Excellence

A John Tyler Community College "Tuesday at Two" Discussion
Hosted by Wendy Weiner

What Is Teaching Excellence in Community Colleges?

Sixteen faculty gathered at the Chester Campus of JTCC or joined the discussion via compressed video from the new Midlothian Campus for the October 10, 2000, edition of Wendy Weiner's "Tuesday at Two" series of faculty discussions. Eric Hibbison, MRCTE Chair and RCTE Chief Chair, led the discussion of teaching excellence using the questions you see below as prompts.

How do excellent teachers get information to students? (delivery)

As much as possible, they use hands-on experiences of course content, demonstrations, models, handouts with a lecture, discovery methods, and perhaps best guided practice which models a process and then gets students to practice it with feedback from the instructor and peers.

How do excellent teachers get students to spend enough time on task? (practice)

	Posting an agenda for the day on a classroom board or course website can set the stage and help students get organized. Alternatively, copying the day's outline to all students can mitigate the divided attention problem that arises when students try to listen and to take notes at the same time.
	Giving announced quizzes, particularly after a group review, can motivate more studying.
	For writing on task, a journal assignment can get students to elaborate, perhaps, as can having peers read a rough draft and ask questions, give praise, and seek clarifications.
	Varying in-class activities can help students to "chunk" information from one segment of the class or reinforce the major concepts of the day.
	Specific group tasks, too, for which recorders place the group's thinking on a transparency or a board or easel, can focus the group's effort--as can calling on anyone in the group randomly to present the ideas.
	Practical examples help, of course. [Having students bring in newspaper or magazine articles on course concepts is a common assignment at all grade levels. Including such examples on tests is a more collegiate practice.]
	In general, some combination of brow-beating and bribery may be needed to get the more reluctant students to put in enough time on relevant course tasks so that as many students as possible can meet course standards.

How do excellent teachers use grades to motivate students? (grading)

On days when attendance is unusually low, give super-easy pop quizzes so that those present get a sort of bonus for attending--but the quiz can also serve as an advance organizer for the day's lesson if it concerns the main topic of the class.

Extra-credit tasks and chapter review sessions also foster additional student learning and give more students access to the high grades for the course.

Mastery

After grading an essay's "final" draft or after a test, offer tutoring or supplemental instruction to students to plan revisions or re-tests and score the subsequent work by raising the assignment grade 50% - 100% of the higher score that results. [Such practices use grading to motivate more learning for specific assignments or course tasks. If students can meet the objective or standard the first time around, fine; perhaps those who succeeded could gain bonus points by tutoring one or two who didn't. If the student learns more as a result of a revision or test, shouldn't the student's grade reflect this advanced learning?]

Formative Feedback: Student Interviews

One second-chance strategy that salvaged a few more capable students in an online course in Spring, 2000, was to offer a sizable number of points (equivalent to an A on a major assignment) to students who have dropped far behind the class but still have time to catch up if they will find a higher gear. Three out of five such students accepted this offer in the online course; two met face-to-face with the instructor (although another instructor or a counselor could conduct the interview) to talk for one hour about course features and student behaviors that could be revised to help the student persist. In general, the students were intelligent in their critiques of the course and honest about what they did and didn't do and why. Sample changes:

	The instructor linked all course assignments to the anonymous grade page so that students who saw a space where a grade should be could simply click the column heading to go immediately to the assignment.
	The student who was taking a full load of classes and working 50 hours or more on a night shift resolved to continue looking for other employment but also certainly to take fewer courses in subsequent semesters.
	(See also the MRCTE page on access to high grades and the discussion on using grades to motivate students.)

How do excellent community college teachers balance compassion with meeting course standards, e.g. when testing? (retention)

Starting the course by alerting students to the course skills that will serve them well in later courses, after they transfer, or on the job is a necessary mercy. [Often, testimonials by former students--gathered into a handout or at an online forum or web page--can speak more vividly and authoritatively about the practicality of the course.]

Setting firm standards and helping students to meet them is the challenge. Is it more merciful to weed out unprepared students or to teach them in each course (especially in selected introductory courses) how to "do college"?

How do excellent teachers help students to learn? (Or train students to take their courses and be collegians?) (student learning)

	supporting the academic support centers, if any, on campus
	mentoring
	demonstrate that reading for college means underlining, annotating, making questions, [even checking students' notes from time to time to see what they are studying from for tests]
	sharing success and disaster stories, especially about yourself or relatives or acquaintances, to flag pitfalls
	compare notes on students with colleagues

What are YOUR ideas about excellence for community college teaching?

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