We The Professors

SINATRA: ADVICE FROM AN ENTERTAINING SAGE

Professors are not just teachers. They are also presenters, and while they don’t always lecture, they are always disseminators of information and insights. And who better and more unlikely to learn from about this than Frank Sinatra. Yes, Frank Sinatra, the singer, the man known by some as a legend.

In a 1963 Playboy Magazine interview, Sinatra said: "When I sing, I believe. I’m honest. If you want to get an audience with you, there’s only one way. You have to reach out to them with total honesty and humility.”

He alluded to the fact that people do not connect with indifference.

“This isn’t a grandstand play on my part; I’ve discovered—and you can see it in other entertainers—when they don’t reach out to the audience, nothing happens."

He attributed his success to involvement.

"I think it’s because I get an audience involved, personally involved in a song—because I’m involved myself."

There are many ways to apply what Sinatra says to your teaching and I’ll let you figure out your own specifics. But I do think his advice is inspired and can lead you toward coming a bit closer to making your classroom persona complete.

 

WALKING THE TIGHTROPE

In every field, there is usually the “them vs. us” state of affairs.

• There are employees (us) vs. management (them).
• There are taxpayers (us) vs. the IRS (them).
• And there’s Democrats (us/them) vs. Republicans (us/them).

And then, of course, there are professors (us) vs. students (them).

From my experience students almost always initially perceive the professor as “them.” And the best profs look at that way of doing classroom business as a good thing. Because those professors who are constantly the students’ friend and kowtow to most student wishes are often the weakest profs.

But there’s also the bureaucracy of the university. There are all those rules and regulations such as drop/add deadlines, graduation form completion deadlines, scholarship application deadlines, study abroad deadlines, etc., etc. And honestly, some of those deadlines are realistic and some probably could be a little earlier or later.

But as a professor, whose side are you on in the bureaucracy debates? Do you side with your students against the bureaucracy, or are you an ambassador for the school and stand up for things as they are, even if you do not necessarily agree?

It's actually very hard to know how to walk that tightrope because most students will automatically look at you as "them." And if you align too often with students then you often begin to look a bit less like management/teacher and a bit more like a friend/accomplice. And you look less like someone who likes where you work, and more like just another chronic complainer.

These are often problematic areas in higher education, but definitely do require pondering on the part of anyone who teaches. 

 

BE SMART, ADJUST ACCORDINGLY

Is it the time of the semester to tell the students in your courses to tear up their syllabi?

Yes, in at least one of your courses, it probably is.

• • • • •

Is it time to add some readings or take away some readings, alter the due dates of things, change a test date, or even add or eliminate a whole segment of a course?

Again, yes.

• • • • •

Is it time to change your teaching methods for a course or two?

Once again, yes.

• • • • •

Why, why and why you are asking.

Because each set of students in each course create an overall persona/personality of that course. And thus, courses become like people. Some are quicker learners than others. Some are more visual learners. Some need more time on particular areas. And it’s not just a few students here and there. Each course in its entirety comes to have its own personality.

And that’s why at this point in the term it’s time to take stock of that and adjust for the inevitable changes that you’ve observed.

Remember that in reality you, the professor, only need to stay one class period ahead of the students in terms of preparation. You are smarter than them. You have done this before. And you do understand students, courses and personalities.

In the film “Now You See Me,” Jesse Eisenberg’s character, a magician, says: “First rule of magic: always be the smartest person in the room.”

Just know that you are, and adjust accordingly.

 

FALL BREAK: TALKING TEACHING, TALKING LEARNING

Five quotations: relevant to higher education, relevant to teaching.

Quotations to ponder and enjoy.

“Another common misconception: You need to learn from your mistakes. What do you really learn from mistakes? You might learn what not to do again, but how valuable is that? You still don’t know what you should do next. Contrast that with learning from your successes. Success gives you real ammunition. When something succeeds, you know what worked—and you can do it again. And the next time, you’ll probably do it even better.”
--David Heinemeier Hansson, Jason Fried (From their book “Rework,” New York: Crown Business, 2010)

------------

“We don’t set out to spread the word about things that are boring. We don’t join a tribe on a boring mission, or start talking about the unremarkable.

No, the future belongs to the breathtaking, and creators are starting to notice.”
--Seth Godin

------------

"If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a freaking packet, there’s kids in here who don’t learn like that, they need to learn face to face… You want kids to come in to your class, you want them to get excited for this? You gotta come in here you gotta make ‘em excited. You want a kid to change, you want him to start doing better? You gotta touch his freaking HEART. You can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell ‘em.” 
--High School Student Jeff Bliss standing up to his teacher after being fed up with another passionless class and packet of fill in the bubbles.

