THE LEARNING TRIANGLE

I began giving teaching presentations about 10-12 years ago.   As I have said many times, I enjoyed that experience immensely because it forced me to spend serious time thinking more deeply about my own teaching.   I cannot begin to guess the number of times in the last few years that I have asked myself:

--What really happened in class today?  

--Why didn’t this work?

--How should I have changed what I did?

--What was wrong with that particular question?

--Why did the class seem unorganized?

--How did I manage to confuse so many students in that discussion?

All those questions eventually led me to begin writing about teaching and now I am up to over 250 pages.   And, I am still asking questions and still learning.

One of the very first teaching concepts that I ever developed for myself was “the learning triangle.”   I remember standing in front of 100 or so brilliant professors one day a number of years ago in one of my very first presentations trying to explain how the learning triangle could help their students to become more efficient.

I was reminded of this today as I contemplated giving my first test on Friday.   My guess is that a lot of the teachers who read this blog will also be handing out their first test around now.   I always believe the first test presents a good time, every semester, to stop and contemplate whether the students are progressing as you would like.   Are changes needed?    After the semester is over, there is nothing you can do to fix problems.   Why not consider making adjustments after looking over the results of the first test?

In sports, I am always impressed by basketball and football coaches who make halftime adjustments and get their team to suddenly play better.   Teachers should consider doing the same thing.   If the coaches can do it, so can you.

That brings me to the learning triangle.   Simply put, I believe that student learning is most affected at three specific points.  

--The first is how well students prepare before they walk into class.  

--The second is how efficiently the class operates.  

--The third is what the students do following the class to help organize and solidify their understanding. 

If a class is not going well, if a teacher needs to make some adjustments, then improvement in one of those three points of the triangle should help.  

Too often, we focus solely on the classroom experience.   For example, you might ask a veteran professor to observe your class and make suggestions.   And, in truth, a class can be a disorganized mess if the teacher has not spent sufficient time thinking through the step by step structure of the 50-90 minutes that make up most classes.   For example, if class coverage is not sequenced logically, the whole experience really can seem like an effort to herd cats.

However, I have long been a believer that the most benefit can be gained by focusing on the other two points of the learning triangle:   class preparation and the organizing and solidifying of understanding immediately after class.  

Class Preparation:   From my experience, a vast majority of students walk into class each day under-prepared to learn.  They have not been told what to do to ready themselves for class.   Or, they have not seen sufficient reason to exert much effort prior to entering the room.   I often raise this question and I think it is worth considering:   If students are not well prepared, what are they capable of doing during your class other than sitting like lumps taking notes?   You cannot ask a student to have a thoughtful discussion of Hamlet if the student merely skimmed the play.   You cannot ask students to provide insight into recent politics if they have not checked on the news in two weeks.   The kinds of discussions and debates that make college education so very wonderful are absolutely impossible if students walk into class under-prepared.   At that point, Socrates himself would throw up his hands.

What is the solution?   (1) Give the students very clear cut instructions on what you want them to do in advance.   Do not be vague.   Tell them the exact pages to read.   Point out the questions that you want them to answer.   Make the assignment a challenge but make it one that they can complete in a reasonable period of time.   (2) Make sure the assignments are reasonably interesting.   Ask good questions that make the students think and want to know the answer.   Don’t make learning a drudgery.   All topics can be enjoyable if they are approached in the right manner.  (3) Tie the subsequent class to that assignment in some very clear way.   If you tell a student to read the first 10 pages of Chapter 6 for class and then you never mention those pages, don’t expect the student to pay any attention the next time you give an assignment.   A student will label an assignment as “busy work” if you do not convince them otherwise.   The assignment has to tie into class in some important way.   (4) If a student does not do the preparation that has been required, you have to call them on it.   I send emails to students saying things like “I expect you to do better at our next class” or I call them to my office to find out why I am working so hard and they are not.  

Trust me – if you can increase the level of student preparation, you will be startled by how much more interesting class will become.   A lot of the burden of teaching is trying to figure out how to help unprepared students to learn.   And, that is never fun.

After Class.   No matter how smart your students are, they will leave every class with a brain full of disorganized material.   They simply cannot absorb college-level information quickly enough in class.   I always tell them that the knowledge will seep out of their brains in record time if they do not do some work very quickly after class.  

One of the best exercises is to simply ask them to write out what they learned in a couple of paragraphs.   Because words, sentences, and paragraphs are all sequential, this writing helps them to figure out how the pieces should go together.    A one page synopsis titled “What We Covered Today In Class” can be a great help to any student.   Or, perhaps you can provide some review questions or a practice problem.   

 

Since I teach accounting, I often send out an email almost immediately after class with this admonition:  “If you learned what I wanted you to learn today, then you should be able to work the following problem in 30 minutes without looking at your notes.   The answer is $385.   If you get that answer, you probably have a good handle on today’s work.   If you cannot get $385 in a reasonable period of time, come by and you and I can talk about what you missed.”  

To use an old cliché, teaching is not brain surgery.   I can promise you that if you figure out how to get your students to prepare better before they come to class and if you can figure out how to help them sort and organize the material after class, the learning will improve rather dramatically.   

And, you and the students both will enjoy the class more.

To make a halftime adjustment, focus on the points of the learning triangle.

 

AN INTERESTING WRITING ASSIGNMENT

At this moment, I am half-way through my 42^nd year as a college professor.   Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. I walk back into class to see if I can do it all again.   This semester, I have 28 students in one Intermediate Accounting II class and 26 students in another Intermediate class.    I also have 15 students taking my Governmental Accounting course.   I have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these 69 young people.   Hopefully, that will be a positive difference.   That is not a responsibility that I take lightly.   Whether each of these students is better off on the last day of the semester depends in large part on how well I do my job.    After all this time, I am still thrilled when I think about going into class and leading the conversation.   I never fail to get a stomach full of butterflies before the first class.   You could describe my feelings as somewhere between deeply anxious and completely excited.   If it were not important, I would not care so much.

Good luck to all of you other teachers who are starting a new semester in the next few days or weeks.

**

Unless you have never read my blog before, you probably know that I teach all of my classes by use of the Socratic Method.   I pose some kind of weird situation and then, by asking a series of questions, I try to get the student to figure out a logical response or solution.   I often begin each day with a statement such as “What would happen if….”

 I think teaching by the Socratic Method is just the most fun you can have without laughing.   Plus, I truly do believe that it helps young students to develop their critical thinking skills.

However, I am also a big believer that students need to learn to write clearly and professionally.   In my college days, I considered majoring in Journalism so I have a real appreciation for the importance of the written word.   Plus, recruiters and employers often complain that they have problems finding new accountants who know how to write well.   Because of texting and the like, writing skills seem to be deteriorating.

