Teaching Tips Research Articles

Beyond Borders

Beyond Borders

Weekly e-mailed teaching tips and reading material influence teaching among general surgery residents

BackgroundA nonintrusive e-mail reminder incorporating teaching tips and manuscripts was developed to supplement resident-as-teacher curricula. MethodsTen high-yield manuscripts and 10 teaching tips exemplifying the themes of mentorship or role modeling, teaching methods, adult learning theory, feedback, and the resident role of teaching were distributed to general surgery house staff through a weekly e-mail series. House staff completed surveys before and after the 20-week e-mail series. ResultsThirty (43%) and 28 (40%) respondents completed the pre-e-mail and post-e-mail survey, respectively. Residents found teaching tips to be more helpful than manuscripts. Weekly e-mail reminders were “just right” in frequency according to 74% of respondents. Forty percent of residents felt the weekly e-mails helped them teach more often and 50% of residents changed their teaching style. ConclusionsWeekly reminders are an easy way to encourage resident teaching without a significant resident time commitment. Residents typically find teaching tips to be more useful than manuscripts.

Guest Lecturing on Geographies of Religion

This 'Teaching Tips' article focuses on my recent experience of guest-lecturing in colleagues' classes. Influenced by Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, my initial guest-teaching revolved around posing an argument about geographies of religion as 'grounded theologies' as a problem for students to challenge. However, my recent guest lectures have involved interviewing my colleagues' students to discover why they find grounded theologies interesting. I show that this new mode of guest-lecturing - also influenced by Freire - has opened up new conversations at a primal ontological level through a wider breadth of topics discussed, including occupy movements, Game of Thrones, Black Nordic Metal, and modern imperialist ideologies. Following Sam Rocha's folk phenomenology, I suggest that the primal depths that this interview-lecture style of guest lecturing is perhaps worth a try, even though I plan to use the argumentative lecture in the future as well.

Literacy for All

Literacy for All

K-12 Teaching Tips

K-12 Teaching Tips

The Ethics of Teaching: Critical Thinking and Reflection to Promote Professionalism by Mitigating Biases Including those against other Healthcare Professions.

In the USA I see bumper stickers and t-shirts that declare “Critical thinking: the other national deficit.” Unfortunately here, and elsewhere in the world, these words are often true. Not only does the internet give us ample opportunity to express ourselves without much reflection or thought, but college and university courses do not always expect and foster critical thinking and reflection on the part of students, particularly when the courses have lecture formats and large enrollments. In my view, this is especially true of the basic and even the clinical sciences in healthcare professional education. Many of the latter educators do not heed well the admonition in McKeachie's Teaching Tips (McKeachie and Svinicki, 2014) “Teach your students to reflect both in and out of class. That reflection should never stop, because conscious reflection on values is perhaps the cornerstone of the ethics of teaching.”

K-12 Teaching Tips

K-12 Teaching Tips

From the Editors

From the Editors

G지역에서 융합인재교육(STEAM)에 대한 초등 예비교사, 현직교사, STEAM 리더스쿨 교사들의 어려움과 요구사항

The purpose of this study was to investigate the elementary school pre-service teachers' and in-service teachers' and STEAM leader school teachers' difficulties and requirements in the relation to STEAM Education. For this study, 49 pre-service teachers, 57 in-service teachers, 16 leader school teachers in G Area were selected. And they conducted the survey. The results of this study were as follows. First, in order to minimize elementary teachers' physical burden actually, it is necessary to distribute STEAM teaching materials including various and specific programs to the schools in the booklet. Second, for the fast and effective spreading of STEAM, it also should be permitted the pre-service teachers to access STEAM homepage, which is limited to teachers. Third, we should make circumstance to research on STEAM through collaboration with colleagues freely. Therefore, we should give intensive training and consulting opportunities to science teacher. Because they who is getting stronger in this field to do this can furnish other colleagues to teaching tips and information in the relation to STEAM education. By all this fulfillment simultaneously, STEAM will be settlement in elementary school in the short period.

The Influence of Learners’ Motivation and Attitudes on Second Language Teaching

Learners’ motivation and attitudes have great impact on the second language learning and teaching. This thesis first introduces the theories concerning learners’ affective factors and then gives a brief definition of motivation and attitude .In order to reveal the co-relation between motivation and attitude of language learners and the second language teaching, the research designs two questionnaires to investigate the students’ learning attitude and the attribution for success or failure. Through discussion of the two surveys, the teaching tips in respect of a learner’s motivation and attitude are recommended with the purpose of eliminating students’ negative emotional reactions as well as developing students’ autonomous learning abilities. In summary, this paper intends to improve the teaching effect by means of exploring the influences that a learner’s motivation and attitude bring about to foreign language teaching.

K-12 Teaching Tips

K-12 Teaching Tips

Conception of teaching higher order thinking: perspectives of Chinese teachers in Hong Kong

Enhancing the higher order thinking (HOT) ability of students is a worldwide educational goal. This has also become a significant objective in the curriculum reforms in Hong Kong, which aims at better preparation of students to meet the challenges of the new era. Cultural aspects are often regarded as salient in determining approaches to teaching. The influence of Chinese traditions on teaching in Hong Kong has been discussed by many researchers, who found the thinking of Confucius still strongly influences the conception of teaching of Chinese teachers. By the in‐depth interviews with 12 Chinese teachers, their conceptions of effective HOT teaching were examined. Nine teaching tips were suggested by the teachers. The list of HOT teaching tips reflects that intermingled values of Western and traditional Chinese education are embraced. The findings also show how Chinese values influence teachers' conceptions of effective HOT teaching and the results are discussed with reference to the influence of Confucian thought. The comparatively narrow conceptions regarding HOT teaching imply that certain cultural barriers are still hampering Hong Kong teachers in the post‐handover period. One major recommendation is that an awareness of the cultural values of the context is important for any application of foreign methods of teaching.

