Category: Faculty Wellness & Preparedness

Linda Hasunuma, Ph.D.

What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?

A culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy provides opportunities for students’ own family experiences, cultural heritage, intersectional identities, and unique lived experiences to be sources of strength and knowledge in their learning experiences. Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) developed the concept of culturally relevant pedagogy to show how educators can help close racial disparities in educational outcomes. One of her key insights was shifting from deficit- to asset-based models to draw upon the different lived experiences of minority students.

Culturally responsive teaching practices value students’ personal experiences and cultural backgrounds as strengths and assets (Gay, 2018, p.32). Building on Ladson-Billings’ work, Geneva Gay finds that teaching practices that give ethnically diverse students learning experiences that are more relevant to their lives, deepens their engagement and learning (Gay, 2010). These practices help create learning experiences that are more affirming, validating, and representative of the lives of students. Culturally responsive teaching also involves examining ourselves as educators for our own cultural biases, the class climate, the nature of relationships with other students and the instructor, and the course content.  

Why It Matters

Attempting to understand other cultures, particularly those at play in the lives of your students, prepares teachers to be alert to the differences at work in classrooms and to respond with care and empathy. For example, how many religious observances require fasting which might impact the performance of some of your students? Beyond making appropriate accommodations for religious holidays, culturally responsive teaching recognizes that the ways students interact with adults and authority figures, what constitutes appropriate gaze or eye contact, vary across cultures. Consider the simple act of speaking up in class – teachers grading students on participation need to consider the possibility that interjecting or volunteering one’s opinion will come more easily to some than others based on culturally learned habits.

These teaching approaches are relevant and more necessary than ever because of the well-documented change in undergraduate demographics. According to a new report by the American Council on Education, Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education: A Status Report, students of color made up just 29.6 percent of the undergraduate student population in 1996, increasing to 45.2 percent in 2016. The greatest increase was in Hispanic and Asian students. And this change is not going away: the National Center for Education Statistics says that students from ethnic minority groups make up 50% of the pre-K-12 population, our future college students (Pew 2019).

How to Be A More Culturally Responsive Educator

Culturally relevant pedagogy helps teachers nourish a student’s sense of belonging which are critical for motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. Who your students think they are matters, so why not ask them? A simple pre-course survey can invite students to share more about their backgrounds and provide a pathway to a one-on-one conversation.

Another way consists of thinking about your syllabus as a message as well as a roadmap. What message does it send to students of different cultural backgrounds? How do your course content, activities, assessments, and policies reflect an asset-based understanding of the diversity of your students? As you think about your syllabus and course design, consider going through these exercises, adopted from Jenny Muniz’s Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Reflection Guide:

• Reflect on One’s Cultural Lens  – How does your identity and your students’ identities shape your values and perspectives?
• Recognize and Redress Bias in the System  – Do your course content and policies address bias at the individual and systemic levels?
• Draw on Students’ Culture to Shape Curriculum and Instruction – Do your assignments allow your students to see themselves and others? Do you evaluate your materials for historical accuracy, cultural relevance, and multiple perspectives?
• Bring Real World Issues into the Classroom – Is your course content relevant to your students’ lives and communities?
• Model High Expectations for All Students – Be aware of negative stereotypes and how and to whom you communicate your expectations.
• Promote Respect for Student Differences  – Is your learning environment safe, affirming, respectful and inclusive of all students?
• Communicate in Linguistically and Culturally Responsive Ways – Reflect on your verbal and nonverbal communication, reduce communication barriers, and be respectful of other communication norms in the cultures your students come from.

If you would like to learn more about how you can apply these frameworks in your own classes, we invite you to set up a consultation with a Faculty Developer at the CAT.

References:

Gay, Geneva. Culturally Responsive Teaching : Theory, Research, and Practice. 2nd ed. Multicultural Education Series (New York, N.Y.). New York: Teachers College, 2010.

