Student Guide Corner

There are many times in teaching that a teacher needs to explain things to students. In many college classes, they are young people with limited experience. Occasionally, they simply don�t understand, especially when things are not as they have experienced them in the past. Part of my job as a teacher is to explain things beyond my subject matter. There are stories that can sometimes help them come to a better understanding. I often have students come to my office after I return a test. They are upset that they didn�t make the grade they had wanted or expected. It is common for me to hear something like �I cannot tell you how hard I studied. In fact, I studied with Mr. A and Ms. B and I knew just as much as they did. We worked every question from class 8 times apiece. Yet, they made a 95 and I made an 83. What am I supposed to do?� I guess this is on my mind because one of my students told me this afternoon that the 83 he got on a recent test was the first grade he had received in coll...

This blog went over 50,000 views a few days ago. Obviously, no one would have ever heard of this blog over the past 27 months if it weren�t for people like you who have spread the word. First, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot tell you how very much I appreciate your helping out by telling other people about my writings. Second, I�d like to ask you for a very personal favor. The second edition of my Financial Accounting textbook that I wrote with C. J. Skender (of UNC) came out today. (Today!!!!) I feel like I just experienced the birth of another child. I thought the first edition was good but I honestly think the second edition is great. It approaches the introduction of financial accounting differently because it is written in a Socratic Method style. It is the book that I have always wanted to write and I am thrilled with it. It covers what I think college students should learn in an introductory course. And, although I am obviously bia...

Let�s assume that you are a true baseball or soccer or basketball fan and you�ve just been appointed manager/coach of your favorite team. You are absolutely thrilled. Your goal is to win the world championship with your team. How exciting is that? How would you go about achieving this goal? My guess is that you would willingly spend hours analyzing every aspect of your team. You would try to think of how you could help each player reach their potential within the team to bring on the victories. You�d study everything about the game to help everyone do better. Heck, this might be so thrilling that you�d do all the work for free just for the opportunity. Is winning a few sporting events in basketball or baseball more important than helping your students to learn? Of course not � we may occasionally forget how important our jobs are but we should never lose sight of what we are accomplishing. I would argue that you already have a much more important job than any big l...

I read an article in the newspaper this morning as I sat in my favorite deli having lunch. I came back to my office and wrote the following email to my 51 juniors. We have about 2 � weeks left together. I have a point I really want to make before you move on. It's free advice so you can take it or leave it. I realize that you have already registered for the fall semester (but I also realize that the drop-add period will be available for quite some time). If you have a chance, go to today�s Wall Street Journal (April 5, 2012) and read the story on Page B-1 (�Wealth or Waste? Rethinking the Value of A Business Major�). It is quite interesting. I often think students select their nonrequired classes with almost no thought. I occasionally have students who ask me why I teach solely through questions, why I don�t like to give answers, why I push students to go to the opera, why I ask about their best teachers and best books, why I give points for going to art museums. ...

About three weeks ago (3/6/12), I included the following story in an entry in this blog: �I immediately walked to my study and sent an email to one of my students. �You made a D on your first test in my class. Since then, I have not noticed one iota of improvement. None. You are not one bit better prepared for my class. You are not trying any harder as far as I can see. I can only surmise that your primary goal is to make a D in my class.� �The next day in class that student was clearly better prepared. Not sure how long it will last but it was nice to see him more engaged.� I basically confronted the student directly for not making changes in his attitude toward my class. I cared enough about him as a person to be confrontational. He may well have thought I hated him but, in truth, if I had not cared about him as a person, I would not have wasted my time. He made a D on the first test of the semester and seemed ready to make a D on the second test. Rather than f...

So often we believe text-to-speech is the answer for students who struggle with reading issues, whether due to decoding, fluency or reading comprehension challenges. Today, a high school senior with learning disabilities taught me a valuable lesson. We met during her academic support period to see if there were assistive technology solutions to support her learning. She is a bright student with reading disabilities. The first words out of her mouth were, "I don't read." Hmmm. I immediately thought, "Well let me come to your rescue and show you text to speech!" When I showed her how she could access text and then listen using a service such as Bookshare, she told me it wouldn't work for her. She explained she found the voices too annoying which would distract her and cause her to lose focus. Therefore, learning would not occur. In working with her, I wondered if changing the size of text or using Readability features would be of benefit. I showed her the Rea...

Before I ever started this blog, I wrote a short little teaching book titled �Tips and Thoughts on Improving the Teaching Process in College--A Personal Diary.� I wanted to push myself to think about teaching and I wanted to encourage other folks to think about teaching. The book was a bit of work but it seemed like everyone would benefit. When finished, I put it up on web at https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~jhoyle/ and forgot about it. However, the book got a very nice review in The Chronicle of Higher Education and people started sending me questions or suggestions. For a while, I got emails from teachers around the world. What fun. Eventually, I wanted to add to those original essays. I had more thoughts on teaching. Plus, I missed the writing. But, instead of starting a second book, I created this blog which has allowed me to stretch out the thinking and writing process indefinitely. A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with a former student of mine who has g...