Preceptor teaching tips in longitudinal clerkships.

In longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs), the continuous preceptor and student relationship over time creates opportunities for more in-depth teaching approaches than shorter preceptorships allow. We identify student perceptions of the most effective teaching practices and develop tips for LIC preceptors. The first four third-year medical student classes completing the Asheville LIC of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine (UNCSOM) formed the subject group. Between June and August2013, a trained research assistant (AS) conducted semi-structured interviews with all 27 UNCSOM Asheville LIC students. Interviews were transcribed and coded by thematic analysis. All 27 (100%) students participated in the interviews. We identified seven main themes of successful precepting practices: enhance teaching; create bring-backs (learning topics to bring back to preceptors); support patient ownership; structure clinic; improve feedback; engage learners; and develop a relationship. These themes were condensed into nine preceptor tips for teaching in LICs. The longitudinal relationship of preceptor and student in LIC models affords specific, important opportunities for teaching and learning. The concise list of LIC preceptor tips can be used by preceptors to further optimise their teaching in the LIC setting. We identify student perceptions ofthe most effective teaching practices and develop tips for LIC preceptors.

Developing Confidence in Uncertainty: Conflicting Roles of Trainees as They Become Educators in Veterinary and Human Medicine.

The important role of medical trainees (interns and residents) as teachers is increasingly recognized in veterinary and human medicine, but often is not supported through adult learning programs or other preparatory training methods. To develop appropriate teaching programs focused on effective clinical teaching, more understanding is needed about the support required for the trainee's teaching role. Following discussion among faculty members from education and veterinary and pediatric medicine, an experienced external observer and expert in higher education observed 28 incoming and outgoing veterinary and pediatric trainees in multiple clinical teaching settings over 10 weeks. Using an interpretative approach to analyze the data, we identified five dynamics that could serve as the foundation for a new program to support clinical teaching: (1) Novice-Expert, recognizing transitions between roles; (2) Collaboration-Individuality, recognizing the power of peer learning; (3) Confidence-Uncertainty, regarding the confidence to act; (4) Role-Interdisciplinarity, recognizing the ability to maintain a discrete role and yet synthesize knowledge and cope with complexity; and (5) Socialization-Identity, taking on different selves. Trainees in veterinary and human medicine appeared to have similar needs for support in teaching and would benefit from a variety of strategies: faculty should provide written guidelines and practical teaching tips; set clear expectations; establish sustained support strategies, including contact with an impartial educator; identify physical spaces in which to discuss teaching; provide continuous feedback; and facilitate peer observation across medical and veterinary clinical environments.

K-12 Teaching Tips

K-12 Teaching Tips

Tips for Teaching

For one assignment, students in my Religion and Politics course attend a religious service of their choosing and write about the experience, comparing their time in the church (or synagogue or mosque) with the scholarly literature on the impact of churches on politics and the presence of politics within houses of worship. This experience represents a wonderful learning opportunity, particularly for Millennials, many of whom are religiously unaffiliated. Their reflective essays also form the basis for a dynamic, rich class discussion.

Facilitating Meaningful Discussion Groups in the Primary Grades

AbstractThis Teaching Tips describes a yearlong process of facilitating meaningful discussion groups about literature with first‐grade students in an urban Title I school. At the beginning of the year, the teacher provided explicit instruction in speaking and listening skills to support students with the social skills needed for thoughtful discussion. She established whole‐group discussions as a forum for sharing thinking and new knowledge, engaging in dialog about books, and recommending books to friends. Building on this foundation, the class moved to small‐group discussions. The article details three different types of discussion groups: informational texts and sharing learning; Mo Willems author study and sharing responses to humor; and Jon Klassen author study and sharing inferences supported by textual evidence. This article shares how first grade students took up discussion opportunities to engage in critical thinking and dialog about books.

Back to the Basics… Practical Teaching Tips for Proper Hand Washing and Preventing the Spread of Germs and Illnesses in the Classroom

This article provides hands-on activities than can be used in the classroom to teach students the importance of hand washing as a way to help prevent the spread of germs.

K-12 Teaching Tips

K-12 Teaching Tips

Inquiry as ESL

AbstractThis article includes discussion about a formative study in which inquiry was used as ESL instruction for second‐grade emerging bilinguals. Drawing on the literature and research surrounding English learners, comprehension, informational text and inquiry, the teachers and researcher integrated comprehension strategy instruction with inquiry and research skills as an instructional approach to support the development of informational reading, writing, listening and speaking in English. The five most frequently used and instructionally essential strategies identified for facilitating the research projects during the study are reported. Each strategy and anchor lesson is explained along with the teachers’ narrative account of how they continued facilitating inquiry throughout the week with teaching tips they developed throughout the unit of inquiry. The classroom teachers share challenges, successes and reasons for using inquiry with accompanying photos of student work.