------------

“We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it's an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.”
--Ken Robinson 

------------

“I heard a great story recently, I love telling it, of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson, she was 6 and she was at the back, drawing, and the teacher said this little girl hardly paid attention, and in this drawing lesson she did. The teacher was fascinated and she went over to her and she said, “What are you drawing?” and the girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” And the teacher said, “But nobody knows what God looks like.” And the girl said, “They will in a minute.” 
--Ken Robinson

 

THE END OF OCTOBER IS SCARY. MAKE THE BEGINNING FASCINATING.

-------
New posts every Monday and Thursday. 
Practical information, opinions and ideas for higher education.
-------

It either is or is fast approaching the second month of school. And it’s time to think even harder about where you are in your courses, what you’re doing, and what you can do to mix things up a bit. Here are some suggestions.

1) Pass out index cards 15 minutes before a class session ends. Tell your students you would like them to grade the quality of the course thus far. Tell them they are grading the entirety of the course, not just you. If they want to 
make a comment or two, tell them they may. Tell them that under no circumstances should they put their names on this card. Then designate one student to collect the cards and bring them to your office. Then leave the classroom.

2) For one class session, reverse the seating.  Since students are notorious for sitting in the same seats every class, have students literally reverse their positions. Students in the last row sit in the first row. Students in the next to last row sit in the second row, etc., etc. Obviously don’t force the issue, but do this in such a way that all students will feel the need to buy in.

3) In a course of 20 or fewer students, do an oral exam. Yes, an oral exam. That means having students come to your office, or another designated place on campus, and discuss with you the relevant material. Certainly you should not ask each student a list of specific questions (because the questions will spread quickly) but rather talk to them about the meaning of the material, their analysis and interpretation, their thought processes. Do grade them on this and tell them beforehand that it is an exam. Most profs who do this set a specific time for the duration of the discussion such as 20 minutes. Some profs give an immediate grade, others a written grade with comments at a later time. Discuss the exam during a class session after everyone has met with you. And by all means do not meet with more than five students on any one day. Your energy and enthusiasm for the discussions will certainly diminish quickly.

4) Invite your immediate superior to visit your course during one class session. Invite them not for the purpose of evaluating you, but to contribute to the discussion and to see what you do without wearing the lenses of appraisal. For an even more interesting experience, invite the university president or provost to a class. Your students will then not only be able to meet these people, but also see them interrelate.

 

CREATIVITY AT ITS MOST EXCEPTIONAL

Here’s a fascinating classroom idea that’s not for the feint of heart. And it works, with tweaking, for all size classes.

1) Write the content of the class session in the form of a two-person interaction.  Perhaps one person asks the questions and another answers. Perhaps there’s a sort of debate. Perhaps there’s a back-and-forth dialogue that moves quickly. Or perhaps it’s a combination of all of the above. Write what you consider to be a great class.

2) Then, using very careful timing, have someone on campus with video expertise record you playing the part of one person in the interaction.

3) Then have that same person edit the video so that the final classroom presentation becomes you, physically in the classroom, interacting with you, the video person. In effect, you are having the class taught by two people interacting with one another. The twist is that both of the presenters are you.

4) The biggest problem in creating this is timing the video to allow for your in-the-flesh interactions.

5) Yes, I have seen this sort of presentation twice. To make it more creative, one of the profs had his video persona in a variety of locations such as office, coffee shop, library, and a few other campus landmarks. I have also seen it done with the prof getting students on video as the interactors and even occasionally an expert or guest to discuss and engage in the dialogue.

6) Another different sort of interaction is to have a guest speaker via Skype or some other conferencing software be “present” and be interviewed by the professor. The advantage of this is that the guest can literally be from anywhere in the world.

Yes, it’s difficult. Yes, it will take you out of your comfort zone. Yes, it’s a bit like a stage presentation.

But yes, why not?

Note: If you do not think this is for you, share it with someone you think would do this.

 

MAKING OUT-OF-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS A BETTER LEARNING EXPERIENCE

What exactly is the purpose of out-of-class assignments (i.e. homework)? Students seem to dislike doing these assignments. Profs seem to dislike assigning them because it also means grading them. And if it’s a reading there’s always the feeling that it might not be done.

Can this all be improved, even just a little, so that learning might occur and that teachers might observe something of a student’s understanding of these assignments?

Here are a few suggestions.

First, engage in a discussion in the course about honesty and about the fact that learning and critical thinking are more important than grades. Point out that trying to dupe you, the professor, into almost anything that involves outright dishonesty is not only unacceptable; it’s just plain ridiculous. Even if you haven’t seen it all, telling your students you have is an effective technique. And don’t tell them this in a potentially punitive way. Just tell them straight up that dishonesty only hurts them, embarrasses them, and is unacceptable.