Ladson-Billings, Gloria. “But That’s Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” Theory Into Practice, 34, no. 3 (1995).

Muniz, Jenny. Culturally Responsive Teaching. New America. Washington, DC 2018.

https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/culturally-responsive-teaching/

Linda Hasunuma is Assistant Director of Temple’s Center for the Advancment of Teaching.

Kyle Vitale & Jeff Rients

The CAT would like to share some classroom strategies that instructors can adopt to support student mental and physical health. These strategies revolve around four central pillars adapted from Rebecca Pope-Ruark that can help prevent burnout and energize students: Purpose, Compassion, Connection, and Balance. We invite you to peruse the strategies below and consider what approaches you might adopt now or start preparing to implement as we move forward in the semester.

Purpose

So what? As the semester wears on and the number of assignments due grows across all their classes, students will begin to ask themselves “why should I give a damn?” Consider recording a video or speak to your students during synchronous sessions in ways that recontextualize the course and class activities and articulate their short and long-term value. Or, build an activity where students tease out why what they’re learning is of value to their personal and professional lives, or to the society in which they live.

Revisit course goals. Remind students of your course goals, i.e., you will be able to do all these awesome things by the end of the semester, and here’s how doing them will help you for the rest of your lives. Reconnect what they’re learning to the course goals you outlined at the start of the semester and note which ones the students have already achieved.

Compassion

Check in with students. Mid-semester is a good time to check on how your students are doing. Ask them to do a short- write activity where they answer simple prompts like “How are you doing?” or “What help do you need?” Follow up with individual students who report struggles.

Anonymous and informal channels. Anonymous and informal channels can support students who feel pressure about speaking with instructors, or who have sensitive information to share. Zoom or Canvas offer anonymous response features if you’d like to collect feedback about particular assignments or the course. Additionally, you can provide opportunities for informal chats with you by arriving early to your Zoom course or staying after. Also, remind students regularly about your office hours and warmly invite them to visit.

Campus resources. Review the resources we have on campus for students who may be struggling academically, emotionally, and physically, and help students connect to those resources.

Guidelines for discourse. Help students create guidelines for civil discourse in your class or revisit them if you have already been using a set of guidelines. Remind them that these guidelines exist so you can learn together, making room for all voices in the room while finding productive ways to discuss difficult topics.

Connection

Create community. Build new and existing bonds among your students by making space for them to share interesting or unexpected parts of their lives outside of class.You can participate as well.

Share your own experiences with learning. Where did you struggle in your courses when you were a student? Share how you overcame your own struggles in learning so students understand its value in the learning process.

Record a mid-course re-introduction. This would look a lot like your initial introductory video for the course, but in it you would celebrate how far your students have come and outline your vision for the rest of the semester.

Ice-breaker activities. We usually use these at the start of the semester, but a fun activity that encourages social interaction can support the wellbeing of students any time of the year, and help deepen the exciting community you have all been developing.

Balance

Be alert. We know the midterm season can be stressful for students; how much more so with the additional daily effects of Zoom fatigue, isolation, and COVID-19? Be on the lookout for tell-tale signs of student burnout and withdrawal like uncharacteristic silence or lower energy. Ask students, privately, how they’re faring, and know the campus resources that may help.

Be wary of busy work. Ensure that you regularly explain to students the purposes for your assignments. Small, formative assessments are highly valuable; at the same time, revisit your assignments and ensure they are streamlined, remain relevant and aligned with course material, and leave enough time for effective grading and revisions as expected.

Be flexible with due dates. Due dates matter and teach self-regulation; at the same time, pandemic life calls for even more grace than may be typical. Approach late assignments by assessing student well-being to the best of your ability, offering extensions if helpful, and asking how you can further support them.

Revise towards flexibility. Revisit your course policies and workload. Are there places where you can build in choice and flexibility without lowering your standards? Students might choose from an array of possible final projects, or appreciate some shifted deadlines.

