My presentation

Colleagues,

There is no homework for my presentation tomorrow. I ask that you come ready to discuss both within a small group and as a class.

While I have a PowerPoint, my presentation is driven by handouts, which I will give to you in class.

Thanks,

Dan.

Here are the sources that I used:

http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/procedures/faq.php

http://www.dso.ufl.edu/studentguide/studentrights.php#academichonestyguidelines

http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/documents/Facultystudentresolutionformrevisedsept08.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hjutk6mzx0

http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/procedures/studentrights.php

Feedback from the syllabus project

I really enjoyed reading your course syllabus projects. Every one was different, and each showed a combination of worthy learning outcomes, a variety of teaching strategies, and an attempt to make learning challenging and productive.

If you would like to revise any sections of your syllabus project for reconsideration, I'd be glad to do that. The syllabus has Dec. 1 as the resubmission deadline. But I imagine a few of you may not pick up your materials until Dec. 1, when you're back from Thanksgiving. And even if you have the materials, you probably already have made your Thanksgiving plans -- which didn't include making time for syllabus revisions. So let's say that you can turn in revisions on Wednesday, Dec. 17, when your Teaching Job Application is due.

Here are some of the main themes from your written comments about what you learned through developing the syllabus and course materials:

• Creating a syllabus took much more time than you had anticipated.
  
• Developing the class schedule was like putting together a puzzle.
  
• Determining the pacing of the course was a challenge.
  
• Diffuclt to determine the grading, especially for class participation.
  
• Helpful to develop lesson plans to think through how to actually teach the topic for that day.
  
• Difficult to find the right textbook. 

What comments did you have for me about the project:

• Explain how to include the syllabus project in a job application portfolio. (I will in our last class meeting.
  
• Have more deadlines for parts of the project. (I did that last year, and that class said, "Make it all due at once." I hope you'll talk with me about how to have more deadlines without that being too many deadlines.)
  
• Liked having the individual meetings with me to discuss the syllabus project.
  
• Provide the checklist sooner.
  
• Have the deadline later in the semester. (Last year the class said they liked having the syllabus due before the end of the semester so they could get this assignment completed and move on to other course papers and projects.)

I'll do a little Q&A in class on Monday after you've had time to read through your project. A few items that apply to several:

• Projects - Be sure to include class time for explaining the project assignment and providing a handout with specifics about the project. In writing the handout, keep in mind that someone reading the assignment sheet may have been absent on the day you explained the assignment. 
  
• Your contact info - A couple of you asked about office hours, office and cell phone. For the purposes of this activity, no office or phone number is required. I would suggest including office hours just to help you think about when you would schedule them. And my own advice: Don't give your cell phone number. You can provide your office number or e-mail. Students often aren't good about having reasonable boundaries about calling.
  
• Grading scale - I'd stay with UF's grading -- on a 100 scale and (until summer) with plus grades but no minus grades. 
  
• Editing items -- If you are teaching a journalism course, you should consider using AP style (i.e., Web site and e-mail). I like writing in first and second person -- talking about myself in first person and talking to the students in second person. So "I" rather than "the professor" and "you" rather than "the students." Read your syllabus and see what seems to work for you.
  
• Movies, YouTube -- We've agreed those can add to the class. But research says a short segment is more effective than a long video. If you are interested in having students watch a movie, consider how they can do that outside of class. Is it available online? You can make arrangements for a viewing time for students to watch as a group. 
  
• Viewing directions -- When using movies, YouTube videos, commercials, Web sites, etc. in class, you need to giving viewing directions. Give students questions to answer while watching or guidelines (such as: When we visit these Web sites, please make notes on...). Otherwise, students tend to fade out.
  
• Guest speakers -- In the class before the guest speaker, be sure to alert the students that you will have a guest. Good to give them directions. For example, if you are having a media writer, have the students read a sample of the writer's work. I've found that using a Q&A format with the speaker and myself works better than telling the speaker to talk for a set amount of time. I'll tell you why in class.

Diversity in the classroom. Resources and References

Resources at UF:

Reading and Writing Center: From grammar and spelling issues to time management training. They offer workshops, conferences and even personal appointments.

UF International Center: Immigration issues, internships, OPT (optional practical training), forms in order to get in and out the United States, renovation of the visa, health insurance and even social activities to meet other international students

Counseling Center: To deal with personal, academic, and career concerns. They will also help you in case you are suffering with anxiety, depression or other problems.

CITT: Center for Instructional Technology and Training: Workshops from how to use Power Point or how to design a Web site to using E-learning and using Turn-it-in

Multicultural and Diversity Affairs: Institutes and program areas, mentoring, calendar, education and training, other resources, etc. http://www.dso.ufl.edu/multicultural/

Minority Facts: Statistics http://www.ir.ufl.edu/minority/index.htm

University Minority Mentor Program http://www.dso.ufl.edu/multicultural/ummp/

UF Office of Graduate Minority Programs http://gradschool.ufl.edu/diversity/introduction.html

Some books

Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. M. (2001). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. New York: Wiley.

