My Freshman Year by Rebekah Nathan

What was the most surprising aspect of the book and why did it surprise you?

I was surprised by My Freshman Year when Rebekah Nathan began to time manage like an undergraduate student and adopt some of the same ideas. She brought up the point multiple times that she couldn’t figure out why students didn’t do assigned readings for her class. However, in one of her classes the professor gave an online reading assignment and she realized she had no intention of ever doing it and didn’t even write down the website (pg. 138). Nathan then had a "personal epiphany” at this point, as she referred to it, and discovered that students were not reading because the material wasn’t going to be used on a quiz or assignment and it would interfere with time spent doing required work for other classes.

First of all, I was suprised it took her this long to figure this out. But I was mostly surprised that she eventually came to adopt the same attitude about reading assignments. I would have thought that since she was a professor she would have tried to have been a model student in all aspects. I think Rebekah Nathan grew a greater understanding and appreciation for the kind of time conflicts undergraduates deal with. This is also an example of why we as teachers need to keep reading assignments relevant and useful. In many instances, the professor will know the strength of the reading and how it can help the student, but as Rebekah Nathan pointed out, if the student does not see it as being relevant to their grade in some way they are unlikely to do it.

In light of the challenges faced by undergraduate students highlighted in the book, what advice would you give to new college instructors?

I would make sure new college instructors knew that when students fall asleep in class, don’t do reading assignments, or ask for extensions on deadlines that it’s probably not personal (pg. 145). Students juggle a tremendous amount of things in their lives including work, social life, homework, classes, family, etc. Students will cut corners if they feel they can. Students may also take classes to meet a requirement or fill a time slot and may have little to no interest in the course subject. This is how undergraduates manage time and get through college as smoothly as possible. If they don’t like your course or don't do well, chances are it’s not personal.

I would also give the advice to be culturally aware. As we’ve learned from this assignment and previous reading assignments, cultural diversity is very present in American universities. Cultural beliefs and customs can have an impact in the classroom. Whether this being clear by the level of participation, asking questions, or choosing a group with only same raced students, cultural diversity is very present.

I would give a new teacher advice to not expect a student of a different race to be a spokesperson for their entire culture. I would also encourage a teacher to try to create diverse groups of students for projects or assignments so students can have experience working with those of other ethnicities. As Nathan pointed out, American students are more likely to hang out with and surround themselves with those of the same race, and that holds true for people of other cultures (pg. 63). Students may not realize the value of a relationship with someone from another country or of another race. Of course a teacher can’t force these relationships but I think it is good to try and get students to interact with those that are of different ethnicities.

Has the book changed your perspective on undergraduate students? If no, why not? If so, how so?

This book has opened my eyes to things I’ve known have existed among American college students but have never wanted to admit. For starters, the ignorance shown to international students is appalling and unbelievable, but at the same time very believable. When Rebekah Nathan interviewed students from diverse backgrounds the questions they had been asked by American college students were of poor taste and simply ignorant (pg. 86). I think American students in general need to be more educated about the world around them and about other cultures.

I’m not entirely surprised by the ignorance because I left the country for 6 months and looked at my own culture from a distance. (Nathan relates to this experience in the first chapter of My Freshman Year). When I returned, I was noticeably shocked the ignorance of my friends and even my own family. I have asked myself, “Is American ignorance is from our country being so vast and consumed with our own subcultures?” and even, “Do American’s just not care?” I don’t have the answer to that, but the ignorance in our culture is noticeable and unfortunate.

This book hasn’t changed my perspective but has shed light on some important, and not always nice, aspects of American college culture. On a nicer note, I am not entirely pessimistic about American students. I believe that American students are driven to succeed in life and are generally motivated to complete college and have a career. American students’ discipline and motivation comes from a variety of places, sometimes they may not even realize why they went to college in the first place but they still do. Maybe not many of them go to school to learn but I believe by the time they graduate they realize they did learn and enjoyed it.

The final reading from Teaching Tips put a lot of new ideas in my mind as to why students learn and how I can help them learn. I like the idea from page 308 about organizing information by presenting content in a scheme or timeline. I like this idea because, in the case of events, it can give students a sequence of when and why things happened around each other. This also seems like a good idea for plotting science theories. A good way to format this would be to start with a topic of low complexity and build up to a highly complex topic in a scheme format.

ex. [human body--------cell---------nucleus----------DNA--------transcription----------expression]

I believe schemes are a great way to organize material and can be useful as a measure of quantitative factors, events and complex material. A way that I could implement this is my teaching is by starting with a simple subject such as a cell. I can have the cell begin the scheme and add the additional parts of the cell which will build up to how DNA is made. Having students elaborate on each step in the process would be imperative to the learning process.