Please don’t try these suggestions all at once! You as the instructor are best qualified to judge which of these options will do the most good in your class. Whatever route you take to help the students find renewed purpose, experience compassion, reconnect with each other, and/or find their balance will help sustain them through the second half of the course. As always, the CAT is here to help if you want to talk through how these options might manifest in your class. Schedule a consultation or reach out to us at cat@temple.edu<. The Wellness Resource Center also offers a variety of services and opportunities to support student mental and physical health.

Wellness week is about you, too! Stay tuned for our faculty wellness tips coming soon!

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Kyle Vitale, Ph.D. is the Associate Director at the Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Jeff Rients, Ph.D. is the Senior Teaching and Learning Specialist at the Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Abha Belorkar and Laurie Friedman

As the fall semester begins, we wanted to share how Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) has impacted our teaching and learning, creating a space that fosters relationships among faculty across campus in our common goal of Temple’s mission: to educate a vibrant student body and create new knowledge through innovative teaching, research and other creative endeavors. Despite coming from different disciplines (math and social work) and having different levels of experience teaching (1 year and 1 decade), CAT’s diversity of programs affords us the opportunity to pick and choose how, and how often, we want to engage. 

Abha: Coming from a family composed mostly of teachers, I was fascinated from an early age by the positive impact of good teaching. Later, the opportunities to informally tutor my colleagues during undergraduate and graduate studies strengthened my desire to pursue a career in teaching. However, the guiding force in shaping my motivation for teaching came from the relationships I fortuitously formed with some teachers who have completely dedicated themselves to the art and science of teaching. I still did not have any formal teaching experience before I joined Temple, so there was (and is!) a lot of learning to be done.

Laurie: I had thought of pursuing a PhD since a professor had mentioned it to me my first year in graduate school, but wasn’t sure what I would focus on. Seven years later, I was supervising staff and facilitating trainings at a nonprofit and found I really enjoyed staff development and the relationships I formed with others. One of my employees encouraged me to guest speak in her class and afterwards, the professor encouraged me to think about teaching. At the same time, I was increasingly interested in studying our foster care system. Thus began my journey as an adjunct at Temple, coupled with doctoral education, to my current role as an associate professor of instruction. 

An Overview of CAT

Wright, Lohe and Little (2018) describe the different models of Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL) that assist them in meeting their common goals of providing programs and services related to pedagogy. Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) falls within what is termed as the pedagogical/technological or distance education model. In this model, CAT is staffed by instructional designers, faculty consultants and educational specialists who jointly work towards their mission of fostering “evidence-based teaching so students learn, develop, and succeed.” 

On January 1, 2016,  the Instructional Support Center and the Teaching and Learning Center merged to form the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, formalizing the intricate connection between teaching and technology. Temple’s CAT also functions as a  hub “of pedagogical innovation, influenced by but not dependent on flashy digital technology,” as described by Lieberman (2018) who notes a national trend towards teaching centers serving to strengthen the relationships across university units. Temple’s CAT does just this, collaborating across the University’s 17 Schools and Colleges, the Digital Education Department, Wellness Resource Center, Disability Resources and Services Center, Tuttleman Counseling Services and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership.

 The 2018-2019 annual report notes that CAT reached faculty across Temple’s seven campuses with 940 faculty consultations. Faculty consultations offer personalized support, feedback, and encouragement to the faculty members. During the consultations, advisors collaborate with individual instructors to achieve their specific goals — they provide a fresh and independent perspective by drawing on their vast interdisciplinary knowledge and experience of pedagogical best practices, and by acting as active partners in brainstorming ideas for refinement of course objectives, assessments, as well as teaching and learning activities. The consultations also provide a highly effective means to interpret and discuss student feedback with a view to induce higher student engagement and performance as well as increased instructor satisfaction (Cook & Kaplan, 2011). It is especially noteworthy that all CAT consultations are strictly confidential conversations between the faculty and the advisors.