Then talk about why they are in the course. Discuss improving their knowledge of the subject and becoming an educated person and point out that those things are the bottom line, not a grade.

After all this is said, profs can then make the grading or evaluating of written pieces a bit more substantive. Tell your class that at the end of every out-of-class written piece each student is to write a paragraph or two that very honestly evaluates the piece. What does she think works? What might need a little more work? What did he understand or not understand? What light bulbs went on? Explain that each is evaluating his own writing and understanding of the material, not pleading for a good grade.

If the assignment is short answer, such as the solving of math problems, have each student indicate in writing at the end of the assignment where he/she is confused or where they feel they succeeded. Just because a student arrives at a right answer doesn’t automatically mean she understands how she arrived at it. Point out that you, the prof, actually needs to know where the gaps in comprehension are, or even if a student is clueless. The object of a course is not to be frustrated and to scrape by. It is to understand the material and feel successful.

In terms of reading chapters or articles, ask the student to bring to class a two-or-more sentence summary of what she read. Whoa you say, that’s not enough summary. Actually your students are likely experts at summarizing things in 140 characters or less. A few sentences and a little sharing of those sentences in class should start to increase and improve both doing the readings and understanding the readings.

Yea, all this is probably a bit more work for the prof, and certainly more work for the student…but the purpose of higher education is to get a student to think and to self-evaluate for himself or herself. And it’s for the professor to see how the student is thinking and when they need more help.

 

DO WE GIVE A DAMN?

To those of us who are the professors.

• Conventional wisdom says the old ways of teaching such as lectures and small group discussions are not really the best ways any longer.

• Conventional wisdom says the semesters are busy times for professors and the summers are for relaxation and research.

• Conventional wisdom says professors dislike committee work.

• Conventional wisdom says higher education might be broken.

And whether or not you believe in the conventional wisdom, you can believe that there is an incredible amount of writing and research out there about education in general and higher education in particular. And much of that research discusses new ways to do things, new techniques to use, new ways to incorporate technology, and quite simply, better ways to teach.

But do we as professors really give a damn about any of this? Sure, we might use Ipads in our classes or now use PowerPoint differently or incorporate clickers or try to lecture less even though it’s really hard to figure out what else to do. And we might always dislike committee work.

But do we give a damn enough to effect real change in higher education and to actually test and evaluate new methods? Can we muster the energy to be really concerned about teaching and how to do it better and how to get it right and then share what works with our colleagues and have luncheons that talk about teaching instead of just luncheons that discuss research? Can we? Do we?

Can we be supported by our institutions to attend conferences that talk totally about teaching? Can we bring that information back to our campuses and share it widely? Can we have on-campus grants that support teaching initiatives?  

We must.

We must take the reins in our own hands. Otherwise, those people in the highest ivory towers make all the decisions and those in the trenches just say we were too busy or too tired, but we still complain about the decisions. This is not an easy problem since those in the highest towers do not often want our help, but there is no need to simply hand them reasons for not including us.

Yea, it’s a busy time. But the system can never be fixed unless those of us who continuously use it are involved in the repair.

 

COMFORT ZONES, SPEED, ASKING, CREATING AND EVALUATING

Now that the semester is four or five weeks old, here are five things to reflect on and then do.

(1) Recognize that you should in all probability go slower in your courses. It’s not the amount you teach that’s significant. It’s the amount that your students learn and think about and find worth remembering. Courses are like people.  Each one is different. Each has a different personality. Some are quicker. Some are slower. And you can’t treat a course this semester the same as you treated a course last semester. It doesn’t really work that way.

(2) Ask your students how they’re doing. Not in that touchy-feely caring way that makes you sound too nurturing. Just ask them if the course they’re taking with you is doing something positive for them. Encourage honesty, and point out that you’re not necessarily just looking for what’s wrong. Ask them if the pace of the course is right, if the assignments and readings are something they feel is worth their time. You may not want to do this because hey, you’re the teacher, you’ve taught this course before, and you know what’s best. That’s not really true that you know what’s best. You know what you think is best. Your students actually know what is working. So, ask them.

(3) Do something in a class that takes you out of your comfort zone, yet is totally on-target in terms of the course content. Changing things up is good for everyone, and it reveals a different side of you.

(4) Create an assignment that requires only one page (about 250 words) of reading. And then have each student write one 10-word-or-less profound sentence about the reading. Point out that what they write should not be an opinion about the reading, but a sentence that they would say resulted from thinking critically about what they read. Spend a class session discussing their responses. Use the Socratic method.

