teaching portfoliosrnteach.us/portfolio/annual2011/srn_portfolio.pdf · 2011. 5. 31. · teaching...
TRANSCRIPT
TEACHING PORTFOLIOMAY 23, 2011
S u s a n R h o a d e s N e e l • t e l e p h o n e : 4 3 5 . 6 1 3 . 5 2 7 9 • e m a i l : s u s a n . n e e l @ u s u . e d u • w w w. s r n t e a c h . u s
Teaching Responsibilities! 1
College of Eastern Utah! 1
Utah State University-Eastern! 1
Teaching Philosophy and Methods! 2
Statement of Teaching Philosophy! 2
Teaching Methods! 2
Teaching with Technology! 5
Course Websites! 5
Classroom Presentations! 6
Blackboard! 7
Student Learning! 8
Curriculum Revisions and Teaching Improvements! 14
Course Websites! 14
Student Assignments! 14
Classroom Activities! 14
Goals for Improvement of Teaching! 16
Peer Review of Instruction! 16
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning! 16
Developing New Courses! 16
Appendix A: Sample Syllabi! 18
Appendix B: Student Evaluations! 19
Appendix C: Analysis of HIST 1700! 20S u s a n R h o a d e s N e e l! Te a c h i n g P o r t f o l i o
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Appendix D: “Taking it Digital”! 21
Appendix E: “Blended Civ”! 22
Appendix F: Student Essays! 23
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Teaching Responsibilities
College of Eastern Utah
My primary teaching responsibility has been the legislatively-mandated American insti-
tutions course, American Civilization (HIST 1700). I teach three or four sections of HIST
1700 each semester with 45 students in each section. This is a 3 credit hour one-
semester survey of U.S. history. In addition, I teach one section of the two-semester
survey of U.S. history for majors (HIST 2700.2710). Enrollment in this course is two to
five students.
Utah State University-Eastern
Beginning Fall semester 2011, my primary teaching responsibility will be USU 1300,
American Institutions, which will replace HIST 1700. I will continue to teach the HIST
2700-2710 sequence and begin teaching the second half of the World History sequence
(HIST 1510) as well as an upper division course in environmental history for RCDE.
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Teaching Philosophy and Methods
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”William Butler Yeats
My passion for teaching history is rooted in a fairly simple conviction—history mat-
ters. The study of history is valuable because it compels us to look beyond the familiar
and superficial. I want students to emerge from their engagement with history carrying
not only a good body of knowledge but also with a lingering curiosity about the human
experience. My goal as a teacher is to cultivate within students an enthusiasm for deep
thinking and hearty, healthy civic
discourse. Wherever they go,
whatever career they undertake, I want my students to have the skills and the lifelong
desire to engage the world around them, to think and question, to reason and care. Re-
gardless of what job a person has or aspires to, the ability to think critically and care-
fully and to communicate with clarity, intelligence, and compassion are vital to a suc-
cessful and fulfilling life and, not incidentally, to the democratic vibrancy of our nation.
Teaching Methods
I teach through a combination of classroom lecture, discussion, and active learning pro-
jects. In HIST 1700, for example, I present a lecture at nearly every class meeting, but
these lectures often include multimedia presentations and include a lot of traditional
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Final Impressions: “Neel is AWESOME!”
“call and response” in which I ask students to guess what comes next, offer possible ex-
planations for events and a vari-
ety of other short questions. Lec-
tures are tied to a series of active
learning projects in which students engage in research with materials I have prepared
for them online and then write short essays. Assessment is through a staged series of
assignments, practice quizzes, exams, and a concluding summary essay paper.
One of the particular challenges in designing a learner-centered history survey courses
is the need to cover vast amounts of material in a single semester, which can make it
difficult for students to en-
gage in in-depth examination
of issues or themes. My ap-
proach in HIST 1700 is to organize the course around a strong, single theme—the his-
tory of freedom—and examine it during four discrete time periods. This allows me to
divide the semester into four
coherent yet reasonably digesti-
ble units. Students take in in-
formation from a variety of
sources, but primarily through lectures and a textbook, and then are given the opportu-
nity to engage the material through a variety of graded tasks, including small weekly S u s a n R h o a d e s N e e l! Te a c h i n g P o r t f o l i o
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Room for improvement: “more moves
less lekers more pikturs”
Room for improvement: “Not spend too much
time on irrelevant facts.”
What I liked: “She was very organized
which provided an easy learning and un-
derstanding environment.”
projects, a larger project for each unit, a term project, and four exams. For examples of
how I implement these teaching methods, please visit the course websites at srnteach.us
or view the sample syllabi in Appendix A.
