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How we bowl (academically) with bumpers
As many of us encroach on the final weeks of the academic term, finding opportunities for balance becomes increasingly difficult. This post allows us to reflect on our preparation for the end-of-term grind. What is more common than the senior slide? The end-of-semester/trimester/quarter slump. And that slump emerges in many different ways in ourselves and…
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Revisiting the syllabus: Paths toward successful course design
Constructing a syllabus can feel much more daunting of a task than the “syllabus week” sentiment carries. The power packed into that semi-annual document requires significant time and attention. This post provides a seven-step process to think big about your course and transform that thinking into your syllabus. Use this table of contents to jump…
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Keeping up with the conversation: Assessing your discussion leadership
The fifth strategy of a five-part post about discussion strategies. These five strategies will help students to improve small-group communication while also allowing them to synthesize important course content in large-group discussions. It is appropriate and fair to see setting up discussions as one of the most difficult instructional strategies in our lessons. The easiest…
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Keeping up with the conversation: Fishbowls
The fourth strategy of a five-part post about discussion strategies. These five strategies will help students to improve small-group communication while also allowing them to synthesize important course content in large-group discussions. It is appropriate and fair to see setting up discussions as one of the most difficult instructional strategies in our lessons. The easiest…
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Keeping up with the conversation: Speed dating
The third strategy of a five-part post about discussion strategies. These five strategies will help students to improve small-group communication while also allowing them to synthesize important course content in large-group discussions. It is appropriate and fair to see setting up discussions as one of the most difficult instructional strategies in our lessons. The easiest…
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Keeping up with the conversation: Affinity mapping
The second strategy of a five-part post about discussion strategies. These five strategies will help students to improve small-group communication while also allowing them to synthesize important course content in large-group discussions. It is appropriate and fair to see setting up discussions as one of the most difficult instructional strategies in our lessons. The easiest…
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Keeping up with the conversation: The jigsaw
The first strategy of a five-part post about discussion strategies. These five strategies will help students to improve small-group communication while also allowing them to synthesize important course content in large-group discussions. It is appropriate and fair to see setting up discussions as one of the most difficult instructional strategies in our lessons. The easiest…
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How to elevate connections between students and their terms
Utilizing the Frayer Model provides unique chances to engage students with important vocabulary while formatively assessing their comprehension of reading and course concepts. One of the most common assumptions many of us make in our teaching is that students are on the same page as us when it comes to the terms we are using.…
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Using formative assessment to think in stairs, spirals, and scaffolds
Setting a foundation for thinking is essential for helping students build toward success. One of my favorite frameworks I learned in teaching school as an undergrad was the Zone of Proximal Development. It comes from educational theorist Lev Vygotsky’s (one of my most beloved thinkers) work in learning development, particularly his theory of sociocultural cognitive…
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How to shift point-focused reading assessments to engagement
Utilizing trivia and incentives provides a mix of enjoyment and encouragement for student learning. To begin, I am firmly against the way in which we frame grading and scoring currently. I think it is entirely unfair and unprofessional to tell students that nearly 60% of all of the potential graded outcome is labeled as “fail.”…
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Patrick R. Johnson, Ph.D., MJE 