(5) Evaluate your own workload. There are limits to the amount of responsibility and work one person can take on. Too often in a department, the more good work you do, the more work you get to do. But a person cannot be an excellent teacher and an excellent researcher and an excellent committee member and an excellent faculty recruiter and an excellent colleague. Evaluate what you are being asked to do and determine if it’s time to speak up.

 

WALK IN, DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Three ways to begin a class session.

1. Begin with a single question, which the entire class session is then focused around answering. This class should not be a lecture, but primarily should be a discussion. Sometimes the question can be sent to the class in advance so that discussion points can be prepared. Using two or three or four questions defeats the purpose. This technique also allows the entire semester to revolve around answering only as many questions as there are class sessions. Some profs pose these questions in the syllabus.
   
   
2. Assign the class a reading before the class session. Then enter the classroom early and simply sit in one of the desks or tables. At the appointed time, when everyone is there, read aloud a paragraph from the reading and ask the class what they thought was meant by that paragraph and how significant it is to the whole piece. Expand the discussion to include a couple of other paragraphs which then leads to either a short lecture or continued discussion.
   
   
3. Inform the class at the end of a week that next week they will be responsible for teaching the weeks classes. Explain that you, the professor, will simply come into the classroom and sit as any student would. Then someone will be expected to begin by saying or presenting something that is related to the topic of that particular week, and that is both relevant and interesting. Explain that one student cannot dominate more than 10 minutes unless they are leading a significant discussion. Short and entirely relevant videos may be shown. PowerPoint may be used. But students must email the prof at least 24 hours before each class session with what they want to do and how it will contribute significantly to the course content. This also allows for choreographing presentations, and for setting up videos and PowerPoint presentations ahead of time. It also allows for rejecting certain presentations. Two other things to do. Explain to the class the previous week that you are not doing this exercise so that you do not have to teach, but rather to encourage student thinking and to allow them to demonstrate their own style of interesting and creative questions and presentation. Second, assign some type of evaluation to each presentation. It may be a grade. It may be extra credit. Simply make certain that there is a benefit to significant presentations.

  

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN

If you never try something, you’ll never know if it can work.

If you don’t take a risk, you’ll never feel the rush a risk gives you. 

Revolutionary ideas are risky. Revolutionary thinking is risky. Revolutionary actions are very risky. Revolutionary change is, well, it’s very, very risky.

Evolutionary change is usually what higher education has been all about. Evolutionary change is comfortable, is incremental and takes place gradually, over time. It happens step by step, little by little.

Revolutionary change is profound, fundamental, and dramatic. From an organizational perspective, revolutionary change often leads to radical breakthroughs in beliefs or behaviors. In efforts to stay ahead of the curve and reach evolution, outstanding organizations often pursue revolutionary change.

In higher education, change is a delicate balance and a tightrope that must be walked by the best leaders. There must be change that’s fast enough to create absolute quality, but slow enough to let the changes take a firm hold. It’s usually evolutionary, but in today’s society change often demands revolutionary thinking.

For professors, revolution is often best done at the beginning of something…new job, new semester, new year, etc.

So, when the courses are underway; when the office is reorganized; when the syllabi are written, and when you decide what your academic persona will be…think change, think revolution, think quality and think originality beyond what you’ve ever done.

 

LEARNING FROM THE BEST: ROBIN WILLIAMS

Does Robin Williams have anything to teach us about teaching?

He was quick. His timing was impeccable. It seemed like there was never a script, never a moment’s hesitation in being the funniest guy in the room.

There was never a doubt that he knew his stuff. And while it looked so spontaneous we thought that because it was so good it couldn't be unrehearsed. But we never really knew. He had the ability to react instantly, to improvise, and to do it all in what seemed like an absolutely effortless way.

Robin Williams was an amazing comedian, an excellent dramatic actor, and also a very troubled individual.

And the remarkable qualities of his talent are things teachers can learn from.

But not all profs can embrace his style. His ways, his public persona, his frenetic energy is not for everyone and certainly not for every course. But for more than a few of us, incorporating some of those things is possible, and can be valuable, and productive.

Many profs do see teaching as part performing art, and there could be no greater model than Robin Williams. He was a whirling dervish of a guy, but he also could be a passionate, serious, profound character actor who succeeded cinematically as a teacher, therapist and physician.

Here are a handful of performance takeaways.

Don’t be afraid to be “on.” Be the most involved character in the classroom. Move around. Talk from the back, front, sides and middle. Sit and stand. Not constantly, but enough.