Here in the Accounting department at the University of Richmond, we require a certain amount of writing in most of our upper-level courses.   The question I face is how to make that writing assignment relevant and beneficial to my students and also consistent with a class based on the Socratic Method.   Some type of essay would work but does not seem to go along with the way the course has been constructed.

Over the last few years, the writing assignment I use has developed into one that seems to work well and accomplishes my goals.   I am not sure how this could be adapted to a course other than accounting but you probably can make it work with a few adjustments.

I divide this assignment into three parts (and the first part has two separate assignments) with each due about two weeks apart.

Part One – Assignment One.   As in our daily classes, the student must pose an accounting problem that needs to be resolved.   The student pretends to be a “business person” who has encountered a reporting challenge where no easy solution has been found.   To stimulate their creativity, I provide the students with a list of hundreds of different problems that have been put forth and solved in previous semesters.   Students often believe that only a few problems remain unanswered in accounting.   This list alerts them to the almost infinite number of problems that accountants face in their chosen profession.  

Each student then must write a letter as the “business person” to a local CPA firm to describe the problem and ask for help in arriving at an appropriate accounting solution.   The first part of this assignment mirrors what we do each day in class.  I always warn the students that better grades are given for more complicated problems.

Part One – Assignment Two.    The student now pretends to be an “accountant” working for the CPA firm who receives the above letter.   As the “accountant,” the student must analyze and research the issue and come up with the best possible solution.   Again, this process mirrors what we do in class.   During the semester, students learn to use various research tools and the databases available online through the university library.   Once an answer is derived, the “accountant” writes a formal letter back to the business person outlining the proposed solution and its justification.    I tell the students that the resolution letter must look completely professional and the answer should be appropriated explained.  

Part Two.   These first two letters (the problem letter and the resolution letter) are attached and turned in to me.   I then give each set to a different student who now must take the role of the “boss,” the person in charge of the CPA firm.   This second student reads both letters to ensure that the proper answer has been determined.   This verification can take quite a bit of time because the “boss” must check the research and also ensure that each letter is written professionally.   For example, I expect the grammar to be perfect.

The “boss” then writes a memorandum to the “accountant” to make constructive suggestions.   Ultimately, the “boss” is in charge of the CPA firm and is responsible for all work that is distributed to outside clients.   Therefore, the “boss” must be certain that the letter meets an appropriate standard for the firm.   This memorandum tells the first student what needs to be done to ensure that every aspect of the letter is proper.

Part Three.    The original student (the “accountant”) reviews the suggestions made by the “boss” and then edits the two letters one final time so that they will be perfect.   In my class, the student is not required to follow the suggestions of the “boss” but needs to consider them carefully.

I then grade all of the letters:   the first drafts, the memorandum, and the final versions.   The largest portion of the grade, though, is given for the final versions after the editing process is complete.

What I have found is that structuring the assignment in this way meets my goal of setting up the writing assignment along the same lines as class.   In addition having the students edit the work of their peers helps them to learn more about the importance of written clarity even within accounting.   If the “boss” does not understand the answer written by the “accountant,” then there is a serious problem.   However, the editing process gives the student a chance to see their problems and decide whether changes are necessary.   In the end, the final versions are usually quite well done which is my goal from the beginning.

East versus West -- No Pain, No Gain

A few days ago, this blog moved over 65,500 page views since its inception.   It is amazing how often I receive emails from teachers (around the world) who start out by saying “A friend of mine who teaches at my school told me about your blog.”  

Consequently, I like to stop now and then and say Thanks!!! to everyone who passes along a good word about this blog.   If not for you, I would be writing all this stuff to myself.   Whether you agree or disagree, I really appreciate your passing along the blog entries.

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One of the things that I try to do in my classes is talk with my students about my teaching philosophy.  I want them to understand that I do not do things randomly.   I try to have a reason for what I do and I want that reason to be logical.   I think students appreciate being brought into the conversation about their own education.   I think they are more likely to do what the teacher asks if they understand that there is a reason.  

To use an overused cliché, I want my teaching to be transparent.

Here’s an email that I sent out to my students today.   It is probably pretty obvious that I do become frustrated at times by students who simply will not try.   For some reason, they have come to the conclusion that trying is not a necessary part of learning.  Or, that trying is some type of bad omen.  

I want them to look at trying in a different light.   Here's what I wrote them.

 

To: Accounting Students

From: JH

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/11/12/164793058/struggle-for-smarts-how-eastern-and-western-cultures-tackle-learning

A friend of mine sent me the link above from an NPR show that was aired this morning about education. As people who have been students virtually your entire lives, I thought you might find this essay interesting. It could make you question whether you have been educated by the best possible philosophy. And, it might also help you understand my style of teaching a bit better.

Basically, this article stresses a philosophy that learning is greatly improved by struggle (a word that we rarely associate with education in the US).

In fact, here is the quote that I found most interesting.

“In Eastern cultures, Stigler says, it's just assumed that struggle is a predictable part of the learning process. Everyone is expected to struggle in the process of learning, and so struggling becomes a chance to show that you, the student, have what it takes emotionally to resolve the problem by persisting through that struggle”

“To show that you, the student, have what it takes emotionally to resolve the problem by persisting through that struggle” – interesting concept for education. The author is apparently talking about something more than taking notes and memorizing formulas.

I think we all realize that in sports there are many sayings that stress the importance of struggle: “No pain, no gain” being probably the best known. I don’t think I’ve ever met a single athlete who didn’t subscribe to that philosophy whole heartedly. Whenever you see a championship athlete (in the Olympics, for example, or on the football field), it is simply assumed that the person has spent countless hours in rigorous training in order to become that good.  

However, we don’t exhibit the same attitude toward our best students. We rarely talk about the countless hours it takes to become a championship student. Instead, we tend to dismiss the difficult work that is necessary because “oh, he/she is just smart.”

For some reason, our education system doesn’t put much emphasis on the struggle that is necessary for deep learning. In fact, any visible sign of a struggle to learn material is often viewed as a weakness (“he/she is really not cut out for this stuff”). Is learning that takes place quickly any more beneficial than learning that occurs after considerable effort?

I believe the reason we don’t stress the need to struggle to learn is that we don’t challenge our students enough (and then we are often unhappy that they don’t turn out better prepared). From kindergarten forward, the “struggle” to learn is not often much of a struggle. After enough years, you come to believe that struggle is not really a necessary component of learning.

Oh, do I disagree with that. I want you to struggle. To repeat, I want you to struggle. Every single day. I want you to have to put up a fight. I want to make this stuff hard enough that you have to struggle to do well. I think it is good for you and it makes the learning so much more a part of your being.

If I could make learning easy for you, I would not do it.

In truth, I think about 70 percent of you are putting up the fight that I want. I am very pleased (most days) with about 70 percent of you. The other 30 percent have a tendency to give “lazy answers” that often seem to say “I didn’t feel like struggling with this material so here’s a throw away answer so that you’ll let me slide.”