In the same academic year (2018-2019), 90 Teaching in Higher Education Certificates were issued by CAT and over 55 programs offered across a variety of subjects. 1,284 individuals visited exactly once and 1,446 individuals visited more than once, exemplifying the flexibility in choosing how often to engage in CAT’s program. An additional 350 individuals attended the Center’s regional two day conference on teaching excellence. 

Figure: Whatever be the level and type of interaction of faculty with CAT, there are opportunities to experience substantial growth and development.

How we engaged with CAT

Abha: It was during my interview process at CIS Temple that I first got to know of the Center for Advancement of Teaching and the programs and facilities it offers. The presence of these resources on campus has been an encouraging factor in my teaching journey.

The first resource I made use of was the teaching consultations. They have been a great platform to think aloud about my teaching. What I especially like about the idea of a consultation is how little of the instructor’s time it takes. The idea that one can get such personalized and meaningful feedback by simply investing an hour out of one’s schedule is exciting. It has also been really interesting to get insights and suggestions from more experienced faculty members who have very different approaches to teaching and advising and are helpful in their own unique ways.

This summer I completed the Teaching in Higher Education Certificate offered by CAT. It has been quite an instructive experience being introduced to the wide array of tools and techniques that teachers across the globe have been using for designing strong course objectives, interactive lectures, summative and formative assessments, feedback mechanisms, community-building activities, active and blended learning approaches, and so much more. An equally valuable factor in the program is the rich conversations that take place between an interdisciplinary community of teachers all of whom are committed to improving their teaching and creating more substantial and welcoming classroom experiences for their students.

Laurie: As an adjunct, I first engaged with CAT when I met with a faculty fellow who reviewed my SFFs and conducted a teaching observation to help me fulfill Bryn Mawr’s Teaching in Higher Ed Certificate requirements. I subsequently attended workshops, participated in faculty learning communities (i.e. Teaching Online) and book groups, and the Provost’s Teaching Academy. Last year, I had the privilege to join Temple as a faculty fellow, which led me to more opportunities to collaborate with CAT’s staff. In this role, I facilitated a book group related to online teaching, met with faculty for consultations and collated additional resources for their website. I also taught two sections of the Innovation, Technology, and Teaching in Higher Education, as part of their Teaching in Higher Education certificate. In fact, this is how Abha and I reunited this summer from our initial meeting in the fall semester during a consultation! Our subsequent conversations revealed the shared meaning CAT held for us in our roles at Temple.

Abha Belorkar is Assistant Professor at the College of Science and Technology: Computer and Information Sciences. Laurie Friedman is Associate Professor as well as Coordinator of Continuing Education and Professional Development for Temple’s School of Social Work. She also serves as Faculty Fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Teaching. 

It has been a difficult challenge for faculty to convert their face-to-face courses to online instruction and begin preparing for a reality unlike any that have faced. An added burden is that faculty are doing so at a time of such strife, with a pandemic prompting an unprecedented global lockdown, and heightened frustration over injustice. The past few months have left many feeling anxious, stressed, and exhausted. As we look forward to the fall, here are four ways to cope:

1. Take care of yourself

You’ll know best what self-care looks like for you, but there are some steps that will benefit anyone. Get enough sleep. Make an effort to eat healthily. Go for walks, if you can find a route without too many other people. Take some time away from your laptop and phone (read a book, call a friend, meditate, bake something!); it’s important to unplug when you can.

2. Reach out to a colleague

One thing lost when campus closed has been regular contact with colleagues. Teaching can be lonely work in the best of times; it is really hard in isolation. A sense of community can help keep you afloat. Make the effort to get in touch with a fellow faculty member, see how they’re doing, and compare notes on how you’re weathering the crisis. 

3. Set clear work limits.

Remember to separate your work life from your personal life. End your day when you normally would. Don’t answer emails all day and night. Think about setting up a particular space in which to work and then walk away from it to play with the kids, walk the dog, or just kick back with Netflix. Working remotely does not mean working all the time!