Learn to instantly adapt. See attention waning, change things up in tone and content. Be able to change the pace of your teaching, and able to react instantly to changing moments during a class. A quick mind that is always three steps ahead of the students is one of the tenets of a great teacher.

Don’t be afraid to be creative. It's important to get out of your comfort zone, to experiment a little (or a lot) while you’re teaching. Think about, remember, and view again the character (Mr. Keating) Williams portrayed in the film “Dead Poets Society.”

You’ll never be as adept as Robin Williams, but there’s nothing wrong with aspiring.

Carpe diem!

 

ONE MORE VITAL RESPONSIBILITY

----------
New posts every Monday and Thursday. 
Practical information, opinions and ideas for higher education.
----------

There are a lot of tricky responsibilities heaped on the college professor.

• To teach in a way that will lead to learning.
• To mold the citizens of tomorrow and to ensure their employment.
• To lead classes, to manage courses, and to explore the various disciplines through research.

But there is one more significant responsibility, and while it exists to a greater degree in small colleges, it is still applicable to universities. And that is the responsibility to actually look after the well-being of the students who take our classes and attend our institutions.

In a recent column in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Domenick Scudera articulated the responsibility well.

“Professors have an unspoken understanding with the parents of our students, don’t we? Parents entrust the well-being of their children to us, and we promise to guide and teach them while they are away at college,” he wrote.

Too often professors have a tendency to look at too many of their students as irresponsible and immature humans who view the demands of their teachers and advisers as just another impediment to their hectic lives.

But it can’t be that way.

When I taught at an international university comprised mostly of students who could be kindly, truthfully, and nicely described as “spoiled rich kids” I had a bit of a hard time initially looking at my role as anything other than a provider of information. But the longer I stayed there the more I realized that guiding them and looking out for their well-being as people was a key element of my teaching. Rich or poor, students are still young adolescent-adults looking for mentors to steer them in the right directions, to help them make the best choices and to be someone who will help look out for them.

Often the students we teach are far away from home…for their first time…being brave but uncertain, and needing to see those who are their teachers as something more. Not parents, but certainly supporters and guides.

Parents do entrust those responsibilities to us, the professors. And we cannot take those responsibilities lightly.

 

ELIMINATE COURSE ATTENDANCE POLICIES

Are college students too immature or irresponsible for professors to eliminate attendance policies in courses?

Are college courses fascinating enough and interesting enough for students to attend without each course having an attendance policy?

Yes is the most often given answer to the first question…by professors, of course. And, unfortunately, no is the most often given answer to the second question…by professors as well. But, I would argue that the answer should be no to the first question.

Attendance policies should be unnecessary in institutions of higher education. They should be eliminated school-wide.

And these policies should have been unnecessary throughout history. If higher education had never started attendance policies then a whole new and more responsible model of higher education would likely have developed.

Students have attendance policies in elementary school. There are attendance policies in high school. But higher education is a choice made by the student, a choice that assumes a level of responsibility and maturity beyond high school.

Yes, I can hear some of you profs chuckling. You say that without an attendance policy, many students just will not attend class. But, so what? Why should we as professors care about that? If a student wants to waste thousands and thousands of dollars, who are we to prevent that from happening by police-like tactics.

Why not treat attendance the way businesses treat attendance? If an employee has to miss, he/she has to inform the employer before the absence. And, even then, if too many absences occur, warnings or disciplinary actions are often taken.

Scores of professors and higher education administrators in this country decry the state of higher education. Students are said to be lazy, irresponsible, immature, and too often do not want to read, to write or to learn. So why not “cull the herd” by not requiring attendance but making it necessary through other means to attend the course to receive a passing grade? Then, eventually, only the responsible students who want to work hard will actually be in college.

Wait a minute. That model might please professors, but it certainly isn’t financially viable for universities. You can’t flunk out any significant portion of your paying audience simply because they aren’t responsible enough to attend class. Or can you?

Students miss class for a thousand reasons from illness to childcare to athletics. Eliminating attendance policies means that each professor does not have to deal with these things after the fact. If students let profs know beforehand that they will miss (like employees do) then the prof can discuss with those students whether the reason is a problem and can suggest ways to make up the missed material. If a student chooses not to attend and to inform no one, then it’s not a profs problem at all and the student is not likely to do well anyway.

Attendance policies do very little to encourage student responsibility. Teenagers and young adults tend to bristle and defy rules they do not agree with. Why not eliminate the requirement of attendance and allow a student to learn a hard and painful lesson if they do not attend classes. And why not make courses so good that students will not want to miss classes.  

Doing these things will also force discussions in higher education to focus more on student responsibility and more on course excellence and less on punitive classroom policies.

Makes total sense to me.

