"It’s 3 a.m. and you’ve yet to prepare for your 9 a.m. class (that would be the one on the topic you didn’t plan to teach, in a course you’re not quite sure you know much about.). It happens! How can we “economize” our preparation? Can we, as Seattle University's Therese Huston claims, “…teach what we don’t know…” well? How can we take what we DO know and quickly (and effectively) make a useful lesson out of it!"
This blurb led description of a workshop I recently conducted for MSU TA's and post-docs. Sprung from an idea I had several months ago for helping new teachers seeking to economize their teaching prep, the workshop's advertising provoked interesting reactions from several different audiences. A Dean chimed in that "...I need something like this [but don't tell anyone.]." One despondent (faculty) respondent fretted, "What am I supposed to think about my son's (expensive) education!" A former TA, now adjunct faculty at Wayne State (fresh off of 6 new preps in the last nine months) claimed, "This is the best workshop idea, EVER!" TA and Post doc registration filled in 24 hours. Post-workshop assessment revealed that most attendees thought the experience would be mostly a "tips-driven" presentation, with me providing the answers to questions about how to put a lecture together in 45 minutes or craft in an hour a meaningful collaborative learning experience (AND ASSESS IT!) . Of course, there's something to wanting "...just the facts, man." and I do like talking teaching tactics. But the topic thankfully prompts serious reflection about one's perceptions as her or himself a teacher, instructors' roles and responsibilities, goal setting strategies, and how often one's diverse lives crash into one another.
And lives crash. Facing research and publication deadlines, classroom demands, and often, family demands, TAs can end up in situations like the one above (Although one workshop participant claimed that no matter what, she's "...not getting up before 4:30!"). Faculty can face these challenges too. And we all find it very hard to talk about (See James Rhem's conversation with Therese Huston in the NTLF.). Admitting that we perhaps haven't put enough time into our teaching for some is a potentially revealing, if not dangerous admission of defeat. We are after all, supposed to know it all (If not knowing how to teach it all.) . This, of course, stands for those who care about their teaching. For those who don't, or for those living in that universe where you have all the time necessary to craft powerful learning experiences every time, stop reading here. (Oh, if you ARE in that place, please send me a postcard. Better, hire me.)
My partner and I laughingly talked about the all too common, and sometimes humorous tactics for teaching prep at hyper speed. She loves the "Let's Free-Write!" solution. I jested that I want students to read the textbook aloud (And yes, when I asked my grad students if they'd had faculty RECENTLY who did this, over twenty raised their hands.). Of course, there's always the "Do-you-have-any- (more!)questions?" approach. The "Get-in-groups-and-talk-about-something" tactic. The "Let's go over previous material" dodge, and at worst, the "Just-send-them-home" solution. Of course, sometimes (but only rarely) that is the best thing to do.
Several issues influence thinking about how we can manage short preparation time and still do a decent job for our students. For starters, considering at base level what your responsibility is for that day is crucial. The ultimate acceptable default is to "Teach only what they absolutely have to know." After confirming with the workshop audience that no one was recording me, I recast that approach into something akin to "Teach the test." After all, most students just want to know what they're being tested on, right? Ugh. The "responsibility thing" is tricky to engage, in part because we can slide into descriptions of our teaching roles that rest solely on notions of ourselves as content deliverers, information transmitters, as the dreaded monotonous drones that go on and on and on...and truly, at the heart of many new teachers' conceptions of themselves lies a desire to cover as much content as possible. EGO = CONTENT COVERAGE! So, when coming to terms with how to economize preparation, many instructors are going to have to face tough decisions about choosing what's most important. Because, not everything is. Nor is your purpose to be the sole link to all course information. This dilemma weighs heavily on transmitters and serves as one of the two main issues I've faced in the last ten years of consulting with instructors.
Thirdly, considering how to manage effective teaching with short preparation absolutely depends on teachers doing two things well: 1) creating a classroom learning environment early on that prompts student involvement in their own learning, and 2) clarifying and connecting learning objectives, goals and expectations. No matter the class, we should be asking ourselves "What should my students be able to do after today's experience?" Or, "...after this section, unit, etc?" And particularly, "...after the semester is over?" This holds true for 2+ hour preps, 45- minute preps, a hurried slug of 4 shots of Pete's Coffee/on the bus to school preps...whatever.
Funny how thinking about goals like this can clarify objectives and intentions. Funny too how startled even faculty 25 years into their tenure look when I've introduced them to that idea.
So, how do we do this? Perhaps the Guidelines for Thinking about Class Preparation will be helpful (Scroll down to workshop and links to supplemental resources.). This grid is designed to help students consider how to organize as efficiently and effectively as possible given certain preparation time constraints. I don’t consider this a blueprint, nor as a set of iron-clad standards. A close look at this might reveal to the reader that time demands -- although they may curtail classroom activities and certainly certain content coverage -- do not necessarily have to restrict a teacher’s essential mission (which some readers might construe rests in the lower right corner of the grid. Sometimes, that level of prep and presentation is all we can do.). Of course, defining that mission, clarifying class and lesson goals, creating organized and efficient presentations and meaningful assessment make up the core of pedagogical development. One could argue that no matter the constraints, good classes contain all the elements of the upper left-hand corner. For us, TAs and new teachers, getting a handle on the fundamental elements that go into creating a learning experience that “works” is crucial, no matter the prep time we have.
Other last minute solutions: 1) Invite someone to fill in, but be careful! 2) Rely on peers' materials and advice. 3) Keep it simple. 4) Make available supplemental information, especially information you couldn't get to. 5) Create analytical rubrics to help students handle difficult reading material. Another way to think about how to avoid trouble might be to consider Richard Felder and Rebecca Brent's "Three Steps to Disaster..." : Go it alone; try to cover everything known about a subject; and make yourself available for EVERY question ANY student MIGHT ask. I might add, one sure-fire way to invite disaster is to have an incomplete or just plain bad syllabus.
My workshop participants were very sharp. A young physicist asked at the beginning, "How long did it take you to prepare for this? Aren't you modeling?" (Bravo, Brent!) Of course, I'll never tell. A couple of other attendees commented that they always had enough time to prepare. Deeper investigation into what that meant for them revealed that they transposed text material to PowerPoint's (or even better, used the available media package.). Hmm, that doesn't really prompt learning but, sometimes that has to be good enough.
Jazz drummer Art Blakey claimed that (and I'm paraphrasing) The great thing about the next day is that you can clean up the mess you made the night before.
Thank heavens there's almost always a next day, and that it doesn't have to start at 3 a.m.
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