4. Check in on your students.

It’s a good bet that your students may be feeling disconnected and worn-out too. Even a single email that expresses care for your students, and asks them how they’re doing, can signal to them that they’re not alone. Think about being flexible and responsive to their needs in whatever ways are possible. Show students that you care about them and that you understand that this disruption might have sent them for a loop.
 

Deborah Cai

Deborah Cai, Senior Associate Dean and Professor at the Lew Klein School of Media and Communications, shared this message with us. The original version was sent to the chairs and senior staff at Klein, but we thought it was so compelling that we asked her if we could use it for this blog post. Thanks to Deb for allowing us to share, and thanks to all those at Temple like her who are so thoughtful about the current situation.

I have spoken with a number of students over the past several days to see how they are doing. All of the students – from highly motivated to average – talked about being overwhelmed with the transition to online learning, to living with family members (who also need to use the computer and internet). Several students have had family members or friends either hospitalized or die from the virus. One student is home with her family of four; she is the only one who still has a job. Another just made it back to his home in another state from Philly just a few days ago—his parents had been traveling and he didn’t really have anywhere to go or a way to get there. Another said she can only get internet in a park down the street from her house (I sent her the link about Comcast offering free internet to low income students). And most of the students have five classes to manage—not just one or two. I’m sure you are hearing similar stories from your own students.

When I looked at my gradebook over the weekend, it seemed 13 students (out of 60) had not been turning in assignments. I wrote to those students. Over the next three days I heard from (or met with during virtual office hours) all of those students, every one of them grateful for someone checking on their welfare and every one of them talking about how difficult the transition has been. Some are getting back on their feet, others are figuring out which courses they should drop because they can’t keep up. But every one of the students talked about their struggle of having fallen way behind across their courses.

I want to share with you some of their concerns, which I hope you will pass on to your faculty:

1. In the transition to online learning, some faculty have replaced substantive content with busywork assignments. The students expressed frustration because the increase in assignments has made time management even more difficult, especially when this increase in assignments is happening across three or four courses.
2. Further, students said they feel like they are not learning anything from these busywork tasks. Several students said they are now doing more work, but they are learning less in some of their courses. One student commented that, out of five courses, he is only still learning substantive material in two. He did say those other three were classes mostly outside of their major—but not completely.
3. The students really appreciated when faculty members have been flexible about when assignments are due, allowing for late submissions, and focusing more on whether the work gets done than meeting a hard deadline. Some of the students are scrambling to now catch up after a rough couple of weeks moving to online courses. They are especially appreciative when faculty extend deadlines without penalty and when their instructors have worked with them to find ways to help them catch up.
4. Several students said that some faculty members are very slow to respond to emails, at a time when hearing from their instructors is more meaningful than ever. In a time of uncertainty and isolation, they asked if faculty could be urged to be responsive on email.
5. Like most of you, I’m holding virtual office hours for my students. At first, two students came. Then three. And this week seven. Just to chat. Just happy to connect. Several have lamented losing the energy and motivation and encouragement they get from being in a classroom setting, hearing lectures by professors passionate about their subject, interacting with faculty and students regularly in the hall.

As we all know, right now is a tough time for many of our students. A focus on learning and on social support is more important than hours of work or deadlines right now.

Please be active in checking on whether each student is still active in their classes. While there are many students who have been active in virtual class engagement, there are also many students that have gone missing in action all together. The University has encouraged us to reach out to those students to make sure they are safe and not at risk. If you do not hear back from specific students after several attempts, please inform your chair and/or dean right away who those students are. Temple has a process in place for reaching out to them, and we would want to employ that process right away.

I want to add that, with all of the supposition that online learning will take over in the future because of the current transition to online due to the virus, talking to students paints a very different picture. The students I’ve been talking to said they are energized by the classroom, by being on campus, by being around others who are excited and motivated to learn and to teach. They can hardly wait to get back.