My goal in this email is not to convert you to my thinking. I’m more interested in making you aware that lazy answers don’t do you any good.

My real goal here is to make one point: Champion athletes struggle mightily to get better. Champion students must do the same thing. There is no shame in having to put up a fight to learn this stuff. In fact, that’s how it ought to be.

THE MISSING COMPONENT

College education has numerous critics these days.   I believe the recent fascination with MOOCs comes – at least in part – from dissatisfaction with the perceived quality of the current educational experience.   We promise development of critical thinking skills in our students but often appear to deliver little more than well-rehearsed memorization.    The argument then follows that we don’t need small classes and individual attention simply to teach memorization.   Massive online courses can achieve that goal with much less cost.

In my spare time, I often ponder how modern college education can become better.   For example, is the education that a college student gets today really superior in any way to the norm 40 years ago?   Cars get more miles per gallon of gas than they did back then.   Computers run thousands of times faster.   But, has college education gotten better during that same period?   We are certainly able to teach more students but has the average education actually improved in any significant way? 

About 20 years ago, I read an article that I remember well to this day.    The article argued that society’s best teacher was the drill sergeant in charge of new Marine recruits during their stay in basic training.    This officer gets paid a relatively small amount but will work 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, for weeks on end to make sure the new recruits are properly trained.   The drill sergeant will push, cajole, and drive each person toward success.   At the end of that time, the recruit will be basically a new person – gone are laziness and bad habits.  The person is now a well-trained soldier.  

 

Why does the drill sergeant work so hard without much real compensation?   According to the article, the sergeant is training each new recruit on how to stay alive during combat and other dangerous situations.   For the drill sergeant, the very life of the recruit is on the line.   A properly trained soldier stays alive whereas a poorly trained one might not.   Failure to teach the young soldier well can possibly lead to an avoidable death.   It is the urgency of the education that pushes the drill sergeant to go all out, night and day, to train the recruit.   The recruit might actually hate the sergeant but also might owe his life to that teacher.  

I was reminded of this article recently.   My wife and our daughters occasionally watch a television show called “The Biggest Loser.”   I have never seen a complete episode but I will sometimes watch a few minutes as I pass through the room.   As you might know, a group of very heavy contestants are chosen.   These folks typically weigh between 280 to 500 pounds and their lives are in jeopardy simply because of their extreme heaviness. 

Over a period of weeks, these contestants eat less and exercise so much that they often lose hundreds of pounds.  They become new people ready to resume more active rolls in society.

My favorite characters on this show are the trainers who work with each of the contestants.   I know that one of them is named Jillian.   Jillian will get in the contestant’s faces and push them unmercifully to do their exercises.   She will beg them; she will yell at them; she will use whatever trick it takes to get them to work harder and harder so that the excess weight is lost.  From what I have seen, no one does more than Jillian to get the results she wants.   I often wonder what college would be like if we had a few people like Jillian on our faculty.

By the end of the television season, these folks have had their lives completely turned around.   They might have weighed 390 pounds at the start of the competition but be down to 180 by the end.   

Clearly, they do not like the amount of pushing that Jillian does.   The work can be incredibly hard.   They are used to being lazy; she wants them to do real work.   They have always made excuses; she won’t let them make any excuses.    I am always expecting one of the contestants to pick Jillian up one day and throw her out the window.   However, at the last week of each show, almost every contestant will hug Jillian and tell her thanks.  Thanks for not giving up on them.   Thanks for continuing to push them to get better and stronger.   Thanks for guiding them to lose so much weight.   She is not their best buddy and doesn't want to be but she has helped them to change their lives for the better.

Why does Jillian push these people so hard?   Well, like the drill sergeant, there is a real urgency present.   Improvement is needed and improvement is needed immediately.   These people are so heavy that they will likely die before their time if they don’t make a change right now.   Today.   Each contestant is hundreds of pounds overweight and could have a heart attack at any moment.  

This is what I call “educational urgency.”   The teacher imparts an urgency that requires serious work and lots of it and all of it right now.   No procrastination.   No laziness.   No excuses.   There is work to be done and it needs to be done now.  

How many teachers have you ever had that seemed to indicate that there was any urgency at all in the learning of class material?   I have had dozens of teachers and I don't remember ever having any urgency.   I meandered forward at my own leisure.

Students are human beings (believe it or not).   Ask yourself this question:   How much real work will they do without a sense of urgency?

Most teachers want their students to learn and most do become annoyed if the students don’t learn.   But, is there ever any real urgency?   And, if there is not, why would in teacher expect a college student to do the work or even care about the class?

I believe that one of the reasons college teaching is under attack is that our classes often don’t ring with any urgency at all.   If the student learns the material, that is great but, if not, it is really no big deal.   In the end, it really doesn’t make much difference.   That's an attitude that can lead to general dissatisfaction.

Whether you teach Shakespeare or philosophy or political science or, even, accounting, is there any urgency at all to the learning process?   If there is no urgency, why should your students really do anything for you?   Of course, there are always a few great students who love the material and do the work because of that interest.   Trust me, they are not the problem.   It is the other students we need to reach and spur on to better habits and deeper thinking.

In my classes, I give out questions every day for the next class.   At that subsequent class, I call on every student to explain these questions and provide potential solutions.   I argue with them if I don’t like their answers.   I do worse if I don’t feel they are prepared.   I am trying to create a sense of urgency because I want them to do well and do well every day.  I am not trying to scare them.   I just want them to view every day as essential.   I want my students to feel a need to prepare so that they can be ready to be engaged in our class discussion.

Does it work?   Sometimes yes and sometimes no.   No system is perfect.   But, if you are not satisfied with what your students are learning, it may well be that they feel no urgency to do any better.

 

Add a little urgency to the mixture.

Do You Have to Be Entertaining to Be Popular?

The following link will prove that if you scare enough students over enough years, you will wind up with your picture on the Internet:


http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-10/favorite-professors-richmonds-joe-hoyle

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I think one of the most detrimental myths of teaching is that a person has to be funny or easy or entertaining to be popular with students. I think this idea has ruined a lot of good teachers. I cannot even estimate how many teachers have told me over the past 42 years “if I try to hold the line and make the students work, they will dislike me and kill me on the student evaluations. Students only want teachers who make them laugh and give them A’s.”

Students only want teachers who make them laugh and give them A’s. If that line is true, the future of education is truly bleak.

Often, I believe that line is merely a scapegoat – not always, but often. What I think those folks are really saying is “whether it is true or not, the students believe that I am giving them busy work in this class with little value and they resent it.”

At times on this blog over the past few months, I have shared (and chatted about) several of my favorite teaching quotations. They have all influenced my teaching significantly over the years.

The quote for today has had an enormous impact on my teaching career. I cannot emphasize enough how important these few words have been to me over the years—almost every single day. However, I’ve resisted including this quotation before now for two good reasons. First, I’m not sure who said it. Second, I’m not sure exactly what the person said. But, I firmly believe the basic truth of what is said here and that belief has really led me to teach the way I do.

