them to ask a lot of questions in class during the lectures and other class activities.

    4) How do you get students engaged/ interested in the class?
    Students get engaged by discussion sessions, collaborative works, games, and other physical and mental activities in the class. They have given couple of problems to solve like constructing a graph, calculating values in a table etc. They are also encouraged to ask questions and pointing out if they found any mistakes in the lecture hours. Also for catching their attention talking about some outclass subjects is another tactics used in the class.

    5) What is most effective or how do you make it more effective about this style?
    I think interactive teaching style is better than passive lecture. This style develops a strong student- teacher relation in the class. I follow the interactive teaching style and I hope it will enrich learning abilities of students.

    6) How do you feel about your very first class and very last class, what have you learned while teaching over the years?
    It’s good to not present to the class in a perfect manner, learning is a process with the students. I try to make little mistakes while writing on the board, not to get them confused but to get them to be thinking and question something. It’s good to be imperfect, however it takes a while to learn how to be imperfect correctly. Also preparation is vital, if you are prepared then you can have the ambiguity and make mistakes to keep students awake and on edge and then reward those who point out the mistakes. I spend hours learning the lecture beforehand, even after all these years, I still write the whole lecture out by hand 1 to 2 times the day before to practice. This gives you a greater level of confidence, a more fluid delivery style and while this is happening it continues to be a self-confidence booster.

  6. VanKrevelen & McCoy Interview

    1. How long have you taught the course?

    2. How course plan changed ?
    -Focus on how he can relate the content more to the everyday lives of the students

    3. What are the SLO’s
    -Survey level course, therefore he wants students to have broad overview of the relevant topics

    4. How he engages student?
    -Uses variety of multi-media approaches and relates topic to students
    -Gets students involved by creating a video about the phenomenology of being a student
    -Breaks large class (450) into small groups of 20. Each week they have recitation exercise to discuss and recap the content from the lecture that week.

    5. Teaching philosophy?
    -What do you want to teach, how do you want to evaluate, and WHY you want them to learn the particular content. He believes that many profs don’t place appropriate emphasis on the ‘why’ component of teaching.

    6. Advice for future instructors?
    -He advised to be as intrinsically motivated with content area as possible. Authenticity & sincerity are powerful.

  7. 1. Can you elaborate on the concept of the Socratic seminar?
    I think it’s effective because I don’t think students learn just by hearing information and remembering it. I think they really learn when they have to use or articulate the information. When you’re dealing with concepts, having students articulate it, that’s when they learn it and never forget it.
    Learning is social, it’s dialogic, it’s back and forth. If you get people working together, you take the most advantage of the fact that learning is social.

    2. When did you know you wanted to teach?
    In my second year of grad school I was responsible for teaching a class. I walked in and asked everyone to get out a piece of paper, and everyone got out a piece of paper. I was like, “oh my gosh it works!” Before that I was interested in learning, but that was the first moment I had fun in the classroom. It’s so incredibly simplistic, but til this day I’m shocked. The very first minutes of the very first class I taught.

    3. How do you deal with any negative teaching evaluations you get?
    It depends. Most teachers will go through their evaluations. Out of one hundred, they’ll focus on the 2 or 3 that are negative, despite all the other positive ones. You seize on the negatives, but I think what’s important is … they hurt. I’ll acknowledge that. I think of all the papers that I’ve written on with negative feedback, and it hurts. What I try to do is to consider how I can try to use the feedback for improvement.

    4. What sorts of evaluation methods do you find to be most effective?
    variety. On the one hand, writing. You can test writing, communication, and thinking skills. But I also like to let students teach a class, memorize poems, and get the students in small groups. Students retain the least amount, ~10% or less, from lecture. But if they have to teach something, they retain almost all of it. I love having them teach. Attendance, participation, group quizzes and exams.

  8. 1. How long have you taught the course?
    He has been teaching the course for 4 years, once a year.
    2. How has the course plan (eg. Lesson plans, activities, syllabus etc.) Changed/ remained the same since you began teaching the course?

    The course content is same. But, he updates the other materials such as different current examples and figures every year. Also, he invites different guest speakers.

    3. How to you get students engaged/interested in the class?

    He often has the students turn to each other to address questions when he is not under time pressure. He wonders around and listens to what they are doing and report back on that they discuss.

    4. What is your philosophy?

    He tries to let the expose to reality of it in the industry because it is hard to break in and the entry level job in the industry is not glamorous as they expect. The entry level’s salary is low and their first job will be putting coupons and seats for designing marketing.

    5. What is your pedagogy?
    He believes reading assignment, textbook, attending lectures, and own explanations help them to learn.
    6. Any advice for current/future instructors?

    To find won style. If you are comfortable with your style, make you more affective.

    7. What have you done when the students’ outcome doesn’t meet your expectation in the end of the semester?
    He carefully reviews the students’ evaluation and read the written comments. He updates or change the course content for the next class.

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  10. –How long have you taught the course?
    11 years, fall and spring

    –How has the course plan (e.g., lesson plans, activities, syllabus etc.,) changed/remained the same since you began teaching the course?
    Yes, I have added new things over the years. The Big 12 is a group of 10 students who are selected randomly each week. These students sit in the front two rows of class. They are the ones who are often called upon to answer questions. This has been in place for the last four semesters. Other things have been added such as the facebook page, using poll everywhere, and the Economics of the Office webpage.

    –How do you get students engaged/interested in the class?
    Big 12 group
    “pass the ball”- whoever catches the ball comes up and helps solve the problem.
    Course facebook page
    6 minute interviews- the first 70 people to sign up receive extra credit. They meet with the professor in their office and discuss anything but economics.
    Being available before and after class, as well as in office hours to answer questions
    Question of the day posted when students come into class.
    Group work
    Using current events and real world applications. Even clips of The Office that demonstrate economic concepts http://economicsoftheoffice.com/

    –What is your teaching philosophy?
    “Economics is everywhere.” Show the students that economics is in everyone’s life. It is important to relate the topics in class to current events. Take a personal interest in the student and try to learn as many names as you can. Try to make students feel involved and not like they are just a number. Coming from a small town, I was afraid about being lost at a large university, so I want the students to have feeling of community in my class and have the opportunity to meet others.

    –Any advice for current/future instructors?
    Find your own way, and be comfortable in what you are doing. Go to teaching conferences and connect with others in your field who are doing innovative teaching techniques. Many of the neat things I have in my classroom I did not come up with individually.

    –How do you find a balance between teaching and advising? A balance with your appointments in general?
    It might sound bad… but sometimes if someone is not prepared for their advising appointment you have to send them away until they have all the necessary materials/information gathered. Sometimes it also helps to work odd hours so that there are fewer distractions. I’m not going to lie, I am often pretty stressed out.

  11. The class I observed was fascinating. The subject matter is not something that I would normally seek information on, so at first I was concerned that I might not be interested. However, the professor was very engaging and his passion for the subject matter was evident. From a classroom management perspective, he does a great job and not by moving around during the the entire lecture, but the beginning (2 min. prior)of class has a “random” pop culture reference that is later tied into the lecture. He would also pull in several current issues into the lecture if it applied to the topic.
    I liked how he use the phrases “just to remind you” or “recall _____ from last semester” to tie concepts together. I try to do that in my own courses, but being new, I can only reference the current semester because I am not sure what is learned in other classes.”
    This course requires quite a bit of historical information, and the professor said that when he began teaching the course, history was a pre-req, but because the students were coming in with too diverse of a back ground, the department decided to change the course and incorporate more of the historical information within the course.

    **I wan’t to sit-in on the class!**

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