Making Waves:  Innovative Teaching and Learning

Louise N. Walkup
LNWalkup@sbcglobal.net

Helping Students Adapt to College -  Brief Description for booklet
 

Accommodating Diverse Learners in College Success Courses:  Foolproof and easy-
to-implement activities, lesson plans & assignments that promote creativity, critical thinking, and discussion in diverse College Success courses. Your class will be a hit from the opening night to the memorable last class. Class evaluations will soar!

Helping Students Adapt to College -  Description of Presentation

 Accommodating Diverse Learners in College Success Courses: 

Because students in my college success course are so diverse, I found that my traditional teaching approaches (straight lecture and short essay assignments) bored some students and was above the head of others.  Therefore, I creatively implemented innovative teaching methods and non-traditional assignments to foster learning and self-confidence.

Below is a listing of foolproof strategies I’ve successfully integrated in my First Year Experience courses.  I would be happy to give a presentation on any of these in the Helping Students Adapt to College session.  I could easily adapt my talk to whatever time limit would suit you best.  I could use the entire 50 minutes, or I’d really enjoy sharing my presentation with someone who is looking for a partner.

I would discuss the following:

Ice Breaker
Where Am I Going Assignment

Creative Handout Assignments

PowerPoints as a Tool for Synthesis

Self-Inventory Sheets

Discussion Starter Cards

Quotation   Free-Writing

Fun with Case Studies

Scavenger Hunts

Goodbyes with Affirmation Booklets    

                                                              Louise N. Walkup

If you want to see specifics on each item, see the following 3 pages

Ice Breaker

Students enjoy class more when they know their classmates. During the first night of class, group students, provide them with the attached interview sheet & have them introduce their partner to the class.  The questions require reflection. Students are asked not only to state a fun fact about themselves, but to state their goals for the semester & obstacles they may encounter & how these will be overcome…. http://walkupsway.com/FYEwhoiswho.htm

Where Am I Going Assignment

A student who has goals and knows where he is going is more likely to stay in college. To promote critical thinking on this subject, I provide my students with the following assignment:  Creatively tell your classmates what road has led you to college & where you plan on being in 5 years.  This may be done with a collage, an instrument,  in PowerPoint, in a poem, essay….   

Student Collage:  http://walkupsway.com/fyelori.htm

Student Poem: http://walkupsway.com/fyepoem.htm

Creative Handout Assignments

The Learning Pyramid indicates he best way to learn something is to teach.  Instead of having students answer questions at the end of the chapter, I have students create a handout on any section of the assigned reading.  Students share these with the class. I have even Xeroxed some & posted them on bulletin boards & created extra copies for the student body.  Students with poor sentence writing skills & students who are tired of writing essays love this alternative assignment. Students with little self-confidence &                  atrocious writing skills present bulleted items & are proud of these.

Sample Student Handout:  http://walkupsway.com/fyecoveybecca.htm

PowerPoints as a Tool for Synthesis

As a review tool for tests, students pick questions from a hat & create a PowerPoint highlighting the answer.  This provides students with basic computer skills (See Creating PowerPoints  http://walkupsway.com/fyepowerpointcrreate.htm);a good review for themselves; an excellent review for the class; an opportunity to work with others; an opportunity to synthesize & critically think about  information & present it creatively to their peers.

A handful of PowerPoints are at http://walkupsway.com/FYEStudentWork.htm

Self-Inventory Sheets

When discussing study skills, time management skills, test taking techniques, I used to ask my students, “How do you approach….?”   Too often students were silent or they felt they knew it all & didn’t need to hear my lecture.   Now I provide my students with a scored self-inventory before I start lecturing. They find this to be fun. The completed inventory provides students with ideas (Oh, I should try this) and serves as a basis for my lecture (Item 1 – how many of you have ever….created note cards? Did it work? Would you do it again, would you recommend it…)

Sample Inventory  – Test Taking – Are you Ready http://walkupsway.com/fye_testinventory.htm

Discussion Starter Cards

I’ve created discussion starter cards to force students to think about and discuss the topic of the day. Students gather in small groups, are dealt a few cards, and discuss the card of their choice within the group.   At the end of the discussion, a group spokesperson reports the highlights of the discussion to the class.

Discussion Starter Cards on Time Management:  http://walkupsway.com/fyediscussiontime.htm 

Quotation   Free-Writing

As students walk in the classroom, beautiful quotations on the assigned topic are playing in PowerPoint format.   I also provide students with a printed copy of quotes.  Students are asked to select their favorite quote & free write: why did I select this quote; why is it meaningful to me; what does it mean; how can I apply it; what lesson can the class learn from this…..    Discussions are much better after free-writing.

Quotes are on my home page http://walkupsway.com/

Fun With Case Studies

One way to force all students to participate in case studies (see attached sample) is to group each student according to their preferred option.  Groups are given approximately 10 minutes to discuss their view & to prepare a statement to the class.   Each group strives to convince its classmates that their view of the case study is the best.  This is an ideal exercise for the class that has become listless & needs to be reawakened.

Sample Case Study:  http://walkupsway.com/fyecasestudypat.htm

Scavenger Hunts

A large part of college success is being able to find information.  With the help of our librarian, information scavenger hunts on materials related to college success are integral to my course.

Sample Library Assignment http://www.trcc.commnet.edu/library/updates/Resources/Resource_guides/FYE.htm 

Goodbyes with Affirmation Booklets:

At the end each semester students are given a Xeroxed “Affirmation Booklet.”  One quote appears on each page. 

Students sit in a circle while listening to a CD & eating snacks they have brought in as the final optional assignment. They write their names on the cover of their booklet. The booklet is then given to the person on their right & this person writes an affirming note to the student. The page is then flipped over & held secure with a paperclip. This continues until the book makes full circle.  Only the owner of the booklet is allowed to remove the paperclip to read all notes 

This is an EXCELLENT exercise right before giving out class evaluation forms.