As I remember it, probably 35-40 years ago I was reading a story about a successful football coach. I have always thought it was Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers but I cannot be sure of that. In the story, according to my memory, the coach says something like “There is something in every person that wants to be pushed to be great.”

Every person wants to be pushed to be great.

I may not know for sure who said it or even the exact words that were said but I certainly believe the sentiment. As far as I can see, almost every person needs (and wants) some amount of external motivation to push them to reach their true potential. They want to feel good about themselves but they need some help.

--Why do we hire personal trainers to tell us what physical exercises to do when we already know what we should do?
--Why do we pay teachers when we could simply read books?
--Why do we pay preachers when we do know the difference between right and wrong?

We need (actually, I think we crave) external motivation that will push us to use our talents wisely and make something great of ourselves.

--I don’t think it is an accident that the US Army slogan for many years was “Be All You Can Be.” That appeals to people.
--I don’t think it is an accident that most successful coaches in sports seem to have a drill sergeant type of philosophy. If there is a clear and desired goal, people react well to being pushed and pushed hard.

Almost everyone, I believe, wants to be great but some external motivation is usually needed. As the Bible says so well: “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

I think the key is having that clear goal that says “here’s what you need to do to be great and I’m going to push you to make it happen.” Always remember: No one needs external motivation to be average.

So, if you are going to push people to work hard in your classes, you have to convince them that this effort has a genuine payback. They must believe they will become better in some way. Making a certain letter grade is not really much motivation for many people.

My own experience is that if you explain to students why you want them to do a certain amount of work (assuming the amount is fair as well as challenging) and what the benefit to them will be, they will usually surprise you with their efforts. They will not resent you. In fact, they will appreciate you. Okay, not every day but most days, people are willing to put out a real effort if they see the benefit clearly.

What’s the point of all of this? Here are some questions to consider if you want to become a better teacher. Be honest – skip the PR and do an honest self-evaluation.

--What is your goal for your students? On the last day of class, what do you really want to see?
--Is what you are asking the students to do actually going to get them to that goal?
--Do your students understand what your goal is?
--Do your students believe your goal is worth their effort?
--Are your students able to connect the work you are requiring at the moment with that goal?

It is not about being funny or easy. It’s about pushing people to be great and making sure they understand what you are asking them to do and why.

ONE WEEK DOWN

We completed our first week of school yesterday.

I always believe that this is an important juncture. Is the class going to fall into a lethargic mediocrity or begin to take off? We only have about 14 weeks. If we are going to have something great, we need to start building on that almost immediately. If you begin to lose student enthusiasm, you may never get it back.

So, this morning, I wrote my students a note to make sure they each understand what it takes to be good in my class. The goal is not to cram the night before the test. The goal is to understand the material today so that you can answer more questions tomorrow. I’m hoping they’ll buy into that as a goal worth taking seriously.

Here’s the note that I wrote to my students in Intermediate Accounting II.

“I thought we had an excellent first week. That’s what I want and that’s what I want every day and every week. Success is never earned by an occasional good day of work. I want you to be consistently excellent.

“I have three pieces of advice now that you have gotten a feel for this course.

“First, I hope you see that what we are doing every day is helping you to see how to think about and answer new situations, problems, and questions. In that way, when you get to each test, you will have already been trained in analyzing and answering questions. You should be ready for whatever I throw at you. To do this, it is essential that you spend an adequate amount of time preparing for class. If you are not spending 60-90 minutes preparing for every class, you are probably shooting for a C. That’s just a fact. Put a clock on it and see how much time you are devoting.

“Second, when I ask a question on Friday, I expect you to know what we did in class on the previous Wednesday. We are constantly adding to what we have learned so I have to make the assumption that you know what has been covered. When, I ask in class on Friday ‘how did we answer this type of question on Wednesday?’ and I get blank stares, that is not a good sign. That’s not what I want or expect. Therefore, after every class, spend 20-40 minutes going back over and organizing the material from the previous class. We’ll never get anywhere if we are constantly having to relearn the material.

“Third, you should always be looking for connections. Everything is tied together. I realize that this is different from what you are used to in school but you are bright folks and you are capable of making those connections. You are just a few months away from working in the real world. Consequently, you don’t need a ‘copy and memorize’ course. You need a ‘think about this and figure it out’ course. When we determine, ‘a loan is shown as a noncurrent liability if it has been refinanced (zero chance of paying a current asset) or if the company has obtained a noncancellable agreement to refinance (zero chance of paying a current asset)’ and then I ask ‘What is the precedent we can take from this rule so that we can use it when we are deciding whether any other liability should be reported as current or noncurrent?’ I believe you can make that connection and figure out the answer. The connection is there -- pointing the way for you.

“Okay, it’s easy to bail out and say ‘you haven’t told me so I don’t know.’ Baloney, you can figure it out.

“This is not an intro course. It is a very very very difficult course. However, I believe that every one of you folks has the ability to make an A. Why then do I usually have only 18-20 percent of the students earn A’s. That’s easy to answer: Most students do not spend 60-90 minutes preparing for EVERY class and 20-40 minutes reviewing after EVERY class. Therefore, they never really learn to analyze and make connections and answer questions. But that’s a talent truly worth having.

“I am not naïve. I do realize that this course can be hard. Your attitude toward that degree of challenge is important. It is easy to give up. But, to quote Tom Hanks: ‘It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.’

“It’s the hard that makes it great. I couldn’t have said that better myself.

“In fact, go watch Tom say those exact words:”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndL7y0MIRE4

My Favorite Quotes about Teaching – Number Five

This blog went over 45,000 page views (since its inception) this past Monday. As I wish I could do every day, I want to thank everyone who passes along a word to friends and colleagues about the blog. Obviously, there would be no page views at all without you folks. I firmly believe that we need more conversation about teaching, learning, and education if we are going to solve the problems of our world. I appreciate your helping my blog to be a part of that conversation.
**

Here are my previous four favorite quotes about teaching:
“The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."
“The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.”
“Figure it out.”
“If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you have a boss.”

I think those four quotes are very insightful and have led me to think more deeply about my own classes.

However, the quote for today goes beyond that – it is one that has had a genuine impact on my own teaching. I didn’t merely think about this quote; it has changed my way of teaching. Almost nothing else that I have ever read has impacted my teaching more.

I fuss all the time that our educational system is based on a “copy and memorize” philosophy rather than a “learn to think” philosophy. In class, we speak while the students try to stay awake and write down what we say. Superficially, the process is helped if we are amusing or especially dynamic but it is still “copy and memorize.” Then, the night before each test, students try to cram all that written data into their heads.

Usually when I describe traditional education in this way, people quickly nod in agreement. Unfortunately, knowing what we don’t want is not the same as knowing what we do want. If we don’t come up with a viable alternative to a copy and memorize structure, it quickly becomes the fall back position.