  

BEGINNINGS AND THE IMPETUS TO COMMENCE

It’s a new semester. “Nuff" said.

Here are links to five older posts that could provide some thoughts, insights and motivation about what you do and how you do it.

• WORDS ON WRITING A SYLLABUS. Read it here.

• FIRST DAY, FIRST WEEK: ONE APPROACH. Read it straightaway.

• DON'T BE AFRAID OF BEING A DIFFERENT TEACHER. BE AFRAID OF BEING THE SAME AS EVERYONE ELSE. Read it pronto.

• WHY EVERY TEACHER SHOULD ASPIRE TO BE THE BEST. Read it today.

• TEACH LIKE YOU’RE IN THE FUTURE. Read it instantly.

----------

And…10 excerpts from the PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT posts this summer.

1. Write down for yourself the three things that wasted the greatest amount of your time in the previous academic year. Then think about how to change them for the better.

2. Teaching is storytelling. Framing content in the form of stories makes that content more memorable, easier to learn, easier to apply and easier to share. During every semester, tell every course (yes, EVERY course) you teach a story that will make the class laugh out loud, and want to share that story. Also tell them one story that will make them sad enough to cry. Make it a story they will also want to share. Remember, teaching is also an emotional pursuit.

3. Can you speak eloquently, insightfully and inspirationally about your department and your college or university? While this may be called an elevator pitch, in fact it should be a short (10-15 minutes), practiced and polished presentation that can be given to an individual or a group at a moment’s notice.

4. How can you deliver a course that students will truly miss when it’s over? How can you motivate yourself to deliver meaningful words and images that matter during every single class meeting? Actors in theatrical productions can be engaged and enthused performance after performance. So can you.

5. Are you making constant forward progress in your career as a teacher? Are you moving forward, getting better every course, every class, every year?

6. Do you say "thank you" enough? Do you thank anybody and everybody who gives you a big hand or a small hand or any hand at all? Are you a master of acknowledgment? Thank you notes, thank you emails, in-person appreciations—all delivered promptly, often and sincerely--contribute to how others see you and to how you feel about yourself. Start today.

7. Do we just want to graduate students or do we want to educate them? Why not figure out how to determine an education rate instead of a graduation rate.

8. What if your course, your department, your area of expertise, or even your institution was depicted as a movie poster? What if your program marketing video was in the form of a movie trailer?

9. A climate of unrelenting and constant change is toxic to any individual, any program, or any higher education institution. There is often a need for re-invention and renewal, but moving and changing the target and the goals constantly and relentlessly is something no quality person or program can endure.

10. GREAT educational institutions sweat every single tiny detail and make the institution function seamlessly and flawlessly so that every student and employee experiences that thoughtfulness to everything. All of us should pay attention to the advice of the late Conrad Hilton, founder of the hotel chain that bears his name. When asked what was his secret of business success, he replied, “Put the shower curtain inside the tub!”

  

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT…WEEK TEN

This is the final PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT post of the summer. Next week, August 11, begins regular twice-a-week posts to read and to ponder.

 

1. TED talk of the week: In what is probably his most well known TED talk, Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, then you must watch it. See it here.

2. Article of the week: Dr. Tyler J. Griffin says, “Not all classes cover interesting material all the time. While we can't change what needs to be taught, we can change how we deliver it. If we make the right adjustments to our course design and teaching methodologies, we will hear less complaining in our classes.” Read more of what he says here.

3. Wild-ass thought of the week: Fun: it’s not usually a term professors automatically connect to education or to their courses. But why not? Why not put a short section on your syllabus headed: “Why this course will be fun.” And don’t make what is said sound ridiculous. Make it honest and then deliver on what it says.

4. Self-evaluation topic for teachers: Are you getting ready for the new semester? Are you a little nervous about the first days of your courses? (That’s a good thing.) Are you taking active steps to avoid being one of those people who constantly laments the end of the summer vacation? Are you avoiding cynicism? Are you a quietly but strident voice for the beginning of school? Do you contribute to the “welcome back” mentality rather than the “OMG, it’s back to the trenches” mentality? Make sure your glass is half full and not half empty. 

5. Self-evaluation topic for administrators: The week before classes surely involves one or more meetings with school or department faculty. Have you considered a way or ways to make those meetings something different from the same-old, same-old meetings of previous semesters and years? If you want renewed energy and spirit in the attendees, then there has to be a phenomenally imaginative sense of energy and spirit by those in charge.