The scheme will help break down concepts for students and help them make connections to challenging material. I think the scheme idea can also work for scientific timelines. For example, I can have students make a timeline to show the changing levels of different hormones of pregnancy throughout gestation. With this timeline, students can clearly see changes over time and relate cause and effect type factors. I think schemes and timelines are a great way to help build meaning for the student with complex or multi dimensional material.

The revision of Bloom’s taxonomy from chapter 24 is a helpful way to approach teaching. The taxonomy is a hierarchical structure that helps us be realistic about what we can expect from students at each stage of the learning process. We should teach to those with little knowledge on the subject with the expectation that they will first have to memorize but will eventually understand concepts. As the student progresses in their learning and school they will be expected to preform "higher-order skills" with that ultimate goal that they will be able to evaluate and create content (pg. 320). (Bloom's Taxonomy)

I can implement the Bloom’s taxonomy in my teaching by being realistic about my expectations. I can set up my lower level courses to give students a base in complex concepts and expect that they will start to understand these concepts. I think memorization is a good tool for students who are entering college because it helps them learn important information about the topic that they will eventually be expected to apply and analyze. As the students go further in their major I can expect a higher degree of thinking. A few good ways of doing this are by expecting the students to form viewpoints on various topics, analyze and evaluate concepts and be able to teach concepts to other students.

Chapter 26 is a good ending to Teaching Tips. There are many take home messages from this chapter but I feel one of the most important is that the ultimate test of our teaching is evidence of whether or not our students learned (pg. 348). My views on this issue have really shifted over the course of this semester. I have always wanted to teach but I never realized that the way I teach could have such a strong impact on how my students will learn. I used to think either students were motivated to learn and worked hard or didn’t. I now see that part of my job as a teacher is to create a spark in student’s minds that turns into a fire.

I want to generate curiosity and exploration in the subjects I teach. I want students to be able to apply what I teach them to practical situations in their lives. If many students don’t learn from my courses then I must evaluate my teaching. I may be making mistakes in presenting the material, appropriately challenging them or motivating them to learn. I can and will implement many ideas and concepts from this book into my own teaching. I have come to the conclusion that be a teacher embodies being creative, realistic, encouraging and thought provoking. Teaching is much more than lecturing and handing out tests and this book has helped me see that and has provided me with many ways to facilitate learning.

A few additional teaching links...

More ideas for assignments for upper level students.

Teaching with Bloom's Taxonomy.

I found chapter nine in First Day to Final Grade to be insightful on getting the most out of student evaluations. The idea I like is from page 170, which suggests that you ask open ended questions on student feedback forms. You can ask 4-5 questions pertaining to the course that require thought filled answers. An example of this would be to initiate an answer by starting a phrase such as, "In the second half of this course, I would like to see more...... " and allow for students to fill in the remainder of the sentence. You can also ask questions about what their favorite activity thus far has been or what aspect of your teaching works best for their learning style. A good question for evaluations would be one that requires more than a simple yes or no answer.

I think it is really important as teachers to use evaluations as a basis for what works for the students and what doesn't work as well. In addition to using the open ended questions, I can also include a list of the activities we have done in class and have students rank them from the most to the least useful. This will help me re-evaluate the activities I do in class and possibly discard those that students don't find effective. The open ended questions will hopefully go more in depth as to why they ranked the activities the way they did.

This chapter also provides good information for reading the evaluations. A teacher at some point will undoubtedly get negative feedback but it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the teaching or the class. Negative feedback can be driven by the student's academic frustrations or other personal issues. A good tip from the book is to realize that teaching is a process and isn't always perfect. Not everyone who takes your courses will like your teaching style or the course itself. Negative feedback should be considered for making improvements on the course but not taken to heart. There will also be students who do enjoy your courses and those are the evaluations you should re-read to keep a positive attitude.