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Teaching with Technology
Each year, I further develop the integration of face-to-face with online instruction. I
believe that technology opens up new possibilities for me as an instructor by freeing up
my imagination with great digital tools. And I am convinced that digital delivery is an
advantage for my students who, regardless of their career goals, will be living and
working in an increasingly digital world. Getting comfortable with a digital environ-
ment in a college course will serve them in good stead as they move on.
Course Websites
I create websites for each course I teach and use this as an “interactive syllabus.” A tra-
ditional syllabus, outlining the
course learning objectives, re-
quirements, grading, and the
schedule of readings and lectures,
is provided in both an online and printable PDF version through the course website.
All of this information can also be accessed through the website. This redundancy is
especially valuable for beginning level college students. They can find answers to their
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In 2009 my use of technology in teaching was recognized by the Utah
State Board of Regents with an Award of Merit.
What I Liked: “All the stuff on the web-
site was great like the study guides and
movies.”
questions about requirements, due dates, and grading through multiple points of access
available 24/7. Using a course website expands the utility of a “syllabus” for students,
who can access the information whenever they need to. The website also provides stu-
dents access to detailed instructions about course requirements and study aids.
Classroom Presentations
I make extensive use of audio-visual materials in my courses, especially HIST 1700. I
prepare a Keynote slideshow for each lecture and then post a PDF version on the course
website. Many students print out the PDFs, bring them to class, and take lecture notes
directly onto the printed pages. My Keynotes are carefully designed to serve the needs
of students with diverse
skill sets and knowledge
base. I utilize a con-
scious graphic design,
with icons, fonts, and colors, to unify all the presentations, the course web site, and the
course Blackboard page. My goal is to embrace students in an instructional web so that
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I taught a workshop for College of Eastern Utah faculty on how to
design and prepare course websites using Dreamweaver.
What I Liked: “I like how she uses the power-
point & explains things in a way we can clearly
understand.”
they have a conscious sense of “being in class” regardless of the format being used at
that moment.
Blackboard
I use Blackboard extensively in HIST 1700. Students take four, open-book exams and I
allow a four-day window of opportunity in which each exam can be completed. This
reduces issues over missed exams and gives students some flexibility in scheduling.
Students can take the test
from any location at the
time of their choosing dur-
ing the window. This is extremely helpful to students involved in CEU- sponsored ac-
tivities, such as athletics. Blackboard makes this a realistic approach because it delivers
a random selection of questions from a large test bank to each student. Blackboard
scores the multiple-choice and matching questions, thus freeing my time to score the
short answer questions. With 100-150 students per semester, this is a very efficient way
for me to give multiple tests, which I find a better approach with beginning- level stu-
dents then a large midterm and final. Blackboard also allows me to automatically set
particular conditions, such as extended time, for disability students. Over the past sev-
eral years, I have moved more of the class activities to Blackboard. Students use Black-
board to turn in assignments and beginning this year they did course evaluations
through Blackboard as well.
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Final Impressions: “She should be awarded for
her teaching ability!”
Student Learning Students do best in survey history courses when they can “discover” the past them-
selves. As with most survey courses, there is a huge knowledge gap--students simply
do not know much or have wildly inaccurate knowledge--and much of the burden in
the course is to acquire basic
factual information. Yet this
alone is not adequate, either
for cultivating critical thinking skills or student engagement. With this in mind, I have
designed experiences for students that draw them into the process of discovering the
past for themselves. Below are screenshots of some student projects. For further dis-
cussion and examples of student projects, please visit my Professional Portfolio at
http://www.srnteach.us/portfolio/professionalPortfolio.html.
Civil War Letters
One of my goals is for students to understand the past from the perspective of the peo-
ple who lived in different historical contexts. Role playing is one effective method to
accomplish this. During the unit of HIST 1700 on the Civil War, students assume the
role of either a Northerner or Southerner and then write a set of letters to an imaginary
family member reacting to certain events during the war. To help stimulate their imagi-
nations, each student receives a set of daguerreotypes copied from the Library of Con-
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Final Impressions: “I never really did like
history. But she made it fun and not boring.”
gress. Students use the course website to conduct research and then complete the pro-
ject on Blackboard.
Altered Textbooks
I taught Women in American History one semester for a group of students who were
not history majors and did not have a background in the humanities. Since one of the
lessons I wanted students to take away from the class was that history had for a long
time been written only about
men; however, in recent years
historians had worked to put women back into history. To re-enforce this theme, I had
students prepare weekly learning journals in the form of an altered textbook. I gave S u s a n R h o a d e s N e e l! Te a c h i n g P o r t f o l i o
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Final Impressions: “I loved this class!!!”
each student an old textbook and a box of scrapbooking materials. Each week they “al-
tered” the textbook by writing their own impressions about reading and lectures, past-
ing in pictures and facsimile documents, and adding historic quotations.
