The Change-up": A Good Pitch to Have in Your Teaching Repertoire

From: http://trc.virginia.edu/Publications/Teaching_Concerns/Fall_1997/TC_Fall_1997_Change-Up.htm

By Bill McAllister, Faculty Consultant, TRC and Department of History

We've all had the experience, probably both as teachers and learners, of drifting off part way through a presentation. The phenomenon most often occurs in lectures, but can happen in any class. Individual students pursue various strategies to cope. Some gamely attempt to stay alert, the telltale sign of which is often a noticeable snapping back of the head at the precise moment they lose consciousness. Others deliberately opt for a short sojourn in hopes of avoiding a longer recess from sentience. Most succeed in refreshing themselves one way or another, but in the interim they may have missed a goodly portion of the day's proceedings and perhaps disrupted your concentration as well.

Among the TRC's many excellent library holdings is an article that deals with precisely this issue. Entitled "The 'Change-Up' in Lectures," by Joan Mittendorf and Alan Kalish, the article addresses the empirical literature on attention span and then suggests practical ways to counteract the all-too-natural human tendency toward cerebral entropy.

Mittendorf and Kalish note that studies on attention span indicate that, when passively absorbing information, adult learners usually experience mental lapses after a mere 15-20 minutes. Moreover, refocusing efforts proved only partially successful; students tended to drift off more quickly after the initial period of alertness and inattention.

Additionally, the authors cite research indicating that, in order to make connections between old and new knowledge, students require opportunities to practice thinking in terms of new concepts. Without a chance to exercise their new-found knowledge, they are less likely to inculcate it-to make it "their own."

One relatively non-intrusive tactic you can employ to counteract the attention-gap is to utilize a "change-up" in class. The terminology emanates from the baseball diamond: by throwing the ball at different speeds the pitcher keeps batters off-balance. The concept works equally well in the classroom: by mixing brief period(s) of application into your teaching, you can help students stay alert for the entire class. Moreover, change-ups afford students opportunities to wrestle with difficult concepts and ultimately enhance student learning.

Keep in mind that change-ups need not consume large amounts of class time; many can be completed in five minutes or less. Although some instructors are loathe to spend precious classroom minutes on what might appear to be an ancillary project, the time used is more than compensated for by the increased retention rates your students will enjoy.

Here are the essential principles to follow when designing change-ups:


TIMING: Plan on inserting a change of pace every 15-20 minutes. That means a 75-minute session will typically require two change-ups, whereas a 50-minute session usually needs only one.

TOPIC: Make your activity directly related to that day's course material. When appropriate, pick a task that reinforces the central point(s) you want students to retain.

THE PITCH: Have a clear idea of what you want your students to do and give explicit instructions about what they are to accomplish. If your change-up involves a question, make sure it is unambiguous.

TALK IT OVER: Make sure to debrief after completing the activity. Discuss, explore, and confirm what students discovered. Reinforce what is important and tie it to the day's key points.

EXAMPLES

The following change-up activities have been selected from a larger range of ideas proposed by Mittendorf and Kalish and from other sources available at the TRC. For more suggestions, contact the Teaching Resource Center.


PROBLEM SOLVING

Small Group Discussions: Have students discuss a key point from today's material in groups of two to five. Ask them a question that requires analysis, evaluation, or synthesis, and see what kind of responses you get.


STUDENT-GENERATED QUESTIONS

Write a Question: Simply ask students to write down one or two questions about the material. Before providing the answer yourself , ask other students to attempt it. You could learn a lot about what they know (and don't know).

Exam Questions: Alone or in small groups, have students write their own exam questions. Select a few to read to the whole class, and critique the questions. If you collect all the questions at the end of class, you might generate some new material for your next test.


QUICKIE ASSESSMENTS

Student Evaluation of Course: Ask them to write down the muddiest point from today's class. Collect and analyze. Or, discover what you're doing well, perhaps by asking them to point out one thing you are doing that is promoting a helpful learning environment in the classroom. Their responses can be quite helpful.

Student Self-Evaluation: Ask students to rate their own performance. Do they read the assignments on time, come to class regularly, think carefully about the material, and generally take an active role in their own learning?


GENERATING IDEAS

Graphic Representations: Ask students to concoct a non-narrative account of some key issue or concept. Asking them literally to draw the "big picture" can lead to some interesting results.

Truth Statements: Ask students to write down two or three things they know to be true about some aspect of the day's material. Use the responses to examine assumptions and level of knowledge.

Perhaps the best indicator of the value of change-ups is what the students have to say about them. In my own lecture class this past spring I instituted change-ups to good effect. No one complained that they constituted an improper use of class time. Here are some of their comments about change-ups culled from end-of-semester evaluations:

Great teaching aids: the change-ups are a terrific idea, almost addictive.

The change-ups were very helpful in keeping people from losing concentration.

The change-ups are very interesting, and help provide perspective to the class.