6. Shower thinking: Good educational institutions pay attention to those things that make the educational experience effective and the institution itself more user-friendly. GREAT educational institutions sweat every single tiny detail and make the institution function seamlessly and flawlessly so that every student and employee experiences the thoughtfulness to everything. All of us should pay attention to the advice of the late Conrad Hilton, founder of the hotel chain that bears his name. When asked what was his secret of business success, he replied, “Put the shower curtain inside the tub!”

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT…WEEK SEVEN

If you’ve been regularly reading these weekly posts, I hope you have learned some things, been a little inspired by the TED talks, and thought a good bit about your academic life. There will be four more PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT posts this summer. Watch ‘em, read ‘em, and ponder your career and yourself. And let me know what you think. 

 

1. TED talk of the week: As professors we speak in class, in the hall, in our offices, in meetings, and in public gatherings. Administrators speak often in many contexts as well. In this fascinating brief talk by Julian Treasure, he discusses speaking to others in a variety of ways applicable to many higher education contexts and situations. Watch it here.

2. Article of the week: When our students study for tests, it’s often done by rereading the material or simply going over notes. In this article, teaching guru Maryellen Weimer explains how that strategy is just plain wrong. Read what she says here.

3. Wild-ass thought of the week: Do we just want to graduate students or do we want to educate them? Why not figure out how to determine an education rate instead of a graduation rate. An oral exam might be the way. Or, why not let students determine and prove when they are sufficiently educated and then help them pay for any extra time they might need.

4. Self-evaluation topic for teachers: When you teach, do you follow a tried-and-true recipe that simply results in the same information being presented in the same way semester after semester? Or are you more like a chef who continually tweaks recipes and sometimes invents entirely new ways to prepare a dish? Think about which formula your teaching follows and remember: the world needs more chefs.

5. Self-evaluation topic for administrators: Are you a genius at your job? If you say no, then why aren’t you? Are you afraid to say that you are, even to yourself? Are you working harder to become a genius? If you say yes, do you feel too much like an egotist? No one wants to be the “genius,” yet we freely refer to Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein as geniuses at what they did. Think about the word genius and its various synonyms. And then consider why your employees would not want to work for a genius. Words are extremely important, but too often the ones we could use are not the ones we want to use.  

6. Shower thinking: Why not give every teacher in your program or your school $500 a year to use to improve their teaching? Then have a “Talking About Teaching” lunch gathering every few weeks to have various faculty talk about how they are using the money and how their ideas can help change the culture of teaching at your school. Perhaps consider a website of ongoing ideas and techniques.

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT…WEEK SIX

It’s about halfway through the summer for most of you. If you’ve been regularly reading these posts you have, I hope, learned some things, been a little inspired by the TED talks, and thought a good bit about your academic life. There will be five more PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT posts this summer. Watch ‘em, read ‘em, and ponder your career and yourself. And let me know what you think. 

 

1. TED talk of the week: Body language is a significant factor in the lives of administrators, teachers and students. It can affect how people perceive you and how you perceive yourself. In a powerful and sometimes emotional talk, Amy Cuddy uses science and stories to show what we need to know about body language and perception. Watch it here. 

2. Article of the week: The author discusses the consumer model, applying it to the college classroom. “If in education, as in business, we get what we pay for, and the real currency with which students acquire knowledge and/or professional skill is their time and attention to the task of learning, not their money, then what students get from the class and from the instructor should match what they’ve paid for that educational experience. If students don’t want to pay a premium price for premium intellectual goods, then they shouldn’t expect to get premium personal attention from the instructor.” Read more of what she says here. 

3. Wild-ass thought of the week: Do you say "thank you" enough? Do you thank anybody and everybody who gives you a big hand or a small hand or any hand at all? Are you a master of acknowledgment? Thank you notes, thank you emails, in-person appreciations—all delivered promptly, often and sincerely--contribute to how others see you and to how you feel about yourself. Start today.

4. Self-evaluation topic for teachers: Are you the kind of teacher your students delight in learning from? Do you get students to cultivate their passion and curiosity, and to engage their creativity? Do you stoke the creative fire of learning? Do you promote the goal of achieving ecstasy and joy in the learning process? Or do you say: “Whoa, I can’t be that passionate or that delightful or ecstatic or even that excited.” But the bottom line is that if you’re not those things, you could be a poor teacher. Ponder your role in light of the impassioned statements above. Figure out this week a few ways they can become part of your teaching persona.

5. Self-evaluation topic for administrators: How do you think the people who work for you and with you see you? Would they say you are a dreamer, an innovator, a by-the-book boss, a leader, a manager, burned out or loving your position. This week, consider those things, make some notes and then resolve to remedy the negative perceptions and accentuate the positive qualities. Really resolve to change. Really resolve to improve.

