Dr. Constance M. Ellison
Associate Dean of Educational and Research Affairs
Professor of Educational Psychology
Graduate School
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Take a moment and
picture your idea of a
perfect teaching year.
Imagine how you want
to feel, the climate of
your classroom, and
some of the goals and
expectations you have
set for yourself and your
students.
align what you have
imagined with the
following sentence
stem. Complete each
stem.
Group Activity
SENTENCE STEMS: Form dyads (2) or triads (3) and complete the rest of the
sentence listed below. Read the sentence stems carefully and complete the
thought.
•Before I came to Howard University, my main interests in college teaching
were...
•The way I would describe my teaching philosophy is...
•The way I would describe my teaching style is...
•My beliefs about teaching are…
•My expectations about teaching are…
•My educational framework is…
•My fondest memories of my favorite professor are...
•The things I value most about teaching would be...
•Some of the things that make me happy are...
•The thing I would most like to accomplish as an instructor this year is...
•The things that concerns me most about college teaching are...
•It appears to me that an important difference between an instructor and a
student is...
•What I think I will get out of teaching is...
•I think the most important thing I would learn from this experience is...
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MY ROLE AS AN
INSTRUCTOR
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MY BELIEF(S)
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MY
EXPECTATIONS
MY
ACHIEVEMENTS
MY
EDUCATIONAL
THEORY
MY
EDUCATIONAL
FRAMEWORK
A PERSOANL EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
My philosophy of education is:
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“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the
decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal
approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily
mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I have
a tremendous power to make a students’ life
miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or
an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or
humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my
response that decides whether a crisis will be
escalated or deescalated and a student humanized
or dehumanized.”
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makes very different demands on students;
the scope of study is much wider;
the focus is on you; students are expected
to study on their own much more than they
may have been used to, and;
the scheduling of academic responsibilities
is on the student and also the student must
organize his/her own schedule.
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Diversity, variety, and novelty
Over determination for Success
Meaningfulness and relevance
High Expectations
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The first force changing higher education is the movement
toward new paradigms of active and collaborative teaming.
Educators realize that students who passively listen to
lectures do not learn as well as students who are actively
involved, and working together with other students helps to
increase the learning dialogue for each student.
The second force changing higher education is the advent of
electronic search systems that provide an overwhelming
amount of information to students, who therefore need
critical thinking skills to evaluate the usefulness of resources.
(Scott & Gregg, 2000)
(Magner, 2000)
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Collaborative or group learning refers to instructional methods
whereby students are encouraged or required to work together on
learning tasks. It is widely agreed to distinguish collaborative
learning from the traditional 'direct transfer' model in which the
instructor is assumed to be the distributor of knowledge and skills.
There are many social, economic and technological forces having an
impact on today's college classroom. The new media can be seen as
both a problem and solution for some of the changes that these
classrooms are facing. The Internet and the web are now being
accessed in the home, at the office, and in schools; this access is
both extending the learning environment out of the classroom and
moving the external world into the classroom.
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Seeing and Hearing
Reflecting and Acting,
Reasoning Logically and
Intuitively
Analyzing and
Visualizing
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Lecture
Demonstrate
Lead students to selfdiscovery
Focus on principles
Focus on applications
Emphasize memory and
others understanding
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Bored
Inattentive in class
Do poorly on tests
Get discouraged about the courses, the
curriculum, and themselves
In some cases change to other curricula or
drop out of school
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many other responsibilities (families, careers,
social commitments)
lack of time
lack of money
lack of child care
scheduling problems
transportation problems
insufficient confidence
having to learn when but not interested or ready
living people’s expectations and experiences
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Emphasizes time on
task
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Communicates high
expectations
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Respects diverse
talents and ways of
learning
Enhances students’
talents, assets, and
strengths
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Know your Subject
Know your Audience
Know the Context in which you’re presenting
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Some students ARE listening.
The middle of the class is benefiting the most
from your help.
Make sure that uncooperative students do not
affect the learning environment.
Try to make your tutorial/lab more
interesting and interactive.
Ask questions of specific students.
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“You have to know who your students are. If
you don’t know who they are, you can’t teach
them.”
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Concentrate on your students and on the
subject.
Prepare yourself ahead of time.
Make sure you are ready physically.
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First, you should show that you are
organized.
Second, be yourself.
Come in really ready for this class.
• Balance
activities well
• You can help to achieve this by
preparing a
clear outline and
displaying it for your
class
• Think what you would like if you
were in your class.
• Be
engagingly responsive
• Get feedback - how?
 eye contact
 nodding
 body language
 surveys
 conversations
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Communicate effectively
• Make everything very clear - especially
rules - attendance, make-ups
etc.(twice)
• Give detailed guidance on prep /
homework time
• Tell the students what you can do and
what you cannot
• Take questions - stimulate them to ask
• Tell them what they can expect of you
outside class hours
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Key Question
 How well am I teaching?
 Which aspects of my teaching are good and which
needs to be improved?
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Self Monitoring
Audio Tape/Video Tape
Information from Students
 Multi-Year Questionnaire
 Interviews
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Students’ Test Results
Outside Observer
I Applaud Your
Participation