Academia Stack Exchange
Academia Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [teaching]

This tag is related to the role and duties of a teacher, an academic instructor, tutor or a teaching assistant.

According to The Free Dictionary:

Teaching: the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill.

At various levels of education roles of a teacher varies, see for example the following Wikipedia pages about a Teacher and a Professor.

This tag is related to the role and duties of a teacher, an academic instructor, a tutor, or a teaching assistant.

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How to deal with a very weak student?

I am teaching an honors class for seniors (at a very good university, top 5 in my field). Most students are fantastic. They are very interested, they often surprise me with insights in class, and the class is very lively not because I am a…
Sana
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Is it reasonable for a professor to ask students to stay 30-45 minutes past scheduled class time every week?

I'm currently in a class in my major that meets for 50 minutes 3 times a week. Meanwhile, I'm a member of a campus club, unrelated to my major, which meets right after this class one day. My professor has decided that he should have the students…
user28375028
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None of 25 students at question session before exam has a question. What should lecturer do?

In a comment on another question Josef shared an anecdote. And just another anecdote: A few weeks ago, there was a question hour at the last lecture timeslot before the exam. About ~25 of more than 120 people taking the course where there. Nobody…
Džuris
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What to do if most of my students have switched to a better lecturer's class?

I teach a certain course which is part of the obligatory undergraduate curriculum. I teach two groups out of four; the other two groups are taught by two other lecturers. In one group I have about 20-30 students. The other group also started with…
Erel Segal-Halevi
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Techniques for good board handwriting

I'm a math TA and I find that my most consistent comment for improvement involved my board handwriting. Anybody have some tips or techniques I can use to make things a little neater on the board? There are, of course, time constraints with teaching…
walkar
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96
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How to quiet noisy undergrads students during lecture

I am teaching a class of about 100 undergraduates. The class meets for a three-hour block every week in a lecture hall which seats about 120. We have about 2-3 breaks every lecture, to give students time to buy food, go to the restroom, and also to…
I Like to Code
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How to tell an over-confident student they still have a lot to learn?

In one of my classes, I had a student who generally understood stuff faster than the others. In tutorials, he would ask a lot of questions, mostly of the kind "I tried this method instead of what you suggested, is it correct?" Now, this probably…
Ri49
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How to deal with a student who harasses the (inexperienced) teacher during class?

I am a young teacher at college. I have to go way too long, I know but I have the following problem. In one of my classes, I have this guy who pecks at me for everything I say. He is surely conceited, but it hurts like hell when he makes fun of me…
user20399
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How should I admit a teaching mistake without losing authority?

I made a small mistake while teaching a very simple concept. It was mainly a numerical mistake, and the essential parts of the concept were well illustrated. I want to admit my mistake and even though most students will receive it well, I fear to…
Ted
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9 answers

Misguided use of offensive figures in student presentations

I recently had an experience while overseeing student presentations in a course I am teaching. While the concrete situation could be handled without much ado due to some special circumstances, I thought the general problem interesting enough to ask…
nabla
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(How) can you teach a subject effectively for which you are a skeptic without biasing students?

I recently accepted a tenure-track position at a university and will be on a 1-1 load my first year. My first course I will teach, I will get to modify and alter based on my expertise. In my second semester, I am taking over a graduate course that…
JWH2006
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Encouraging questions during lectures yet handling particular student asking too many questions

I teach an advanced engineering undergrad class online and typically I love and encourage students to ask questions both by unmuting as well as over chat. I have never had this problem in earlier years, but this time around I have a student who asks…
curious_cat
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How to teach a class that I've never taken?

I have the opportunity to teach an undergraduate class in statistics. However, I've never taken statistics and the material and concepts are a little foreign to me. I'm concerned, as a graduate student, that it may take up a lot of my personal…
Paul
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Should teachers be entertainers?

I keep coming across general wisdom of the type, "A teacher has to be a clown". This attitude is gaining traction, e.g. as in this TED talk. This leaves me quite baffled. Thinking back to my own teachers, the ones I admire most and feel I learnt the…
wsaleem
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9 answers

As an instructor, how to use the first day of class?

I found some relevant advice on the first day of teaching online (e.g. here, here, here, and here). Common themes include setting expectations, motivating the course content, and having two-way interactions with students. Besides for reviewing the…
ff524
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