Irvine, J. J. (2003). Educating teachers for diversity: Seeing with a cultural eye. New York: Teachers College Press

Johns, A. M., & Sipp, M. K. (2004). Diversity in college classrooms: Practices for today's campuses. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

McIntyre, E., Rosebery, A. S., & González, N. (2001). Classroom diversity: Connecting curriculum to students' lives. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Powell, R. G., & Caseau, D. (2004). Classroom communication and diversity: Enhancing instructional practice. LEA's communication series. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Waxman, H. C., Tharp, R. G., & Hilberg, R. S. (2004). Observational research in U.S. classrooms: New approaches for understanding cultural and linguistic diversity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Wolpert, E. (2005). Start seeing diversity: The basic guide to an anti-bias classroom. St. Paul, Minn: Redleaf Press

Link to PowerPoint for Visual Courses

Here's the link to the file: http://www.tidewaterrocks.com/Teaching_Visual_Courses.ppt Please let me know if it doesn't work. Hope it helps.

Ed

Sources

Hi all! Sorry I forgot to post these sources from my discussion sooner. Have a great week!

SOURCES:

About.com: Secondary Education, http://712educators.about.com/od/lessonplans/p/discussions.htm

Gall, M.D., & Gall, J.P. (1993). Teacher and Student Roles in Different Types of Classroom Discussions. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, Ga.

McKeachie, W.J. (2002). Teaching Tips (11th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

University of Maryland Center for Teaching Excellence,

http://www.cte.umd.edu/library/teachingLargeClass/guide/ch6.html

University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center, http://trc.virginia.edu/Publications/Teaching_Concerns/Spring_1996/ TC_Spring_1996_Maznevski.htm

Monday, November 24th Class

We will be doing a group exercise Monday morning as part of my presentation, but we're going to mix people up a little. It'll be a little more efficient if everyone goes ahead and sits together according to the following groups:

Group 1 -- Wendy, Mark, Kearston
Group 2 -- Dan, Patrick, Paige
Group 3 -- Linda, Vanessa, Jennifer
Group 4 -- Kara, Maria, Jooyun, Amy

Have a good weekend!

Teaching large classes presentation references

Hi all,
Here are the main sources that I used for my presentation today. Hope the lecture was helpful to everyone.

• Teaching Educational Development Institute, The University of Queensland, Australia http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/LargeClasses/
  
• The Center for Teaching Excellence, The University of Maryland http://www.cte.umd.edu/library/teachingLargeClass/index.html
  
• Center for Teaching & Learning, The University of North Carolina-Charlotte http://www.fctel.uncc.edu/pedagogy/focuslargeclasses/ASurvivalHandbook.html
  
• Lewis, K., Woodward, P., & Bell, J.(1988). Teaching business communication skills in large classes. Journal of Business Communication, 25(1), 65-86.
  
• Rieber, L. (2004). Using Professional Teaching Assistants to Support Large Group Business Communication Classes. Journal of Education for Business, 79(3), 176-178.
  
• http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i35/35a01201.htm

Turning in portfolio

How should we turn in our portfolio?

-Everything stapled together?

-Folder?

Dan

Teaching Writing Hyperlinks (References to the post below):

Excerpts from On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, 1998,
http://www.google.com/search?hl=enq=excerpt+from+on+writing+well&btnG=Search

“Scoring Rubric: What, When, and How?” by Barbara M. Moskal, Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation,” a peer-reviewed electronic journal, 2000,

http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=3.

Online videos –available through YouTube and mediabistro.

“Rethinking Writing with Rubrics,”

http://www.youtube.com/watch

http://www.mediabistro.com/ondemand/?

Teaching Writing Power Point

Teaching Writing

I'm looking forward to our class on Monday. Please bring a paragraph of a favorite writing and the 55-short short story. References below. If possible, I'll post the PowerPoint.

Have a nice weekend,

Linda

— Alternatives to Grading Students Collected Works, non- classroom abstract, investigation into the grading of writing by the National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Alternatives to Grading Student Writing. See “Using a Multidimensional Scoring Guide” by Gail M. Young and “Using Rubrics and Holistic Scoring of Writing: by Jean S. Ketter, retrieved online.

— Excerpts from On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, 1998, http://www.la.wayne.edu/polisci/dkd/general/sources/zinsser.htm.

— “Feedback on Feedback: Exploring Student Responses to Teachers’ Written Commentary,” by Maria Ornella Treglia, originally published Journal of Basic Writing, Vo.l. 27, No. 1, 2008, retrieved online.

— “High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing,” by Peter Elbow, originally published New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 69, Spring 1997, retrieved online.

— Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom: Using Performance Criteria for Assessing and Improving Student Performance, by Judith Arter and Jay McTighe, except of review retrieved online.

— “Scoring Rubric: What, When, and How?” by Barbara M. Moskal, Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation,” a peer-reviewed electronic journal, 2000, http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=3.