I think a good suggestion from First Day is to read the evaluations at home, not around class time. This can give you time to relax and sort out any emotional reaction you may have to the evaluations. In my own experience, it's been interesting to look at how I've handled student criticism. I received a very negative comment from a student in the past and it stuck with me for some time. At a later time, I received positive feedback from a student from the same course. The chapter in First Day is helping me to realize that not everyone is going to like me or my teaching style and negative comments shouldn't be held on to. I think as I teach more it will get easier to hear negative comments and not be so effected by them. I think I can now look at those negative comments and use them a means for improving my teaching and not as a personal jab.

Chapter nineteen from Teaching Tips brings up the subject of teaching large classes. I am sure that at some point in my teaching career I will have to teach a large class. I believe a major challenge will be facilitating active learning. McKeachie describes a new form of technology that can make participation and learning easier in large classes. The use of electronic devices that a student can answer a question with can be useful. These devices are sometimes accompanied with a computer program that can display a graph of student answers and show voting trends. I think this method can help get students involved and provide a little healthy competition. Even though they won't know who chose which answer, there is always a desire to get the right answer and fall in the majority.

This method of technology was actually used in one of my classes and I found it to be beneficial on several levels. The professor would take breaks in lecturing and put questions up that we would answer with a clicker remote. A graph would then show how many votes were given for each possible answer. The professor then told us the right answer and those who got it right received 1/2 pt. extra credit. The activity was effective because it required participation from a large class, it encouraged students to pay attention and it encouraged students to look through their notes to find answers. The activity was timed so students had to pay attention or they would spend too much looking through their notes and miss the chance for extra credit. Even though this activity doesn't reduce anonymity, it does effectively get the class to participate in a large class setting.

Additional links...

This link provides an overview of some scientific correlations relating to the effectiveness of student evaluations. The specific page came from this website, which I thought had a lot of valuable links.

This article is fairly long but provides more information on student evaluations. And you may notice McKeachie is cited in most of the conclusion!

Some additional ideas for teaching large classes.

For my Equine Production class, I will design a low stakes writing activity. I will start the class by giving students the topic I will cover that day, and then ask them to free write their thoughts for a few minutes. For example, on a day that I want to discuss exercise physiology I can ask them to write down their feelings about young horses used for racing. I think this will be a beneficial activity to do on days where the content can lead to a discussion of opinion or debate.

The few minutes of free writing may help generate questions and give them a chance to think about what they want to contribute to a related conversation. This activity will hopefully get them interested in the lecture that will follow. I will have the students hand these in but remind them that it is not a graded activity. With their writing, I can see if there are avenues in the topic I didn't cover in the lecture and possibly add them in the future. I like this idea because it asks the students to become interactive in the lecture and it may help them connect with the subject. According to McKeachie, it also helps prepare students for high stakes assignments and makes them able to put ideas into their own language.

A form of active learning I can incorporate in my class is the use of a learning cell. This activity can help students effectively work in pairs to give each other feedback, generate discussion, or summarize an assignment (Teaching Tips, pg. 217). For my class, I will allow time for this right before an exam. I would ask students to use their notes to generate a list of questions they think they might see on the test. I will pair them up and have them go back and forth with their questions. I think this will effectively help them study for an exam and make them better able to communicate the material. I also think this activity will enable a deeper synthesis of the material by asking them to analyze it and form their own questions.

For problem based learning, I can incorporate the use of case studies in my class. I will come up with case studies of problem situations that are related to equine production and have the students assess how they can fix it. For instance, I can give the students a scenario about a management program that is causing the horses to be too thin or too fat. The students can use the clues within the context to figure out why this is happening and find ways to solve the problem. I can effectively use this model by giving the students specific questions related to the case such as, "Why is there a problem with this situation?", "What are the obvious and underlying implications of this management practice?", "How can this be effectively resolved?" I think the questions I generate will help keep the students on task and give them things to look for within the case. This activity is great to enhance student problem solving and involvement (Teaching Tips, pg. 223). I also like this learning method because in some courses it can be applicable to real life situations.

Our teaching demonstrations have shown us great ways to conduct learning activities like these in a class setting. In terms of procedural issues, I've liked the activities best when the directions have been clear and remained displayed for the class to see. I believe our class has done a good job keeping the activity appropriate and related to the material. I think a major part of any activity should be that it enhances learning and is easy to relate to the content. The students should never have to ask themselves, "Why am I doing this?" I think the ideas from the most recent chapters provide a great way to enhance learning, get the students interested and connect the content t o activities.