My quote for today comes from my favorite book about teaching, the wonderful “What the Best College Teachers Do” by Ken Bain. Bain studies several outstanding classroom teachers in the US in hopes of identifying what they did in their classes and why it worked so well. Here (from page 40 of my edition) is one short discussion.

“One professor explained it this way: ‘It’s sort of Socratic . . . You begin with a puzzle—you get somebody puzzled, and tied in knots, and mixed up.’ Those puzzles and knots generate questions for students, he went on to say, and then you begin to help them untie the knots.”

I cannot think of a more beautiful description of the education process “and then you begin to help them untie the knots.” I couldn’t ask for better words to describe what I want to do in my teaching. After I read those few lines, there has not been a day in my teaching when I didn’t want to puzzle my students and then help them untie those knots.

Yesterday in class, I asked my students to explain the difference in redeeming a gift card from iTunes and a gift card for a massage. They were puzzled. Is this even relevant to accounting? And, then slowly, we worked together to untie the knot.

Last week in class, I asked “if you order 4,000 cakes from a bakery on Monday to be delivered to a large wedding on Saturday, under what condition would you report some liability on Wednesday?” They were puzzled (really puzzled) but slowly we worked together to untie the knot.

Two weeks ago I asked “if you sell a CD player in Year One that has an $8 coupon off the purchase of a CD in Year Two, why can you possibly report this one event in three entirely different ways?” They were puzzled but slowly we worked together to untie the knot.

It is being puzzled enough to want to untie the knots that leads students to do the thinking that is necessary to achieve understanding. The quote from Bain’s book helped me to realize that.

A Note To My Students

I started a new semester last week. Last night, at the end of that first week, I sent the following email to my students. Now that they see what we are doing, I want them to understand my goals. I want them to see what I am trying to accomplish. I want them to believe that the work that I am asking them to do is worth the effort. To achieve your ambitions, your students have to buy into the process. If they do the work just because they are scared of you or your tests, the amount they can achieve is truly limited.


To: Accounting Students

From: JH

Okay, you’ve had my class now for a week. It is obviously a different approach. Some people like it and some people hate it. I can live with that. But, I do want you to understand what I’m trying to do. I think you’ll do better if you see what my goals are. I realize that you are more used to lecture and memorization and may not even see what benefit comes from what we are doing.

If you have a free ten minutes this week-end, I’d like for you to watch the following video which comes from one of my all-time favorite movies (The Paper Chase). This is a movie that had a great influence on my thinking about education. (By the way, I have a picture of Professor Kingsfield on the back of my door so it is the last thing I see when I walk out of the room to go teach you accounting.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHV2n4o6J2I&feature=related

There are four things that I want you to notice in particular

---Professor Kingsfield tells the class “never assume anything in my class.” Good advice.

---Professor Kingsfield tells the class “you’ll never get to a right answer because there is always another question. Good advice.

---Professor Kingsfield tells the class “you walk in with a scull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer (well, for us, like an accountant).” That is a goal worth some effort. That is education at its best. That is an experience worth having. That is a priority that can change your life.

---Most importantly, I want you to see the difference in “Mister Hart” from the beginning until the end. When he walks through the door at the end of the video, he has matured in so many ways. And, that is what I want for each of you. You will be a better person if you can learn to think better and the world will also be better. Memorizing accounting will not make you a better person but learning how to think about accounting just might.

My Favorite Quotes about Teaching – Number Four

Before I write about my next favorite quote about teaching, I have a quick announcement. I know that a lot of the folks who read this blog teach accounting. As most of you probably know, I am the coauthor of an Advanced Accounting textbook (McGraw-Hill) and an Introduction to Financial Accounting textbook (Flat World Knowledge). Over the past 6-8 months, I have spent an incredible amount of time helping to create the second edition of the Financial Accounting textbook (with C.J. Skender of UNC). That second edition will be coming out in the next 4-5 weeks. The book was very successful in the first edition but (as you might imagine) I’d love to increase that adoption rate for the second edition. We didn’t make any huge changes but we must have made 1,000 small tweaks. I was pleased with the first edition but I’m truly ecstatic about the second. I know it is a cliché but we set out to build a better mousetrap. For example, it is the only Socratic Method textbook that you will probably ever see.

We wanted to produce a book that would interest and excite every student who was studying accounting. If a student gets interested and excited about any topic, the learning process becomes so much easier. The textbook is free online while the paperback version only costs students about $40.

If you would like to receive a copy of the second edition when it comes out, drop me an email at Jhoyle@richmond.edu. Give me your name, your mailing address, your school, and when you will be teaching Financial Accounting. I’ll make sure you get one of the first copies of the second edition when it rolls off the press.
**

I seem to pick up quotes about teaching everywhere I go. My fourth favorite quote comes from a very unlikely source. I eat lunch occasionally at the Jimmy John’s deli that is near my campus. They have a lot of interesting signs on the walls but one always catches my attention:
“If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you have a boss.”
I will sit and think about that quote for an entire turkey sub.

I don’t think you should ever be rude or mean to students. That is not appropriate behavior. I also don’t believe that meanness helps the learning process. However, I don’t think you have to treat students like delicate flowers either. I feel that one of the kindest things you can do is to be truly tough on your students. Don’t you want to make them better? How do you make them better without challenging them?

When a student is wrong, I don’t see any reason not to say so.
When a student seems to be loafing, I don’t see any reason not to say so.
When a student is not thinking deeply enough, I don’t see any reason not to say so.
When a student is not giving you their best, I don’t see any reason not to say so.

I know teachers who will tell me “I could never be too critical of a student; I might hurt their feelings.”

Bah, humbug.

Again, I don’t see any reason to be mean but if a student gives me a dumb answer, I don’t see any reason not to tell them right then that I think it is dumb. Or, at least, tell them they can do better. Or, challenge them to think harder.

We often seem to forget that the students who are under our charge will be out in the real world in 1-4 years and the real world can be completely unmerciful. I’m not in the least bit sure we are doing our students a favor if we treat them too kindly.

When I think about my 41 year career, I have never once wanted to be considered “a kindly old professor” or “a swell guy.” Instead, I’ve always wanted my students to believe “he was always fair but he sure as heck did push and challenge us every minute of every class to do better. He was really tough and demanded our best.”

I simply believe our entire school system would be better off if every teacher was tougher.

One of my favorite questions in class is “if you had a job and you were in a business meeting and you gave that last answer, what would your boss say?” I think that is a very legitimate question for college students. And, most students will look extremely sheepish when you ask them that. Most of the time, they know when they have handed you a dumb or unprepared answer.

If a student gives you a bad answer and you smile politely and nod, what has that student learned from you? They have learned that lack of preparation and shallow thinking are adequate for success. Is that really the lesson that we want our students to take from our classes into the real world?