— “Teaching Journalistic Cogency With 55-Word Short Stories,” by Richard A. Kallan, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, Autumn 200, retrieved online.

— “Teaching Journalism in the Information Age,” by Stephen Quinn, Australian Studies in Journalism 8: 1999, retrieved online.

— “Teaching Writing in Higher Education,” from Handbook of Research on Writing, edited by Charles Bazerman.

— Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product,” by Donald M. Murray, original paper presented at the 1972 convention of the New England Association of Teachers of English, retrieved online.

Cell phone?

What do you all think about including your cell phone number on the syllabus?

Sources for class on teaching students with disabilities

Enjoy!

Attempt to Broaden Disabilities Act Concerns Some College Officials
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i40/40a02301.htm

Teaching College Students with Disabilities
http://cte.udel.edu/disabilities.htm

Disability Law and Higher Education
http://www.northwestern.edu/disability/law.html

UF Disability Resource Center
http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/

UF Disability Resource Center Resources for Instructors
http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc/faculty.php

Teaching Students with Disabilities: A Proactive Approach
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2132

A few last suggestions about your syllabus project

I'm signing off of e-mail and blogging for the evening, as I have to finish getting ready for my conference trip -- the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association convention in St. Louis. 

As we've talked about in class, university faculty jobs have three components -- teaching, research and service. The amount of time allocated to each depends on your university and your specific job. At UF, those with the greatest service components typically are in outreach programs, like extension work. One part of my service work is with scholastic journalism -- high school and middle school journalism students and teachers. 

I haven't received any e-mails or seen any postings on our blog in terms of questions about the syllabus project. As I won't have Internet access for the rest of the week, I'd suggest that you talk with classmates if you do have questions.

A few last thoughts:

• Big picture - Be sure you think about Bloom's Taxonomy as you develop your class assignments, tests and activities. We want students to be performing up the scale, not just at the knowledge level.
  
• Extra credit - Kara made several good points about extra credit, including not letting extra credit make a significant change in a student's grade or be on work not directly related to course goals.
  
• Grading for class participation - Jen provided a rubric for evaluating discussion participation. That may be more detailed than what you would provide students. Keep in mind that a class participation grade is more appropriate for a smaller class than a large class -- unless you are giving attendance-related quizzes.
  
• Your bio - I haven't included bio in my own syllabi but will starting next semester. I like that suggestion. A short bio helps establish your background. You could start with the 100-word bio you wrote for our class and revise as appropriate.
• Lesson plans - As I noted on the handout, you don't want to write a script but do need to provide more than a list of topics you would cover. If you plan a PowerPoint presentation, please include a handout or the slides. You do not need to identify and embed links to specific examples, such as a news clip. You can note the kind of story you would want to show.

Your syllabus project -- due Monday

The syllabus project is the big assignment for MMC 6930 -- much like the big research paper for other graduate courses. Based on comments I've heard from you...

- Many of you hadn't started on the project until this weekend and were prompted to start by the requirement of bringing progress on the syllabus to class yesterday. Even if we didn't have as much time to discuss the project (in part because we spent about 10 minutes locating a DVD that would work for Jennifer's recording), we did have some discussion, and everyone has more completed on the project than you otherwise would have.

- Developing the syllabus and the other components of the project requires much more time than you had thought it would. That's a good learning reminder. Almost any new learning activity takes more time than you had thought -- writing a lit review, conducting interviews for your first story, writing code for a Web page, reading academic research articles...and developing a course syllabus.

- Figuring out the logistics is challenging:

• How many weeks? - Go with the UF Spring 2009 schedule. The number of weeks or number of classes will depend on the day(s) of the week  your class meets. For example, UF will be closed on a Monday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. No classes on Thursday and Friday of the last week of classes -- those are Reading Days.
  
• Must you use UF's grading scale? My advice is YES! If you determine your own grading scale (such as giving minus grades when UF doesn't award minus grades -- until summer semester) or not awarding pluses, students may complain, and you might have to change your grades then. Better to follow the grading scale so that won't be a debatable issue.
  
• How many different assignments should you give? Good idea to have low-stakes and high-stakes assignments -- a quiz before an exam, a small paper before a larger paper. But remember, for every assignment you make, you have to keep up with the grading.
  

A reminder that students may call you Professor -- as more do now thanks to Harry Potter and Hogwarts -- but you aren't a professor in terms of your actual title. On your syllabus, you can list yourself as Instructor or Teacher. We talked about the academic titles, and professor is part of the tenure-track rankings.

I'd said that I would be available to answer questions about the syllabus project today on our blog. Tomorrow I'll be going to St. Louis and the convention with 5,000 high school journalism students and teachers -- and probably no Internet access. So I'll check back later today to see if anyone has questions.

As I said on the handout, approach this assignment as if you are going to send these materials as a teaching portfolio that's part of a university teaching application. Every year, I have former students from MMC 6930 tell me that they've done just that -- send their MMC 6930 syllabus project -- and that they are really glad to have those materials ready to go for the job search.