Before I forget everything I learned, a few notes:
1. It's best to intervene early in problematic behavior in the classroom. There was one junior-highish clique that bugged me all semester, but I didn't want to call them out publicly, and never spoke with them privately (I fear confrontation!) and so it ate away at me all semester. Likewise, a couple of floundering students might have been able to turn around their grades with a little interest/support from me, but I didn't do it, and I regretted it when I was calculating final grades. It's not pleasant to give F's, especially to students who came to class and participated.
2. Assign less graded work. My grading load (my LEAST favorite activity of teaching!) was heavy this term, and end-loaded. I flew through it, but that wasn't too satisfying, to me or to anyone who read my comments. Better to do less, and do it better.
3. As usual, worry less about maximizing content, and more about connecting students to the ideas. Their range of experience and knowledge is so incredibly limited that you really have to step back and think about how to reach them. I'd say this is my #1 challenge.
Possibly more later. This is all I can think of at the moment.
Posted by otto0114 at May 16, 2008 03:09 PM