[kcwester]

I am a high school teacher and feel you will have a lot of luck and a lot of fun. Remember, the students in your class are there because they want to be and not because they have to be. That is half the battle right there as you have a captive audience that is eager to partake of your knowledge.

You need to vary the lesson plans. Also, students like to work in groups and enjoy projects. Depending on the length of your class one or two projects is usually appropriate. Give them time to organize in class but let them know up front that the work has to be done at home and that additional time will be necessary.

As stated by someone previously, PowerPoint is wonderful. I use it as my notes and then students can't complain that they can't read handwriting. Another thing is to let students that were absent access your PowerPoint to take notes and get an idea of what you think is inportant.

Some teachers post PowerPoints on the Internet in addition to assignments. That is a personal choice and might depend on the policy of your school.

If you are brave have the students critique your class at the end and give you ideas of what you need to change. Don't be afraid to admit that you have made a mistake and evaluate your tests to see if one problem was missed more than any other. If that is the case you night need to reteach that section. I know I constantly change my tests and how I do things. Depending on how you are testing you might even want to consider giving second chance tests.

Most important, if you are having fun and enjoying yourself your students will also.

Good luck and let us know how you do.
Cheryl

[kcwester]

I am a high school teacher and feel you will have a lot of luck and a lot of fun. Remember, the students in your class are there because they want to be and not because they have to be. That is half the battle right there as you have a captive audience that is eager to partake of your knowledge.

You need to vary the lesson plans. Also, students like to work in groups and enjoy projects. Depending on the length of your class one or two projects is usually appropriate. Give them time to organize in class but let them know up front that the work has to be done at home and that additional time will be necessary.

As stated by someone previously, PowerPoint is wonderful. I use it as my notes and then students can't complain that they can't read handwriting. Another thing is to let students that were absent access your PowerPoint to take notes and get an idea of what you think is inportant.

Some teachers post PowerPoints on the Internet in addition to assignments. That is a personal choice and might depend on the policy of your school.

If you are brave have the students critique your class at the end and give you ideas of what you need to change. Don't be afraid to admit that you have made a mistake and evaluate your tests to see if one problem was missed more than any other. If that is the case you night need to reteach that section. I know I constantly change my tests and how I do things. Depending on how you are testing you might even want to consider giving second chance tests.

Most important, if you are having fun and enjoying yourself your students will also.

Good luck and let us know how you do.
Cheryl

[DavidHorn]

Congradamalations!

I'll love you for ever if you manage to get a plug for PocketGamer.org in to your lessons

[CTSLICK]

Advice:

Show no fear...students can sense fear from the back of the classroom. :twisted:

[klinux]

Best wishes!!!

[Kacey Green]

teacherthoughts.com
teachingthoughts.com
:lol:

[BTS]

Enjoy the world of teaching, Jason! I've been doing it for ten years and have enjoyed every minute of it.

As for using a Pocket PC (which has been my "growth plan" for the last 4 years):

- A fantastic program is Teacher's Assistant Professional. It's cheap and includes both PPC and Palm programs (free!) to use with the program. It can be used at any grade level. It allows for rubrics, lesson plans, etc., etc. You can e-mail grade assignments, progress, etc. Reports are generated in HTML so you can use your web wizardry and even have a secure site to post your grades. Try it for 30 days - you won't regret it! You can find it at www.greatspiritsoftware.com

- As for planning I put in all of my lessons in Pocket Informant as tasks. I can then set dates for them to appear in my calendar on the day of the lesson. You keep notes about the lesson (in college that would be your lecture notes) in the notes field. PI has been awesome.

-Set up your students as contacts in PI. You can then link external files to their name. I take photos of my students and then import them for PI to use.

-I have a Toshiba e750. I'm really wanting to pick up that expansion pack (for $150...whew, gotta run that past my wife). You can create your lectures in PPT and then use the PPC to show them. You're then not anchored to a notebook, etc......although with the content of your class you will probably want to use a notebook to show internet sites, etc.

-Use TextMaker to keep your tests, etc. Use Excel (or spreadsheet of your choice) to keep track of checklists, etc (or use a list manager). I also use Access Panel to have commonly used phrases when I am writing out evaluations.

The Pocket PC will be your indispensible tool! Have fun!

GO FLAMES GO!!!!

[Janak Parekh]

Some good advice all around. Here's some of mine. I won't by any stretch cover them all, but hopefully you'll find this helpful. Feel free to ignore any irrelevant material. I'll reply to some of Kati's and dadarkmcse's points too...

- You're really not an expert on a subject until you teach it. You'd be amazed, but especially the first time, assuming you know a subject doesn't mean you've internalized it to the point where you can explain it to someone else. PowerPoint slides are a big help, but make sure not to rely on them entirely -- I've seen so many presenters that read off the slides, and that's a total turn-off to a class. I sometimes force myself to explain stuff on the blackboard, which I think is a good extra tactic. (Having talked to you in person, I don't think you fit in that category, but it's always good to keep in the back of your mind.)

- When you make up a homework, if it's specific, do it yourself first. You'd be amazed how many bugs crop up until you do it. This is more important for CS than other fields, and if it's a project obviously it's not doable, but it's often worthwhile.

