{"id":4369,"date":"2017-09-20T14:49:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T21:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/?p=4369"},"modified":"2017-09-20T14:49:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T21:49:01","slug":"8-tips-student-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/2017\/09\/20\/8-tips-student-success\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Tips for Student Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friends,<\/p>\n

Welcome back.\u00a0 I hope each of you found time for some rest and renewal over the summer.<\/p>\n

The first day of class is our most important class session of the quarter.\u00a0 Students\u2019 first impressions of you, classroom peers and the assigned tasks will influence their will to succeed.\u00a0 Here are a 8 tips\u00a0 to getting our students off on the right foot: envisioning themselves as capable learners.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Smile, welcome and support<\/u>.\u00a0Students want you to know you care whether they learn.\u00a0 The first day is your opportunity to set a climate conducive for all learners. \u00a0Be friendly, yet clear about the kind and respectful norms of your classroom. From a cognition point of view, intellectual, physical and social safety are precursors to learning; we must first felle safe, before we open our minds to the acquisition of knowledge.\u00a0 Be conscious of your body language; tell a funny story, relax and enjoy your students.\u00a0 You are teaching what you love: show it!<\/li>\n
  2. Ensure equity and inclusion<\/u>.\u00a0 Clearly state: in this class, all voices are welcome and will be heard.\u00a0 Reinforce this claim by using flexible grouping.\u00a0 When students are consistently allowed to self-select their groups they do not have opportunities to work with others who hold diverse views and cultures.\u00a0 Preparing students to appreciate multiple perspectives and kindly negotiate differences of opinion is preparation for citizenry (and an OSU institutional outcome articulated in the Learning Goal for Graduates).<\/li>\n
  3. Review your syllabus prior to giving it to students.\u00a0<\/u>Syllabi are often the first direct communication between teachers and students. Because of our expertise (and busy-ness) we may write our syllabi with the same tone we use in our academic writing.\u00a0 The audience for a syllabus however, are your nervous students sitting in front of you. \u00a0Imagine yourself as your student in your class, what impressions does your syllabus inspire?\u00a0 Do you feel welcomed? Encouraged? As though the teacher is fair?\u00a0 Tone and word choice, imply.<\/li>\n
  4. Clearly communicate your academic expectations.<\/u>Often students will pass by the first few pages of the syllabus (sigh) and move right to the \u201cwhat do I have to do to pass this class,\u201d section.\u00a0 Be clear.\u00a0 If you are requiring a paper, explain the purpose of the paper, the connections to be made, and how the paper will be assessed.\u00a0 Always provide students with rubrics when paers and projects are assigned; you need not include rubrics in the syllabus.\u00a0 (It is easy to post rubrics on Canvas). If you are planning on giving exams, review (on line) the top points and skills that are most worth knowing: target key knowledge and skills.\u00a0 The purpose of assessment is to determine what the students learned.\u00a0 Test what was taught.<\/li>\n
  5. Check in frequently with your students.<\/u>Use frequent \u201cinformative assessments\u201d to monitor students\u2019 progress.\u00a0 Not all brief assessments need to be\u00a0graded; they are a form of communication between you and the students.\u00a0 These short assessments let you know what is going well, and what might need to be revisited.<\/li>\n
  6. Use fair and equitable grading.<\/u> Release yourself from detailed and extensive grading methods.\u00a0 The CTL has a \u201cgrading delineator\u201d (se link below) which may be of help: grade calculation differs with the type of course. Never grade on the curve, a curve is based on the assumption that students\u2019 performance will follow a bell curve: a certain percentage will fail.\u00a0 Instead, set an appropriate level of rigor for your students, then support them getting to that level of proficiency. It is our goal to help as many students over the hurdle as possible.\u00a0 If the majority of your students make it over, BRAVO!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    http:\/\/ctl.oregonstate.edu\/sites\/ctl.oregonstate.edu\/files\/gradingmodel_delineator_kms.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Pre-manage readings<\/u>.Prior to assigning readings, clearly identify what points on which you want the students to focus.\u00a0 Preparing students to read is a highly effective instructional strategy. As academics, we are proficient readers, and are able to identify what is worth noting. Unlike our students we have years of practice (and may have been good readers prior to entering undergraduate school.)\u00a0 Help your students learn how to be critical readers by providing them guidance and associated assignments that support students in summarizing and clarifying the reading.\u00a0 Creating short comprehension tests on Canvas prior to class is also a method of ensuring students read prior to class sessions.<\/li>\n
    2. Integrate writing and speaking practice into all classes.<\/u>Our students can\u2019t get enough practice in communication.\u00a0 Regardless of the major, citizens must be able to read, write and speak clearly.\u00a0 Short and frequent writing assignments are excellent practice.\u00a0 If you assign a paper, ensure students have the opportunity to write and revise, write and revise, prior to handing in a final.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Teaching is a highly complex set of skills. We all have our good days and our bad ones too.\u00a0 After 40 years of teaching though, I can safely say, when it comes right down to it, it\u2019s all about relationships. \u00a0Enjoy your students and share your passion for your love of learning.<\/p>\n

      Those of us in the Center for Teaching and Learning wish you all the very best for the upcoming academic year.<\/p>\n

      Kay<\/p>\n

      PS: There are many student academic support units on campus; please encourage your students to use them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Friends, Welcome back.\u00a0 I hope each of you found time for some rest and renewal over the summer. The first day of class is our most important class session of the quarter.\u00a0 Students\u2019 first impressions of you, classroom peers and the assigned tasks will influence their will to succeed.\u00a0 Here are a 8 tips\u00a0 to… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3656,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4370,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4369\/revisions\/4370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}