Teaching

Starting position of the group
Before you start teaching, think about the group you are going to teach, think about the course subject, the level (Bachelor, Master, Pre-Master?), how many students you can expect, what your teaching style will be, how many sessions you will have, how long the sessions will be, what the learning objectives will be, etc.

Prepare the course and the individual lectures
Make an outline of the topics you want to cover in your course and divide them up into sessions. Then start planning your sessions. Communicate your general planning to your students, e.g. via Canvas and the first lecture.

Schedule/ Roster
Check your timetable, when do you have to teach? Allow some time before and after the sessions (if possible) so that you don't have to rush.

Arrive on time for sessions
Make sure you arrive 5-10 minutes before the session starts so you can unpack, plug in your laptop, turn on the screen, etc.

Plan some time for 'nothing'
Sometimes students have questions they don't want to ask in the group. Try to schedule some time (10-15 minutes per lecture) to do nothing so that students can ask their questions. it is also a good idea to plan a Q and A session at the end of the course, right before the exam.

Be clear about your expectations of the students and what they can expect from you. 

How will you communicate with your students between the sessions
Do you allow students to send you an email if they have any questions, or do you have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page? When do you answer the emails? 

What are your classroom rules?
The University has some rules per classroom, which you can find in the classroom. But what do you expect from your students?

• Can they enter the classroom if they are late?
• How do they let you know if they have a question? Do they have to raise their hand or can they just ask the question?
• Do you expect them to take notes?
• Can they have your slides? Where can they find them and when?
• How would you like to be addressed by the students? Can they use your first or last name? Or do you want them to call you Professor (+ last name)?

Be clear about your expectations and explain why you expect this from the students. You can mention your expectations during the first lecture and post them on Canvas. Remind students of your expectations from time to time.

In the previous section we talked about organising your lessons and managing expectations. If you are working on these two components, you are already on the right track. However, there may be times when students display undesirable behaviour. This could be something as small as not paying attention or chatting while you are explaining.

What do you do when students display undesirable behaviour? We recommend that you create an escalation ladder, this is a list of actions you can take when something you consider undesirable happens, such as chatting, not paying attention, a cheeky response, etc.

If you are making an escalation ladder, write down what your first action is when you see unwanted behaviour. The first action you use is always something small, like looking in the direction of the student exhibiting unwanted behaviour, make eye-contact or a cough.
If that doesn't work, you can try a slightly bigger action such as asking the pupil to pay attention or calling the pupil's name.
If this doesn't work, you can take it a step further and ask/demand attention more clearly.

Example of an escalation ladder:
Step 0: KEEP CALM AT ALL TIME
Step 1: Look at the student and make eye-contact.
Step 2: Look at he student, make eye-contact and a small gesture such as pointing to the sign as a sign that you want to start.
Step 3: Mention the name of the student.
Step 4: Mention what you expect of the student (while you have eye-contact).
...
...
Step ..: 

Keep in mind that there is no best way to correct students, it depends on what is going on, on that moment. But think about your options at hand. It is always advisable to stay calm, don't scream, shout or throw things. It may go without saying, but don't touch the students. If things really get out of hand, for example if a student becomes aggressive, call campus security (053 - 489 2222).

Focus

If students do not pay attention to the lecture and are focuesed on what is going on, they will not learn. However, human beings can only concentrate for a short time, the attention span of students is between 10 and 15 minutes, but varies from student to student, from situation to situation. It is wise to take this into account the attention span when preparing your lessons. Try to prepare your lesson in such a way that you can alternate 10-15 minute periods with different activities. For example: a short explanation, working on an exercise, a short discussion, a video with questions, a quiz. Of course, you can do a task or give an explanation more often. But variation is key.

By alternating your activities, you can also accommodate the learning preferences of different students, e.g. some students like to work on a problem themselves, while others like you as the teacher to explain the problem. This will keep them motivated.

Motivation

To motivate students to start paying attention at the beginning of the lesson, it is advisable to introduce the topic of the lesson in an approachable way. This can be done in various ways and should of course suit your teaching style, as well as the topic and the students.

Some ways to get students' attention:

• doing an experiment (or showing a video of an experiment) and then asking questions about it.
• a newspaper article about or strongly linked to the topic of your lesson
• a quiz on the content of the previous lesson or on the content of the upcoming lesson.

To keep you students motivated during the session try to work on the basic psychological needs (Deci & Ryan):

• Autonomy empower students to make their own choices. For example, let them choose from multiple sources to master the material, who they collaborate with or when they work on an assignment. Autonomy does not imply that students decide everything themselves, just set clear boundaries within which they have to operate.
• Competence let students experience whether their behaviour is efficient and effective. it makes students feel good when they realise they have done the right thing and now also understand the content. On the other hand, it may also be that they have not yet mastered the content, in which case they can make adjustments. Giving feedback (on an individual basis, group level, via a quiz, etc.) is recommended here.
• Relatedness it is important that students feel that they belong and are seen both emotionally and intelectually. To achieve this, it is important that there is interaction both on content and on a personal level. As a teacher, it is advisable to learn students' names or remember and refer to other positive characteristics and events with students.

As mentioned earlier, it is important that students are activated and involved in the lesson. This has a motivating effect and benefits learning. To engage students, we recommend using activities.