[Editor’s Note: If you have students missing in action, even after you have tried reaching out, or you are aware of students who are facing an immediate crisis, please contact the CARE Team. Instructors in need of assistance teaching online can schedule a consultation appointment with a member of the CAT team.]

Send us your Stories from the Online Teaching Trenches. We would love to hear about your experiences. Stories can be sent to cat@temple.edu.

Stephanie Fiore

[The following article first appeared in volume 50 of the Temple University Faculty Herald.]

What a wild ride the past weeks have been! The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) was in the middle of providing support to Temple Japan and Temple Rome to move their instruction online when the call came from the Provost’s office with a simple message: “Get ready for main campus!” I’ll admit I didn’t sleep well that night, anticipating already the enormity of the task ahead, the challenges that our faculty and our team would face, and the very real responsibility to make sure we could provide an education for our students. Subsequent participation in university-wide committees tasked with making what seemed almost impossible actually happen introduced me to all of those people on the front lines responsible for health, student services, information technology, emergency management, human resources, communications, and so much more. Our university is a complex ecosystem and the number of decisions to be made on a daily basis were (and are) staggering.

But at the heart of this effort is academic continuity, and that means you, our faculty colleagues, who had to shift to an online learning environment in just a few weeks time. By extension, that meant us, the CAT team of 13 faculty developers, educational technology specialists, and operations experts, whose job it would be to guide that process and lend support. I am daily amazed at the genius, resilience, and patience of the CAT staff during this crisis. In one week’s time, we created the REMOTE: Resources for Emergency Online Teaching website, developed and launched workshops and webinars to assist faculty in thinking about how to teach online and how to accomplish their classroom tasks – such as discussion, lecture, and assessment – online, trained faculty on ed tech tools such as Zoom and Voicethread, and began an email campaign to direct faculty to resources and to push out even more advice and guidance on a regular basis. We also scheduled our staff so that they would be available for consultations with faculty from 8:00am until 10:00pm every weekday and from 10:00am until 2:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays. We went out to schools and colleges, as needed, to consult with groups of faculty challenged with teaching in special contexts. We joined Tyler faculty in thinking about how to conduct studio teaching online, CST faculty in deciding which assessments would work best online, Boyer faculty in brainstorming ways to teach music and dance online, Engineering to figure out how to allow students to complete their capstone projects, and so much more. We hoped that this suite of services would sustain, encourage, and support faculty to make the move to online teaching, support them when they felt worried and incapable of achieving this, and reassure them that they were doing everything they could. It might not be perfect online teaching, but it would do the trick.

Through all of this, we have seen remarkable creativity, thoughtfulness, and effort on the part of our faculty. From the faculty who never use technology in their classes and so had to learn from the ground up, to the faculty who figured out how to teach ceramics, labs, media production, or acting online, to the ones who had to figure out what to do about students in field experiences or student teaching assignments, faculty have shown their dedication to student learning, their own ability to learn and grow, and their true grit. I am astounded at what I have seen and so incredibly proud. You have made this happen, my friends, and you should pat yourselves on your exhausted backs.

As we move towards the Summer I online classes, we’ll be partnering with the Office of Digital Education (ODE) to provide Canvas course templates and other tools to give you a leg up in designing online courses from scratch. And, of course, the CAT will be here with even more information, training, and support as you take on this new task. Designing an online course in its entirety will give us a chance to take a moment to think about what worked and didn’t in this emergency situation and pivot accordingly. As always, the CAT will be there to help you pivot. Look for new webinars in April on designing and delivering an online course.

Thank you again for all of the hard work you have done to complete this semester. As you continue this unprecedented journey, think about joining us for a casual check-in session every Friday at noon Around the Virtual Faculty Water Cooler: Sharing Our Experiences with Online Teaching. I have met so many of you in these past weeks, and hope to meet the rest of you at the (virtual) CAT.