So, the next time you get an answer in class that you don’t like, ask yourself: How is the best way to push this student to do better as they move toward the real world? Just remember - if you accept dumb answers in class, don’t be surprised by the sheer quantity of dumb answers that you start to receive.

Jimmy John’s says: “If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you have a boss.” What I would like to see that quote change to is: “When you eventually have a boss, you’ll be so happy that you had that truly challenging teacher.”

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number Three

As my friends will tell you (or my wife, for that matter), I’m not a terribly modest person. It is a fault of which I am aware. So, I am a bit embarrassed by my third favorite quotation about teaching because it comes from, well, me. Yes, I am quoting myself. But, in truth, it is a quote that I like. And, it is a quote that I genuinely believe can help make any person a better classroom teacher.

I was reminded of this yesterday in two emails that I received from former students. This past semester, I worked with 65 students and 11 of them earned the grade of A. As I mentioned in a recent blog entry, I wrote each of those 11 to pass along my congratulations and to ask them to write a short essay on how they earned that A, an essay that I will pass along as guidance to my class in the spring.

Yesterday, two of those students separately mentioned my tendency in class to throw out random questions and then direct them to “figure it out.” (They both said something like “when Professor Hoyle tells you to ‘figure it out’ you really do need to figure out how to figure it out.”)

I think you can make any class better by simply uttering those three words (“figure it out”) as many times as possible during class. In fact, if you don’t need to provide that instruction at least once every day, I think you are missing a wonderful opportunity to engage the students. After all, what are critical thinking skills but the ability to take a quantity of information and then use it to figure something else out? And, a student's critical thinking skills are made sharper and sharper as you ask students to figure out more complex issues.

I believe every class should have numerous times where the “teacher” throws out seemingly random bits of data and asks the students to assimilate that information in some logical form to figure out some other result or consequence. That is true, I feel, whether you are teaching biology or religion or Shakespeare or, like me, accounting.

--Here’s what we are facing. What should we do? Figure it out.
--Here’s what just happened. Why did it happen? Figure it out.
--This work is considered one of the most important in history. Why is that the case? Figure it out.

What I like about “figure it out” is that it clearly sends a signal to the students that you are not interested in having them regurgitate memorized lines. You really are interested in making use of what has previously been covered.

Nothing does that better than turning to a student and saying “you don’t need me to tell you the answer. You’ve already got the information you need to come to a logical conclusion. Figure it out.”

And, now, to reiterate, here are the first three of my favorite quotes about teaching:

“The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."
“The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.”
“Figure it out.”

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number Two

In 1980, I started writing my Advanced Accounting textbook. I was so young and innocent that I really didn’t understand that writing a textbook by myself of that size and complexity was almost impossible. However, after 3-4 years of intense writing (I remember one Christmas day when I sat typing on my little blue portable typewriter trying desperately to finish the project before it was out of date), I managed to complete the book. Several editions later, I added two wonderful co-authors and the book is now going into its 11th edition as the market leader.

When I finished the first edition of this textbook, I wanted to add a quote at the beginning to put forth my feeling about textbooks and education in general. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find a quote that I liked. I was about ready to give up on the quest. One day I went to get my hair cut and was talking to the young woman who was cutting my hair. I told her about my search for the perfect quote and she casually responded “I have a quotation calendar on my table – why don’t you see what the quote is for today?”

I glanced over and was just stunned to read a sentence from the writer Christopher Morley:

“The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.”

That was exactly how I felt about the textbook that I had just written and that was how I felt about education as a whole. I copied the quote down and it has appeared at the beginning of every edition of Advanced Accounting over the past 28 years.

I am a big believer that colleges and other schools have a bad obsession with teaching “stuff.” In class, we just pour out facts and figures and the poor student can’t write fast enough to get it all down. We like to teach “stuff” because it is easy to test and easy to grade. There are never any arguments; students either know the stuff or they don’t. Consequently, we graduate students with heads crammed full of stuff who cannot always do the thinking necessary to make use of that stuff. I think the world suffers a bit as a result (maybe more than a bit).

I’m in my 41st year as a college teacher and, year by year, I get less interested in teaching stuff. However, I get more interested (my students might say obsessed) with trying to get them to do their own thinking. They are bright folks – if they learn to think clearly and logically, they can figure the stuff out for themselves. That's exactly what I want for them.

How do you get away from teaching “stuff?” How do you encourage students to do their own thinking? Well, you probably already know my answer: Ask them questions and keep at them until they come up with reasonable answers.

--What is going on in this situation?
--How did we get into this mess?
--What are our alternatives?
--Which option would you pick?
--What are the potential benefits and problems?
--What information do you have available and what use can you make of it?
--What have we done before that might be helpful here?

The questions can go on forever and (trust me) they can make your students very frustrated. But that just means they have hit a wall that they need to break through if they are ever going to think for themselves. I have a saying that drives my students crazy when I respond to their queries: “I’m paid enough to ask questions; I’m not paid enough to provide any answers. That’s your problem.”

And, over the years, my students have come back over and over and said "I'm so glad you taught us in that intense questioning style because it has helped me so much in life after school."

Go through your class materials day by day and be brutally honest – how much of it is just teaching “stuff?” Is that what you really want to do? Is that really what your students need from their classes?

If I can paraphrase Christopher Morley, I can’t think of a better education quote than: The real purpose of my class is to trap the student’s mind into doing its own thinking.

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number One

My Favorite Quotes About Teaching – Number One

(I’m writing this in the middle of a final exam. I figured I might as well do something useful while I sit here.)

I am a person who likes quotes. I have numerous books of famous quotations and I’m surprised by how often I read through them. They can be inspirational; they can make you think. In each book, there are always several quotes that I find touching or meaningful. Certain of those thoughts seem to have been lifted directly from my brain without me ever having formed them consciously. I am surprised by how often I find myself muttering “oh, yeah, that’s what I believe.”

There are a number of quotes about teaching that I really like. Over the years, they have come to mean something special to me as I try to do my job well each day. They have helped me better consider what I am attempting to do in this life as a teacher. Several days ago, I decided to write a blog entry about several of my favorite quotes on teaching. After some consideration, I decided that entry might well be far too long. I’m not trying to create Hamlet here. As a result, I decided to write short essays on each of my favorite teaching quotes. Please feel free in the “comments” below to add your own favorites.

As everyone who reads this blog must know by now, I teach using the Socratic Method. I love to structure my classes around questions, questions, questions, and more questions. In fact, my Financial Accounting textbook is written entirely in a Socratic Method style. I find that if I ask questions (in class and in the textbook) students are able to get away from trying to memorize and start to ask their own questions. Through the learning process, they come to the point where they know enough to pose really insightful questions. And, hopefully, they become curious enough about what we are doing so that they actually start to ask those questions and seek the answers themselves.

Knowledge plus curiosity equals questions. (Joe Hoyle’s formula for learning.)

