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Teaching skills

scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) | writing learning objectives | learning styles | cultural sensitivity Ÿ| active learning | learner-focused approaches | in-class exercises | formative assessment | summative assessment | E-learning | hybrid/blended classroom | course management systems | clickers 

Get training

  • Shadow an instructor with strong teaching skills; observe and discuss their techniques after the class
  • Take a course on how to teach
  • Read books or articles about how to teach
  • Read articles in an education journal within your field (e.g., CBE-Life Sciences Education). This article by Miller & Tanner (CBE-Life Sci Ed 2015) is a place to start.
  • Attend a workshop or session at a science conference or science education conference

Practice

  • Teach a mock lesson in front of “students”
  • Videotape and review yourself teaching
  • Volunteer in a K-12 classroom
  • Guest-lecture a single lesson or short series of lessons
  • Supervise an undergraduate, high school, or rotation student in your lab and be thoughtful about what and how you teach them
  • Teach a course at a local college

Get feedback

  • Do an anonymous formative assessment to determine whether your students have met the learning objectives, and what actions you take have been most effective
  • Ask someone to observe you teaching; have them fill out a feedback form and meet with you to provide feedback (contact us for a sample form)

Self-reflection

  • For each lesson you teach, select your teaching methods based on the learning objectives you have set for the lesson; observe classroom behaviors and change in knowledge to assess whether the method was successful
  • After each lesson, write notes in a personal journal about what worked and what didn’t
  • Develop and write your statement of teaching philosophy
  • Collect your reflections as well as the materials you develop in a teaching portfolio

Local resources

  • Local colleges include: Assumption College, Becker College, Clark University, College of the Holy Cross, MCPHS University, Quinsigamond Community College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester State University, Anna Maria College
  • Teaching skills section of the cBCD Special Collection in the Lamar Soutter Library
  • Schedule an appointment to discuss your teaching strategies or teaching statement with cBCD