History of Music and Food
I try to impress on my students that history can be about extraordinary people and
events but it also is about ordinary and simple things, too. One assignment in HIST
1700 is for students to study some aspect of the history of food in America or the history
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of music. Those students choosing food projects prepare historic recipe books (includ-
ing a brief essay) and bring some
relevant samples for a class presenta-
tion. The music students prepare a
CD and liner notes; they also make class presentations, so we can listen to historic music
while munching on “historic” goodies.
Pre/Post Knowledge Exercise
Since my HIST 1700 course is organized around a central theme, the history of freedom
in America, I use an “icebreaker” exercise at the beginning of the course that links stu-S u s a n R h o a d e s N e e l! Te a c h i n g P o r t f o l i o
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Room for Improvement: “Give more
cookies & candy in class.”
dent learning to a final essay. I had out boxes of historic images and facsimile docu-
ments to teams of students. As students paw through the boxes, I ask them to quickly
think of three words that define America. They write these on a card. Inevitably, most
students write “freedom” or “democracy.” I ask the students if they think the subject of
freedom would be a good focus for the course. They usually agree.
Then I ask them to turn their
cards over and quickly write
down three things that
mean “freedom” to them.
As students read these aloud, I ask if they think people from America’s past would pick
the same things. We have a good discussion about how “freedom,” like “love,” can be a
complex concept and that it’s meaning has changed over time. I tell students at this first
class meeting that their final assignment will be to write an essay about the changing
meanings freedom and that the goal of the course is for them to be able to do more than
quickly write down three things. Many students begin their final essays by saying that
at the beginning of the course they hadn’t given the idea of freedom much thought and
it was hard to come up with even three bullet points, but now they understood it much
better. This has proved an effective way to introduce students to the process of learning
and for them to reflect back on how much they have accomplished over the semester.
(See Appendix F for examples of student final essays.)
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What I Liked: “It was fun to learn from such an
enthusiastic teacher who obviously loves the
subject she teaches.”
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Curriculum Revisions and Teaching Improvements
Course Websites
I update and improve my course websites every semester, adding more study aids,
more detailed instructions for assignments, and other materials.
Student Assignments
I have moved all student assignments to Blackboard. I have moved from doing group
projects in HIST 1700 to individual projects. Group projects, while interesting to many
students, proved problematic because of poor attendance and high student drop out
rate. This meant that in some groups a few students carried the burden of the work,
while others disappeared or didn’t contribute. Students complained bitterly about the
unfairness of this, so I discontinued group projects. Instead I instituted individual pro-
jects for each unit of the course that students can complete online. I developed websites
for each project where students can find detailed instructions, and a host of research
materials.
Classroom Activities
In the past I had students complete a brief weekly project. Many students simply did
not turn them in and I found a high rate of plagiarism. So beginning last fall, I decided
to do most of these projects during class. I hoped this would increase student engage-
ment and improve student success in HIST 1700. The Vice Chancellor provided money
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to purchase six netbooks so that I could divide students into study teams and have them
conduct online research during class.
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Goals for Improvement of Teaching
Peer Review of Instruction
The College of Eastern Utah has not had a viable system for peer review of instruction.
My goal is to have a formal peer review of my instruction within the next year.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
I have begun to disseminate some of the lessons I have learned over the past five years
teaching HIST 1700. This past year I presented a paper entitled, “Blended Civ: Integrat-
ing Blackboard and the Web to Teach American Civilization,” at the Southwest Technol-
ogy Conference and a paper entitled, “Taking It Digital: Online Engaged Learning Ac-
tivities in the U.S. History Survey,” at the Technology, Community, and College World-
wide Online Conference. These papers were accepted through a peer review process
(See Appendices D and E for copies of these papers). I plan to present a draft of a paper
entitled, “Teaching: Scholarship or Practice?” at the Utah State University Regional
Campus and Distance Education Teaching and Learning Journal Club later this sum-
mer.
Developing New Courses
As a result of the merger of Utah State University with the College of Eastern Utah, my
teaching assignment has changed and my primary goal for the next few years is to de-
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sign and teach these new courses. These new courses are USU 1300 (American Institu-
tions), HIST 1510 (The Modern World), and HIST 3950 (Environmental History).
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Appendix A: Sample Syllabi
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Appendix B: Student Evaluations
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Appendix C: Analysis of HIST 1700
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Appendix D: “Taking it Digital”
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Appendix E: “Blended Civ”
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Appendix F: Student Essays
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