The change-ups accommodated students, because they recognized that we become restless easily and quickly.

The change-up in the middle of the class often provided food for thought.

I enjoyed the creativity of the change-ups.

The change-ups are GREAT! All classes should have them.

The change-ups midway through class made a HUGE difference. I can't stress this enough. I loved the way they utilized the different senses to help us learn.

Good Teaching: The Top Ten Requirements

From: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/topten.htm

By Richard Leblanc

1. Good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason. It's about not only motivating students to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable. It's about caring for your craft, having a passion for it, and conveying that passion to everyone, most importantly to your students.

2. Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge. It's about doing your best to keep on top of your field, reading sources, inside and outside of your areas of expertise, and being at the leading edge as often as possible. But knowledge is not confined to scholarly journals. Good teaching is also about bridging the gap between theory and practice. It's about leaving the ivory tower and immersing oneself in the field, talking to, consulting with, and assisting practitioners, and liaisoning with their communities.

3. Good teaching is about listening, questioning, being responsive, and remembering that each student and class is different. It's about eliciting responses and developing the oral communication skills of the quiet students. It's about pushing students to excel; at the same time, it's about being human, respecting others, and being professional at all times.

4. Good teaching is about not always having a fixed agenda and being rigid, but being flexible, fluid, experimenting, and having the confidence to react and adjust to changing circumstances. It's about getting only 10 percent of what you wanted to do in a class done and still feeling good. It's about deviating from the course syllabus or lecture schedule easily when there is more and better learning elsewhere. Good teaching is about the creative balance between being an authoritarian dictator on the one hand and a pushover on the other.

5. Good teaching is also about style. Should good teaching be entertaining? You bet! Does this mean that it lacks in substance? Not a chance! Effective teaching is not about being locked with both hands glued to a podium or having your eyes fixated on a slide projector while you drone on. Good teachers work the room and every student in it. They realize that they are the conductors and the class is the orchestra. All students play different instruments and at varying proficiencies.

6. This is very important -- good teaching is about humor. It's about being self-deprecating and not taking yourself too seriously. It's often about making innocuous jokes, mostly at your own expense, so that the ice breaks and students learn in a more relaxed atmosphere where you, like them, are human with your own share of faults and shortcomings.

7. Good teaching is about caring, nurturing, and developing minds and talents. It's about devoting time, often invisible, to every student. It's also about the thankless hours of grading, designing or redesigning courses, and preparing materials to still further enhance instruction.

8. Good teaching is supported by strong and visionary leadership, and very tangible institutional support -- resources, personnel, and funds. Good teaching is continually reinforced by an overarching vision that transcends the entire organization -- from full professors to part-time instructors -- and is reflected in what is said, but more importantly by what is done.

9. Good teaching is about mentoring between senior and junior faculty, teamwork, and being recognized and promoted by one's peers. Effective teaching should also be rewarded, and poor teaching needs to be remediated through training and development programs.

10. At the end of the day, good teaching is about having fun, experiencing pleasure and intrinsic rewards ... like locking eyes with a student in the back row and seeing the synapses and neurons connecting, thoughts being formed, the person becoming better, and a smile cracking across a face as learning all of a sudden happens. Good teachers practice their craft not for the money or because they have to, but because they truly enjoy it and because they want to. Good teachers couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Begin with an Incident, Example, or Anecdote

From: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file143.html


IF YOU WANT TO:


Have an interesting style of presentation

Capture the students' interest


YOU MAY WISH TO CONSIDER:
Beginning class with an incident, example or anecdote to get the students' attention.

A faculty member in history who does this says that he often begins by reading aloud a short passage from a primary source or a story to illustrate what his major theme or point will be in the lecture. "For example, I might start out by stating that the Wizard of Oz is a parable for progressivism and read passages from it to illustrate my major thesis. I then get the students to help identify all the different characters and what they represent."

"I usually end with a quotation that pulls together what I have been trying to say," he says, "Also, whenever possible, I try to link the past with current events, to show how the topic is important for the present."


Limitations on Use of Suggestion


Discipline: None
Course Level: None
Course Size: None
Mode: None


Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California

Relate the Course Material as a Story

From: http://teaching.berkeley.edu/compendium/suggestions/file142.html

IF YOU WANT TO:


Have a more interesting style of presentation


YOU MAY WISH TO CONSIDER:
Looking for ways to relate the course material as a story.

"I always try to tell some kind of story," says a teacher in the biological sciences. "My primary belief about communication is that it doesn't matter what you say if you can't get them to listen."

In describing his preparation for a lecture for a large class he says, "Because I already know the material very well, most of the preparation goes on in my head for several days. Then, the night before, I begin to concentrate on it very intensely; it's a little like the `psyching yourself up' that actors or football players describe before a performance or a big game. Then I begin to outline the lecture, focusing on the major points and how they might be told as a story."


Limitations on Use of Suggestion


Discipline: None
Course Level: None
Course Size: None
Mode: None


Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California