Practicals
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The Classroom Power Dynamic
Disclaimer: Power dynamics in an academic setting impact different people in different ways. Though I attempt to approach this topic from a place of empathy, at the end of the day I am still Dr. White Male and as such I also approach it from a position of privilege. I’ve done my best to take…
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Disabilities and Accommodations
Let’s start with the big picture. On average (at least at my current university), 10% of students have an academic disability and need accommodations. And that is surely not all the students who would benefit from them; in my first year of teaching full-time, I had discussions with four separate students who, for various reasons,…
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Not Having Every Answer
It is not at all uncommon to see the following anxiety expressed by a new instructor: My job is to have the answer to every single question that could possibly come up in class today; if I don’t, I’m not doing my job properly, I will immediately forfeit all authority in the classroom, and it…
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Learning & Testing Vocabulary
Learning vocabulary isn’t simply a matter of learning what roots mean. However, many or most of your students will assume it is. You need to be sure they know that vocabulary is both lexical and morphological. Take amō, amāre, amāvī, amātus. This string of words does not mean “I love.” Only amō means that, and…
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Mini Quizzes
More low stakes assignments (e.g. lots of quizzes, mini tests, etc.) are preferred to fewer high stakes assignments (e.g. one midterm and a final). No assignment should be worth more than 20% of one’s final grade. Low stakes assignments are preferred for a variety of reasons: • Less stress on the student (a single quiz…
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DocuCams
A Document Camera (or DocuCam) is quite simply a camera that displays whatever it sees on the projector screen. As far as I’m concerned, it is the single most valuable tool in the language classroom. By projecting the text under examination using a DocuCam, you and your students can always be on the same page—or…
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Assignments
Text coming soon. Low-Stakes Quizzing in Canvas: https://canvas.yale.edu/spotlight/low-stakes-quizzing-canvas Voicethread
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The Zoom Classroom
There is nothing ingenious in what I write here. My objective was to replicate my normal classroom, not to use tech for the sake of using tech, and it all worked out fine, at least for the language classroom. To summarize Communications for pedagogy, there are three things to attend to at any given moment:…
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Office/Student Hours
Office Hours are dedicated times you are available to students to talk about relevant academic questions about your course or the discipline/profession. You are not a qualified psychiatrist and should not pretend to be one. Students—especially incoming Freshman—do not know what Office Hours are. We have started to call them “Student Hours” to welcome students to them, but even…
Classics Teaching 