As the semester is winding down, the projects, papers, and other assignments are ramping up.\u00a0 Students say they have more happening now than they have had over the course of the semester.\u00a0 So how do we make sure to support their learning and help them to not burn out?\u00a0 Providing opportunities for students to reflect on all that they have learned, are currently learning, and hope to continue learning will reinforce their knowledge and support their desire to learn more.<\/p>\n
As professors, we feel that one more assignment isn\u2019t going to put them over the edge.\u00a0 However, many students feel that one more assignment is just another box to check before their vacation begins.\u00a0 How can we make sure that our end-of-semester assignments are accurate reflections of the students\u2019 abilities? \u00a0In his book McKeachie\u2019s Teaching Tips,<\/em> Wilbert McKeachie collaborates with others to provide tips to teachers.\u00a0 In the chapter \u201cHelping Students Become Test-Wise,\u201d McKeachie says, \u201cStudents construct their own knowledge based on their individual past experiences and their experiences in their course\u201d (2006, p. 111).\u00a0 By providing experiences where students can share and show what they have learned, we build ways for them to make their learning meaningful.\u00a0 This can happen in various ways, whether traditionally or nontraditionally.<\/p>\n Various activities include movie trailers, a quiz show, tests (professor or student created), papers, event maps, and more.\u00a0 However you decide to end the semester, allow the students time to reflect on their experiences and what they\u2019ve learned this semester.\u00a0 Give them time to contemplate what they think is most helpful to remember from your course.\u00a0 What skills or experiences do they find valuable and beneficial? What have they learned that they hope to apply to other learning experiences?\u00a0 Ending the course on a positive note will help the students feel accomplished with the course and everything they have learned from you.\u00a0 Have a wonderful last full week of the semester!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n McKeachie, W.J. (2006). McKeachie\u2019s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for <\/em><\/p>\n college and university teachers <\/em>(12th<\/sup> ed.). <\/em>\u00a0Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the semester is winding down, the projects, papers, and other assignments are ramping up.\u00a0 Students say they have more happening now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5DI6r-rb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1685\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.principia.edu\/teaching-excellence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}