6. Shower thinking: Become a list-maker. Every morning write down three things that you want to accomplish during that day. THEN DO THEM. Over time, the habit of doing this will almost surely ensure success.

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT…WEEK FIVE

During the summer I will post each Monday. Each post will offer six elements intended to enable you to look, think, explore and imagine. 

 

1. TED talk of the week: “The Psychology of Your Future Self.” Dan Gilbert shares recent research on a phenomenon he calls the "end of history illusion," where we somehow imagine that the person we are right now is the person we'll be for the rest of time. Hint: that's not the case. Watch it here.

2. Article of the week: In a fascinating opinion piece, Jeffrey Selingo says that “in addition to the need for the bachelor’s degree to be flexible in terms of its overall length, it should turn into a true lifelong credential, allowing students to dip back in and then out of the curriculum to update their knowledge and skills. For the right to do that, students would pay an annual subscription fee and pay lower tuition fees upfront.” Read it here.

3. Wild-ass thought of the week: If you’re in a department that has a lot of majors, why not get your seniors together near the start of the academic year and give each person the task of introducing your program to an underclassman who could be a possible major. Have them talk to the underclassman about the program, orient the underclassman to the culture of the program, introduce them to faculty, take them to a class. The objective should ultimately be for each senior to replace themselves with a new student major.

4. Self-evaluation topic for teachers: Are you making constant forward progress in your career as a teacher? Not just progress. Not just constant progress. Those things should be a given. But are you moving forward, getting better every course, every class, every year. Are you also moving forward in a way that makes your career consistently fulfilling? Write down the words CONSTANT FORWARD PROGRESS and look at them every day.

5. Self-evaluation topic for administrators: Are you a motivator? Are you a cheerleader? Are you the number one believer in the area you administrate? How do you express that? Apple Inc. used the following message; “There’s work and there’s your life’s work. The kind of work that has your fingerprints all over it. The kind of work that you’d never compromise on. That you’d sacrifice a weekend for. You can do that kind of work at Apple. People don’t come here to play it safe. They come here to swim in the deep end. They want their work to add up to something. Something big. Something that couldn’t happen anywhere else.” What’s your message? Use Apple’s words as a springboard for writing your own. Write it this week. Make it fantastic. Make it incredible.

6. Shower thinking: If a student, a parent or a visitor walks through the building that houses your department’s main office during a time when the office is closed, is there a place where they can take a small card that gives a well-written paragraph about your program, the web address, Facebook link, and Twitter feed? Is the card small, creative, and displayed in a clever container that everyone will notice? 

 

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT…WEEK FOUR

During the summer I will post each Monday. Each post will offer six elements intended to enable each of you to look, think, explore and imagine. 

 

1. TED talk of the week: In a TED talk that should be watched in its entirety, Bill Strickland, a MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient, tells a quiet and astonishing tale of redemption through arts, music, and unlikely partnerships. His conviction, that an atmosphere of high culture and respect will energize even the most troubled students, has a definite application to what we do in our universities. Watch it here.

2. Article of the week: Taking notes has almost become an activity that ceases to exist in classrooms today. But obviously it still is very necessary. Students often need to be taught the why and how of it all. Read some thoughts here.

3. Wild-ass thought of the week: What are the reasons why the courses you teach should be remembered by students long after those course have ended. How can you deliver a course that students will truly miss when it’s over? How can you motivate yourself to deliver meaningful words and images that matter during every single class meeting? Actors in theatrical productions can be engaged and enthused performance after performance. So can you. You just need to figure out how. Use this week to make some notes for yourself.

4. Self-evaluation topic for teachers: Are you an expert teacher or just one who is “good enough?” Experts pay attention to what they do and look at every class and course as practice, with the constant goal of becoming excellent. The “good-enough” teacher doesn’t look at teaching as constant practice, but rather as just going through the motions. Good enough teachers no longer feel the need for concentrated practice, but are content to coast on what they’ve learned.

5. Self-evaluation topic for administrators: Is the program you administrate good, or is it great? Is the story you tell about your program a compelling, meaningful story with a bit of an emotional side? Can you explain its greatness? Do you yourself believe in the program, feel it, thoroughly value that it truly matters?

6. Shower thinking: The old school way of thinking said that teachers and administrators should be drill sergeants who demand strict adherence to the rules and procedures. And if that adherence is complete and absolute, then success will surely occur. The recent ways of thinking say almost the opposite. Not drill sergeants, but collaborators and team players who take milder, more negotiated approaches to the way things are to operate and to be determined.  But isn’t there really a middle ground where a bit of old and new can work to ensure excellence? Think about the characteristics of old and new that can actually compliment one another and form a coherent model for success.