I believe it is also important for the teacher to be interactive in the activity and have a positive demeanor. Walking around and making sure the students understand and are on task is very important. I've realized that this teacher feedback can help clarify questions and confusion a group may be having. The teacher's presence can also introduce the group to new ideas and give them feedback on a direction they can take with the activity. Teacher attitude and enthusiasm goes a long way. In our demonstrations, I have seen our students' ("teachers") energy rub off on the activity and it has helped keep the class interested in the task.


Additional links...

In chapter 15 of Teaching Tips, the idea of peer review is brought up. I like the suggestions this link makes to the reviewer and student having their work reviewed. I also like the procedural approach the author suggests for peer review.


I found additional ideas for low stakes writing assignments.


I really liked the idea of using case studies. Here is a little more information on using them and their importance in a classroom.

Learning Centered Teaching

What is learner-centered teaching?



Learner centered teaching is a method by which a teacher gives the students a level of power and responsibility in a course. The power shift can occur when the professor allows the students to have more control over their grades, assignments, activities or course content. The responsibility aspect stems from the student's decision making process. It is the student's job to come up with fair and reasonable policies in deciding how they should be graded and when materials should be handed in. The professor will still make key decisions in the course but may allow student input on the details of these decisions. The thought process behind this method is to teach students how to teach themselves. The professor who uses this method will have a desire to create confident and motivated students. The following link contains a few other points about learner centered teaching.

What aspects can I incorporate into my own teaching?

An aspect of this method I can incorporate into my teaching is to let my students choose due dates for major assignments as mentioned in Learner Centered Teaching on page thirty-two. At the beginning of the course, I can go through the syllabus and discuss the assignments that will be due throughout the semester. I can then work with the class to establish when these will be due and what dates I can expect to receive markers or drafts of progress from them. I can also set up expectations, consequences for late work and a grading rubric with the students.

I really like this idea because it doesn't change the syllabus that much and it gives students a chance to feel more in control of their grade. I found it interesting that the author of Teaching Centered Learning knew a professor whose students frequently recommended harsher consequences for late work than he would have (pg. 34). I think the role of the teacher should be to step in if the penalties are too severe or too lax. However, I think it would be important to stay as close as possible to the student's ideas about this. I want the students to feel like this power is in their hands and that I trust their decisions. If there are differences in opinions from the students I think it would work well to choose the policy by taking a classroom vote. This may help students to see their ideas are important but compromises sometimes must be reached.

I liked many aspects from chapter thirteen in Teaching Tips on adapting one's teaching to culturally diverse students. I feel like it's important to realize that different cultures may do things differently than we do, and just because someone is a particular race doesn't necessarily mean they embody all of their culture's traditions. It's hard for me to know exactly how these students feel but if I can try to be sensitive to their cultural differences.

A big take home message I got from both of the reading assignments is that participation shouldn't come from putting people on the spot or expecting them to ask questions in class. As I learned, some cultures believe it is an insult for them to raise a question to someone of higher academic standing than themselves (Teaching Tips pg. 155). Some cultures also don't think it's polite to stare or hold eye contact as much as others do. I think it's beneficial for me to realize that maybe when I think someone isn't paying attention they might be, they just may be avoiding eye contact for cultural reasons. If this was the case, it seems like I would be punishing them if I were to put them on the spot and ask them to pay attention or answer a question. Knowing these differences and respecting them in my class is something I will incorporate in my teaching.

What may be difficult to incorporate into my teaching?

An aspect that may be difficult to incorporate is letting students chose the material they want to learn in the class. In the case of most science classes, the material builds on itself over time. If I let students look at the syllabus and decide there are things they don't care about there will be missing pieces in the information that follows. I also think this wouldn't work for me because I believe it's possible to look at a topic and not realize your interest is there until you learn about it. People have comfort zones and can be afraid of trying new things, by giving them a chance to cross off topics they're more unfamiliar with, I could be taking away an opportunity for them to generate new interests. What I could do is try to leave a few lectures each semester and open the content to student ideas. I could give the students a few days to look through their textbooks or search online and get back to me with ideas about what they would be interested in learning about.


Another thing I don't see myself incorporating into my teaching is reaching out to students on such a personal level that I'm having conferences with their families or commenting on their personal lives. In Teaching Tips, Richard M. Suinn (the chapter author) had mentioned the use of calling on family ties to motivate a student (pg. 160). He recalled asking a Latina student if her boyfriend's visit was going to interfere with her studies. Suinn also brought up a meeting between a professor and student's family to make sure the student was getting enough study time at home.