- Engaging a class is hard -- and you should expect it to be. I think it'll be less of a problem for a Communications class, but in CS glassy stares are the norm, especially at the beginning. As others mentioned, ask lots of questions and wander around the room as appropriate. Asking people to present, etc. are also great ways to increase involvement. I also make a huge effort to try and learn everyone's name. Doesn't always happen, but I think the bond that forms increases students' respect of me.

- Projecting and timing are tough skills. I naturally speak way too loud, so that part isn't a problem, but I also speak a bit fast, and I've had to learn to pace myself. Make sure people are hearing what you say, depending on how the classroom is set up. Pacing is also tricky in-and-of-itself: I used to take about 35 PowerPoint slides in about 75 minutes, but I'm now down to about 20-25, because I give lots of board examples as I can and force more interaction. Especially at the beginning, prepare extra material, beyond what you'll think, for the first class -- it's common, if you're nervous, to run through material faster and have nothing left over at the end. Kati isn't nervous about her class, but she can vouch for my point when I say that extra material is helpful.

- Be accessible. I personally ask students not to call me Professor Parekh and force them to call me Janak (partially because I'm not, but more importantly, because I prefer being called by my first name). I also schedule my office hours at a convenient time (right after class). I try to encourage people to engage me early on in the homework process, and try not to be intimidating. Kati might be different on this one... :twisted:

I'm sure other points will come up in time.

As for my Pocket PC, I don't use it beyond the basic PIM organization features. I use the calendaring and tasks features heavily for my class, but the rest of the stuff (being a CS class) is done on my computer. I could carry my gradebook in a Pocket Excel spreadsheet, but I don't typically need it halfway down the street.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by Kati Compton

I think I have to fill out a scan-tron sheet. I'll find out soon - my final exam is on Monday.

We've got a neat webgrading interface, but it's not Excel. I do use Excel for my statistical analysis/curving, though.

Remember that everyone's human. If you say something isn't going to count towards their grade, most students won't do it.

More than human -- assume they're essentially mercenary. As Kati alluded, this is less of an issue with higher-education students sometimes, and at other times, higher-education students are worse.

Don't be upset when not everyone attends every class.

Or make attendance mandatory and take attendance. For a CS or CE class, it's not important -- it's the student's prerogative -- but for a Communications class, I could see attendance as being critical.

Wait until you've finished grading the exams or the homeworks before getting depressed (it's easy to notice only the really bad scores and think the whole class did poorly when that's in fact not true).

Also decide whether or not, ahead of time, whether you're going to curve/scale grades. I scale grades up based on the median, which is typical for CS courses. For non-engineering courses, it's a lot more varied; I've taken a number of non-engineering courses where there is no curving or scaling.

Treat every question as if its valid, even if it isn't. It's really hard in many cases to get students (especially ugrads) to ask questions in class. You don't want to discourage them.

Agreed. In one of the first lectures, I got a simple question about whether an email client was the same thing as UNIX terminal client. Some other students must have smiled or laughed quietly, but I took it seriously and answered it levelly. I also repeatedly say "good question"; perhaps a little too much, but I'd rather encourage students than discourage them.

You will spend FAR more time outside of class preparing/grading/etc. than in class lecturing. At least, usually. It's actually rather surprising.

Not surprising to me! Lectures are the easy part once you've perfected them.

It usually takes longer to write a good homework or exam than to do/take it. But the students won't appreciate this. (You can complain to Janak and I if you want).

I do point out the amount of work I put in a homework, and most students grumble but do admit it's testing their skills appropriately. I put insane amount of time preparing homeworks -- probably on the order of 4-6 hours -- but you would know that, as I was trying to do one during the Summit... :|

When possible (and it isn't always possible), have homeworks resemble actual projects/situations that could occur

And have them resemble exam questions, if you're going to have an exam. Students hate it when they get easy homework questions, and then they get exam questions that are an order-of-magnitude harder.

Damn, I sound old.

:P You're only one year older than me...

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by dadarkmcse

Make sure you establish an environment where students feel free to ask questions, but know their is a line they can cross that will cause them to be asked to leave the class meeting.

This might vary by school. I've never had a situation about this. Although, I have asked to take discussions offline when they've gotten off-topic.

Be wary of emailing / posting things online. I used to post powerpoint slides online and then as soon as I feel behind a week or posted not 100% of the lecture, I got an earful from my class.

So, more importantly, be consistent with whatever strategy you pick. I do post my slides online, at least 12 hours before class, and I stick to it. Students really find them helpful. However, note that I do not post PPT files, but rather just PDF printouts. Third parties will steal PPTs if you post them on the web.

Make sure you plan for at least 1 - 2 hours for a test, and up to 1 hour for a well-written homework.

You're good. It takes me about 6-10 hours for an exam, and 4-6 hours for a homework. Of course, it varies by field.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by xendula

A common mistake for people who use a projector is to face the wall instead of the class, don't know if you knew this, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Keep eye contact as much as possible.

Yep, this is quite critical. In fact, I know my slides pretty much by heart, so they're only an accessory to my talk. I don't even need to see them when I lecture. I just have to remember to advance them...

--janak