Stephanie Fiore is Assistant Vice Provost of Temple University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Jeff Rients, Center for the Advancement of Teaching

As educators, many of us want our students to become more nuanced, reflective thinkers, but we do not always take the time necessary to apply the same standard to our teaching. Improving your classroom practice isn’t always about finding the right technological tool or incorporating the latest pedagogical fad. Deeper, more meaningful change often originates from within.

Writing about your teaching is perhaps the single most powerful first step you can take on the road to becoming the kind of instructor you wish to be. Documenting your thoughts, feelings, and observations can help you to better understand what is happening in your classroom as well as provide a solid baseline for introducing changes in your practice. Having a single place for this writing (like a journal or word document you regularly update) makes it easier to view the big picture of your growth as an educator.

Getting Started

Although the first week of a new semester seems like the right time to begin a new teaching journal, in reality there is no better time to begin than today. Is it the middle of the semester? Make your first entry an overview of what has happened so far. Are you beginning your journal during the summer or winter break? Begin by brainstorming some ideas you’d like to try in the upcoming semester. The end of the semester is a great time to start, as you can begin by looking back on what has just happened in your courses and make some notes towards future improvements. Whatever point in the year it is, just do yourself a favor and start writing.

Practical Considerations

Before you begin your journal, here are a few things to consider.

Who?

As you write, try to keep in mind that your goal is to help you become a better instructor. Resist the urge to waste ink bewailing bad student behaviour or intractable administrators. Focus whenever possible on your own behaviors and how you can improve them. That’s what you have the most power to change in the classroom.

What?

When you journal, you can write about whatever you want, but try to focus on three things. 1) What worked in the classroom that you’d like to do again. Make sure you’re specific enough that you can reproduce it in the future. 2) What didn’t work out the way you wanted. Write about what you think went needs improvement. 3) What didn’t work that you think should be cut from your future practice. Write to yourself why you are abandoning this practice. In all three cases, you want to be able to go back years from now and understand what happened and what your thoughts were at the time.

When?

Ideally, we’d all have the time to write a lengthy journal entry after every class meeting, but many of us live such hurried lives that one substantial journal entry a week is more practical. Block the time out in your calendar/planner and commit to it. Journaling isn’t a frivolity; you’re making a concerted effort to become a better you! Surely, that’s worth at least 30 minutes out of your week.

Where?

This question covers both where you are writing and where your writing goes–that is, what you will write in. The location where you write matters; you need a place where you can concentrate, whether it be your office or your favorite cafe. The place where you put your writing needs to be convenient for updating, storage, and retrieval. That could mean a fancy blank journal from a stationery store, an ordinary composition notebook, a word processor file, or even a public-facing blog. Choose the venue that you find most welcoming, that makes it easiest for you to engage your own thoughts.

How?

For many people, starting can be the hardest part of journaling. The desire to write something both deeply insightful and grammatically perfect results in nothing but writer’s block. Give yourself permission to be an imperfect writer! No one is evaluating this writing and no one needs to be able to understand what is written but you.

Why?

Although the simple act of writing about your classroom experiences can help you feel more in control of the situation, remember that the main purpose of your teaching journal is to provide you with a record that you can consult at a later date. Go back and reread at least some of your journal entries a couple of times a year, particularly at the start of a semester, or when (re)designing a course. 

Final Thoughts

Most entries in your teaching journal should arise out of your experiences in the classroom, but don’t hesitate to add other things that are relevant, such as feedback received from classroom observations, thoughts generated after reviewing end-of-the-semester student evaluations, or notes taken at a professional development workshop. If reviewing it could help you think and grow as an instructor, there’s room for it in your teaching journal.

Resources

• Brookfield, Stephen D. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. Jossey-Bass, 1995.
• Stevens, Dannelle D. and Joanne E. Cooper. Journal Keeping: How to Use Reflective Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight, and Positive Change. Stylus, 2009.

Jeff Rients is Senior Teaching & Learning Specialist at Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Image by Aliko Sunawang from Pixabay