Teaching Project Examples

The following learning plans and teaching projects are intended only as examples of what can been done under this program. You need not follow them in form or content when completing your application. The examples are taken from the Greening the Future, a compilation of the Miami University Alumni Teaching Scholars Program, the pilot program for this teaching enhancement initiative. We would like to thank Milt Cox, director of the Miami project, for his permission to use these examples.

Teaching Scholar Initial Learning Plan

Elaine P. Miller --Philosophy

1. ATS goals and objectives for the year:

a. to improve my focus course, Philosophy 103
b. to reflect about my teaching style and how I can improve it
c. to come up with innovative ways of evaluating student progress
d. to improve my use of small groups in teaching
e. to think about more effective ways to teach courses cross-listed with Women's Studies

2. Courses taught this semester:

a. PHL 390: Existentialism
b. Focus Course: PHL 103: Society and the Individual

3 . Mentor: I plan to visit my mentor, Sheila Croucher (Political Science)'s, class, "Women in Politics," in order to see how she interacts with students, including how she combines discussion and lecture, small group learning, and how she evaluates students. Sheila will visit my focus course and give me advice on how to improve it. We will regularly meet to talk about teaching, including looking at the resources of the OAST. I also intend to share results of my SGID visit with my mentor.

4. Student Associate: My student associate, Robin James, is already attending my focus course regularly. I collaborate with her on teaching techniques, and ask her for feedback every Monday after class. In addition she has helped me with a small amount of grading, presenting to the class, and helping to lead small group sessions. This way we can both benefit from the association, since she plans to go on to graduate school in philosophy and this will give her valuable experience to prepare for being a T.A. I plan to remunerate Robin by giving her standard student wages; in addition I have given her the books for the course.

5. Teaching Project (see subsequent document)

6. Scholarship of Teaching: I plan to study materials in the OAST as well as read articles in our department's journal, "Teaching Philosophy" to give me insight into innovative teaching methods and materials.

7. Funds: I intend to use the $125 to buy books that will aid me in my research and teaching, titles to be decided as the need arises.

8. Time Line:

September:
1. meet with mentor to discuss how we will meet subsequently, what activities we will pursue together
2. meet with student associate weekly to get feedback on progress of class
3. begin work on teaching project
4. videotape class for Lilly project

October:
1. schedule SGID for PHL 103
2. discuss results of SGID with mentor
3. discuss results of SGID with student associate
4. continue work on teaching project
5. visit mentor's class
6. have mentor visit my class
7. do regular small-group work in class in different ways to see what works best

November:
1. continue work on teaching project; think about how to turn it into an article
2. meet with mentor; visit her class
3. discuss class with student associate

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Teaching Project-- Elaine P. Miller

1. How can I more effectively use small groups and other student-based learning techniques in class? How can I help students to become organized and reflective thinkers on their own, without needing constant direction from me?

The aspects of student behavior that I would like to change involve process, particularly the shift that occurs when I put them into small groups, when instead of attending to the task at hand they tend to start making small talk.

2. I have attempted several different ways of addressing this problem, none of them entirely successful.

I teamed the Group Inquiry technique I used last semester in my Philosophy 103 course from Shannon Sullivan, the faculty member I replaced. She herself told me that she had developed the technique during her tenure as an Alumni Teaching Scholar, which is how I heard about the program. The class meets three times a week for 50 minutes a session. On Mondays and Wednesdays I conduct the class in my usual manner, in a combination formal of lecture and discussion. On Wednesday I assign the class a short paper topic which requires both a close reading of the text and interpretive comments that can reflect the students' own convictions or arguments. Students come to class on Friday with a one- to two-page paper on the topic. They form pre-arranged groups and each reads his or her paper in turn to the others. The others then critique the papers for logical weaknesses, fallacies, mere opinion without support, etc. If time remains, I give the students a series of questions to discuss. Groups change members four times a semester. This gives the students the chance to take responsibility for their own learning, it allows them to get to know each other, and gives shyer students a less intimidating atmosphere in which to express themselves. Best of all, it gets the students used to writing on a regular basis, which is an invaluable tool for preparing for writing longer papers. I grade the papers on a "check, check+, or check-" basis, or give an "X" for papers that are written hastily or have no real content. This portion of their grade is based on the number of checks and X's they have received, so that a student can achieve full points in this portion of his or her grade through effort alone. I find this gives students a sense of control and cuts down greatly on the complaining about grades on other assignments.

Students complained at the end of the course that they didn't like reading their papers to each other, and that they received very few helpful suggestions from others. I think that I need to alternate group work activities to avoid boredom.

I also have been involved in a pedagogy discussion group in my department, a discussion to create a new course, and several pedagogy workshops.

I am currently involved in the Federated Learning Community Program, in which students take two thematically related courses from different departments together, live together, and meet once weekly over dinner with the faculty members in a smaller group to discuss the interdisciplinary crossovers between the two courses. So far it has been quite successful.

3. I propose to try out many ways of group work with my current class, "Society and the Individual." I have already started with this process, and it was the most successful group work I have ever initiated.

I think that the rapport I have achieved with this group of students has really improved its chance of working.

4. 1 will use the SGID, anonymous student evaluations during the semester, and student writing improvement and morale to evaluate the success of these methods. I will think about a plan to evaluate this progress more consistently.

5. See "Initial Teaching Plan"

The project has already been initiated, but I have not yet formed a very structured timeline.

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