Each semester, I know that my class is moving in the direction that I want when I walk in and hands all over the room are raised to ask questions. The questions that really impress me are those that take what we have covered in class or in the textbook and move forward. The students are taking the next step on their own: Where does this topic go from here? How can I use this information to solve some problem?

If the questions are basic and easily figured out, that is still okay because it is a step in the right direction. However, what I want is the question that begins “We covered this in our last class and I was wondering if we can use that same logic to ….”

So, here is my first favorite quote. About two months ago, my elder son sent me an email saying that he had read a quote in a blog about home schooling that he thought I would like. Sure enough, I loved the insight:

“The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."

Notice that the word here is “learning” and not “teaching” which is, I think, the key to the quote.

We traditionally think about the learning process from the perspective of the teacher but this quote focuses the emphasis where it should be: on the learner. What do I want from my students? I want them to be so curious that they can and will ask sharper and sharper questions as they learn more about each topic. If they become genuinely curious about the topic, everything else kind of takes care of itself.

The quote here is not about the teacher; it is about the student. I ask questions in my classes to prime the pump. A questioning atmosphere leads students to start asking their own questions. When that happens, the learning process can quickly evolve from memorization to something quite wonderful.

Favorite Quote Number One: “The process of learning is asking sharper and sharper questions."

Open Letter to My Students

If you have followed this blog for long, you probably know that I use the Socratic Method to teach Financial Accounting (sophomores) and Intermediate Accounting (juniors). My students are stunned at first when I start asking them questions. Most of them have never experienced anything like this. My goal is to get them comfortable (but not too comfortable) after the first 2-3 classes.

We have now had 8 classes (we start early). Class is moving along nicely (I think). I really want them to enjoy the give and take of learning. A roller coaster will scare you to death the first time you ride it but about the third time “scary” becomes “fun.” I am not interested in scaring anyone but I do want to help them develop their critical thinking skills. That is rarely easy. So, I like to get them to buy into what we are doing.

I also believe in being totally honest and open with my students as to what I am doing and why. I think they deserve to know the why. After all, it is their life; it is their education. I think we should all talk more with students about what we are doing in class and why. Verbalizing the goals can be helpful to you as well as to them.

Therefore, after class today, I sent the following email to my students just to explain what I was doing.

“I often have students ask me why I teach so differently. I could have explained this on Day One but you wouldn’t have understood. For the first 20 years of my career, I was a lecturer and I was good at it. I was as good at teaching copying and memorizing as a person could possibly be.

“And I was very disillusioned – I was ready to quit and go get a real job and make a lot of money. If that was teaching, I wasn’t interested. That wasn’t how I wanted to spend my life. I wasn’t changing anyone in the way I wanted.

“Two things happened that changed me. People can change. That alone is something to remember.

“The Youtube video below is one of the two things that changed me – it comes from a movie of that time. My guess is that a lot of students would watch this video and claim that it demonstrates cruel and unusual punishment (I have a friend here at Richmond who believes that). Hopefully, you’ll have a different view of it. Three things to pay special attention to as you watch.
***First, at about the 3:35 mark, the teacher talks about what he is doing. I wish I could have said it that well.
***Second, it’s all about preparation and thinking. That’s it; there are no short cuts. You either prepare to learn or you don’t learn.
***Third, compare “Mister Hart” at the beginning to “Mister Hart” at the end. That class has changed him and made him a smarter, more confident, much better educated person. That is a class worth having. That’s a learning experience that is worth doing.

“That is exactly what I want for each of you. I promise you that I never call on you where I’m not trying to get you to the point that he experiences at the end of this video. 50 minutes per class – that is the goal."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHV2n4o6J2I&feature=related

The Very First Question

My first class of the 2011-2012 academic year will be next Monday at 9 a.m. If you have followed this blog for long, you know that I only teach by using a Socratic Method approach. I distribute questions in advance and then discuss those or related questions for the entire class time. I want a thoughtful conversation. This allows me to stick with my 50-50 goal (I do 50 percent of the talking and they do 50 percent of the talking).



I am a big believer that it is important to get each new class off to the proper start. You set a tone at the beginning that carries through for the entire semester. If you are funny, they’ll expect you to be funny from now on. If you do 100 percent of the talking, they’ll assume that this is the way you teach every single day.



Consequently, I spend a lot of time thinking about the tone I am creating during that first class. By now, I have already sent my students 4-5 emails so I fully expect them to be prepared on Monday morning and ready to go. I like creating a bit of urgency right from the beginning – this is important stuff and we cannot afford to waste our time. I believe that myself so why not convey this message.



This semester I have focused a lot of my attention on the very first question that I am going to ask. What do I want my students to think about immediately starting right at 9:00 a.m.?



I may change my mind by Monday but the question I plan to ask (as I type this) is: “if our class works perfectly this semester, if you and I both do all that we can possibly do and things go great, how will you be different at the end of the semester?”



Only a very few words but I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this question. Why do I like it?



--First and foremost, it focuses on the change that can occur in them. Students typically think about class in terms of learning. I’m not nearly as interested in learning (which can sound like the memorization of the Gettysburg Address). I want them to think about class in terms of how it will change them. In December, as a result of this class, I want them to walk out as different people. How is my class going to make that happen? I think “learning” simply understates the potential impact of a college class. I want them to be different; I want them to be better people in some definable way. And, I think they are more likely to get there if they consider what that change may be.



--Second, I want them to connect what they do with that change. Benefits don't happen by accident I want the students to realize that their “work” and their “change” are closely related. It is not just the passage of time that counts. That only makes you older. It is the work carried out during the semester that creates change in the student. I want them to realize that the more they work, the more they will change (and grow).



--Third, I definitely want my students to understand that the learning process is a team effort. It is not my job alone. Likewise, it is not just them operating by themselves. “If you AND I both do all that we can possibly do . . .” I often tell my students that class is like performing a dance such as the waltz. One party leads but both parties have to do an equal share of the work. A dance where only one person does any real work is an awkward mess. However, a dance where both people work together can lead to wonderful results. I inform students that I will do my half of the work but I will absolutely not do more than my half. It is their education and they have to be willing to do their share of the work.



--Fourth, I want the students to know that there is risk involved. I never never never take it for granted that a class will be a success. For me, “if” is always a scary word. “If this class works perfectly this semester,” sends the message that things might not work well. Benefit is not guaranteed. Students often seem to feel that if they merely persevere until the last day, they will accrue whatever benefit that is available. School = Perseverance = Success. No, some students gain immensely in my class whereas others obtain literally no benefit. I want to show students the opportunity that is available to them. But it may not happen There is a great benefit to be gained but only if we both do the work necessary.



Now, I have a question for you. And, I’d love to hear your response: When you walk into class on the first day of the semester and you are ready to get started (you’ve gone over the course outline or whatever housekeeping you have to do), what is the very first question that you ask your students. I’m definitely curious. Let me know – I might change. Send me your “first question” at Jhoyle@richmond.edu.