In general, I think it's great to try and help students achieve success. I understand that family support can bring strength and encouragement to students. However, I want to show students that they are the biggest factor in their own success. I can help students by giving them information on how to study effectively, how much time should be spent each week outside of class and by giving them realistic expectations. Also having them set up progress guidelines for project, papers and exam studying. I want them to be motivated to succed, I just don't believe it's my role to step into their personal lives.

A few additional links....

This link contains a psychological look at student centered learning and addresses concerns from students and teachers.


A look at interethnic communication.

Entry #6

Chapter 14 in McKeachie's teaching tips gave me a lot of good information on how to handle student problems and problem students. Since I am not TAing this semester, I haven't had to deal with many of these issues in a classroom. However, I have had to deal with some of these issues with the college team that I'm coaching so this information is still helpful to me.

• I like the subsection in McKeachie's book on how to handle students with excuses. Excuses aren't uncommon and are used for a variety of reasons. These reasons can be to get more time for an assignment, family emergencies, procrastination from the student, etc. I very much agree with the point on page 183 in Teaching Tips, that it is better to accept a false excuse than respond harshly to a legitimate excuse. We should give students opportunities to not be severely penalized for legitimate excuses. I also feel like instructors should not have to act as police in determining whether the excuse was real or not.

I think I can avoid some excuses by giving the students opportunities to drop their lowest quiz scores and by offering extra credit for work handed in early. My late work policy will be the same for every student. I found a link which analyzes discusses the problem with decreased expectations which may be to blame for some excuses. I like the idea from the Wellesley professor that gives 7 extension days a semester that students can allocate how they chose. After they've used these 7 days, he docks their grade no matter what. I may try to incorporate this in my own teaching someday and see how it works. Although, I think I'd be more likely to give 4 or 5 extension days instead of seven.

• I'm not in favor of McKeachie's advice to let students drop an exam grade from page 183 in Teaching Tips. I feel like this would give them the green light to miss an exam. In the case of exams, I will require that a student with a valid excuse must take the exam within a few days of the original exam. Their exam will be different from the one given to the class but cover the same material. I will find little ways to alter questions and answers that won't take that long but will make the tests different.

• From First Day to Final Grade, I liked the section on handling students with personal problems. Students may try to juggle school while dealing with personal problems such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse among other things. It is not the job of the teacher to diagnose a student but a teacher may be able to help move a student toward seeking help.

Both books covered this topic but I found the advice in First Day to Final Grade to match up more with what I would do in this situation. I would invite the student to come in and talk with me to find out if there is something interfering with their school work. I think the best route would be to keep the students performance the top priority in this discussion. I would find out the universities mental health services and make the particular student aware of them if I see it necessary. I don't like McKeachie's suggestion of picking up the phone and arranging a time for them to be seen by a psychologist or doctor. I do agree that if a teacher feels inclined to they should reach out to a student that may be having issues, but I do feel like the student should take the initiative to follow up if they really want help.

• The information on pages 125-131 from First Day to Final Grade regarding plagiarism is helpful. Every university has a plagiarism policy in place and it is important to make students aware of the consequences of plagiarizing material. Having students show progress on a written assignment, such as rough drafts, may help reduce the occurrence of plagiarism. Showing students how to properly use the internet and make citations may also help reduce the incidence of plagiarism.

I can use the ways given to spot plagiarism. I believe it will be helpful to me to notice a change in tone or exceptionally good grammar. I will also use the suggestions for what to do with an unclear case of plagiarism. I bet it would be easy to catch if you ask for a meeting with the student and ask for details about the paper. Asking about their change in writing style throughout the document and for further discussion on their paper topic may get them to confess.

The use of plagiarism checking websites also looks like a great idea. I've had experience as an undergraduate with a program called Turn-it-in. I believe this program is pretty popular with professors.

I like this link because there is a short contract embedded in it that a student must sign to say they know the consequences of plagiarism. I think it's a good idea.

Kind of a funny link that lists some "good" excuses for skipping class.

I quickly posted my last entry because my internet kept disconnecting. Here is the other link that is missing from my post!

I don't agree, but it's interesting to me that a pyschologist made this video claiming that learning styles don't exist.