Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching. 

TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: Thinking About Your Thinking

This week, we challenge you to begin class with a ‘cold open’ – a nod to the unscripted monologue that begins each Saturday Night Live episode. Ask your students to respond to a prompt from the previous class without collaboration – without notes – just using recall and reflection. At its core, reflection is a form of metacognition, a crucial component to the learning process and can involve retrieval, elaboration, and generation (see Brown, Roediger, & McDermott, 2014). 

Here’s one way to do it:

• Greet students.
• Let them know that they will begin today with an opportunity to engage in metacognition – to “think about their thinking.” 
• Write the prompt on the board/slide and give students five minutes to respond.
• E.g., Describe primary and secondary emotions. Include examples of each.
• Encourage handwritten responses as it slows students down and allows for deeper processing. It also allows them to include sketches, diagrams, or concept maps as they reflect.
• After 3-4 minutes, have students collaborate with a classmate to either identify gaps in what they remembered or allow for further discussion.

Help Students Embrace the Discomfort

You might notice that some students take off immediately, writing furiously, while others are slower to warm up. Reassure them that the goal isn’t to be “correct,” but to practice thinking—and writing—about what they are learning. When we ask students to actively recall something from a previous class, we signal that attending class is an actual learning experience – and not just passive exposure. Remind students that if their learning strategies feel easy, they are probably not very effective.

DID YOU DO IT?

Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey. The survey is anonymous, but if you choose to enter your name, you’ll be entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter to win a new book from Faculty Development!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS 

• Facilitating Student Belonging Through Advising on Thursday, March 5 RSVP

• First Fridays Shut Up & Write on Friday, March 6 RSVP

• Shut Up & Grade on Friday, March 13 RSVP

 

WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?

• Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Harvard University Press.

This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by Barbara O’Brien on behalf of the Office of Faculty Development and the Center for Teaching Excellence.

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And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development events.