In Case You Are Interested

I was talking recently with a friend who asked something like: "You have had nearly 33,000 page views on your teaching blog. Which of your entries have drawn the most traffic?"

In truth, some entries have had almost no readers while others have had thousands of page views. Not really sure what makes such extreme differences.

If you want to go back and check to see the most popular entries over the last 16 months or so, here they are.

1 - What Do We Add? July 22, 2010
2 - Big Mistakes March 26, 2011
3 - Need Some Inspiration? September 13, 2010
4 - What Do You Tell Your Students? August 19, 2010
5 - The $10 Million Question January 16, 2011
6 - The Opening August 24, 2010
7 - Using Power Point Slides March 17, 2010

Big Mistakes

This entry on my blog should prove two things: (1) I lead a relatively boring existence and (2) I spend way too much time thinking about teaching.

Yesterday for lunch, I went to a nearby Jimmy John’s Deli and got a sandwich. As I sat there eating it, I pulled out a piece of paper and across the top I wrote: What are the biggest mistakes that college teachers make? I immediately listed out 9 or 10 mistakes that I think college teachers are prone to make, mistakes that prevent them from moving from good to great. Then, I decided to whittle the number down to a “Top Five” list. That was tricky because several of my items appear to be quite prevalent. Finally, about the time I had taken the last bite of my sandwich, I turned my final five into a countdown somewhat like a David Letterman list on late night television. So, straight from Jimmy John’s Deli in Richmond, Virginia, here are my “Top Five Mistakes That College Teachers Make.” If you think I left something off, let me know.

Number Five: Overreliance on Power Point Slides. I never use Power Point slides in my own classes but, if I did, I would make sure to ask a question on the student evaluations each year about whether students liked my usage or not. I understand how they can be very handy (especially since textbook publishers will even create them for you) as a way of organizing material. However, I think they send a message to students that you are simply going to read Power Point slides to them as they sit there in the semi-dark trying to stay awake. Okay, I know that most teachers will say that they throw up the slides and then discuss the material but I have heard way too many students say “that lazy guy just reads Power Point slides to us that he didn’t even take the time to produce.” The way you view the process and the way your students view it may be radically different. Plus, I am not certain that it is easy to use Power Point slides to create active interaction with the students. If the slide provides the information, where is the conversation, where is the student thinking? My recommendation – just ask your students on their evaluations: “Should the professor use Power Point slides more or less or the same amount as now?” If a lot of students say “less,” I would pay serious attention to that advice. If they say “more,” then go for it.

Number Four: Failure to Engage Students with the Material. College teachers often seem to have a belief that students bring an active curiosity and desire to learn with them to class. If (when) that proves false, they appear to be mystified. “Why do they take my class if they don’t want to learn the material?” Well, they must take 30-40 courses to graduate so they have to sign up for something. Over my 40 years in this business, I have had a few students who walked in with an “I am dying to learn all about Intermediate Accounting” attitude. But, a vast majority of them walk in with a neutral attitude; they need to be convinced they are not wasting their time. After spending 80 percent of their lives learning stuff like the state capitals, the periodic table, how to outline a sentence, and the Pythagorean theorem, many students have had the joy of learning mashed out of them before they get to you.

How do you engage students? One possibility is to link the coverage to some personal benefit – how will their lives be better for knowing this material? “Learn it because I say so” doesn’t hold too much power over the young people of today. Or, show the student why you find the material interesting. If you have read this blog for long, you know that I’m a huge proponent of trying to puzzle students. Why is it done this way? What does this accomplish? Why was this action taken? How do these two things fit together? If you simply assume your students are truly curious about the Pythagorean theorem, you may be upset when they fall asleep in class or seem more interested in texting than in learning.

Number Three: Writing Tests that Reward Memorization. We all have heard that the purpose of college is to help develop critical thinking skills. That is a great and worthy goal. But students will learn based on how they expect to be tested. If you base your tests on memorization (“name the four criteria for a capitalized lease”), you can forget about developing critical thinking skills. If you want students to go beyond memorization, your tests have to go beyond memorization. “If the US had not made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, what are possible impacts on the growth of slavery in this country?” Okay, that may lead to an answer that requires some work to grade but it allows students to demonstrate their understanding. If they expect to be tested in a certain way, their learning will be directed in that same way. Textbook publishers often provide test banks. Those questions are primarily designed to test memorization. You set the tone for your entire course by the way you test your students. Work to write thoughtful questions and you will be surprised by how much more thoughtful your students will become.

Number Two: Most Teachers Talk Too Much. Teachers get nervous during silences. They feel uncomfortable. Consequently, they rush in to fill up the quiet with words and words and more words. The less the teacher talks and the more the students talk the better. The teacher should guide the conversation and make sure everyone gets involved. After that, the less said by the teacher the better. However, that is hard to do. The students would much prefer for you to do all the talking because then they can turn their brains off and just write down what you say. Don’t let them play that game with you. Push them to talk. I use the Socratic Method so I call on them in rapid fire fashion but you can push them to talk in many ways. If you have read my Teaching Tips book at https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~jhoyle/ you know that I believe in the 50-50 Rule. That is the teacher should never do more than 50 percent of the talking. Push your students to do their 50 percent.

Number One: Failure to Force Students to Be Prepared for Class. In my opinion, the single biggest factor in having a great class is the preparation level of the students. If they are not prepared, what can they possibly add to the class? They can just write down notes. But, when they are well prepared, they can add ideas, suggestions, a different perspective, and the like. A class with well prepared students can be a true joy as the conversation and the thinking range throughout the topics under consideration. To me, that is education at its very best. That is why I became a teacher.

How do you get students to prepare for class? First, I think you have to be very specific as to what you want them to do. Don’t just throw out vague assignments. College students do not do vague very well. They ignore vague. Tell them exactly what you want them to do. Second, make sure the subsequent class actually incorporates that assignment in some way so students do not feel like they were being asked to do busy work. I remember being infuriated in college when I would spend hours on an assignment that was never mentioned by the teacher in any way. I certainly did make that same mistake twice. Third, don’t hesitate to be confrontational if the assignment is not done to your satisfaction. College students are adults. If they had an assignment at a job and did not do it, they would face the wrath of the boss very quickly. You don’t have to treat them like delicate flowers. If you give an assignment that you use in class and students are not prepared, talk to them about the need for doing the work. I never scream and yell at my students but I certainly let them know if I feel they have not upheld their half of the class work. I often stop students as they leave class with “you did not seem prepared today and I fully expect better from you at our next class.”


If you want to see an improvement in your teaching, pick one of these five and work on it for awhile. Or, pick a different one that you think applies to you. But you do have to make an effort to work on it. Just contemplating mistakes doesn’t do you or your students any good.