Events
- Annual Convention
- Great Teaching Round-up
- Leading from the middle
- fall conference for faculty leaders
- The Texas Network
"I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision."
Events: Annual Convention 2009
Great Ideas For Teaching Students (GIFTS) Seminars
Friday, February 20, 8:00–9:15 a.m.
The Professional Development Committee has arranged for a number of the highly popular "GIFTS" sessions to be held at the TCCTA convention in Austin. These brief programs offer specific ideas for teaching and are designed to be of practical use to educators in all disciplines.
Each session will last approximately 10 minutes, allowing participants to sample a variety of useful teaching techniques.
Coordinator of the GIFTS Sessions is Laurie Passmore, Lone Star College System.
"Active Learning Strategies for Any Classroom"
Presenter: Lee Grimes, South Texas College
Are you looking for some quick activities that will engage your students without taking up too much class time? Then this session is for you! We will cover the Body Sort, Take a Stand, Good News, Not on Your Resume, Relaxation Techniques and more!
"Because I Said So"
Presenter: Alan Barnes, Tyler Junior College
What are we teaching, how are we teaching, and why are we teaching it? This GIFT will explore how we go about making decisions with people who are important in our lives.
"Connecting with Students to Connect Students to the World: Tips for Teaching Writing"
Presenter: Mitchel Burchfield, Southwest Texas Junior College
The presenters will share classroom tested strategies for engaging students in the writing process. A set of sequenced writing activities that begin by asking students to write about themselves and then move outward to subjects beyond the self will be shared with participants. The writing activities include of a combination of ungraded journal writing as well as graded essay writing. Examples of journal writing prompts that connect with specific writing assignments will be presented.
"Eating on the Run"
Presenter: Karin Carlson, Odessa College
Too busy to fuel your body for energy? Is it more convenient to eat fast foods? Participate in selecting the right foods for the fast paced lifestyle of an educator. Simple and realistic tips on how to keep your body and mind alert.
"Graphic Organizers to Promote Student Interaction: Poetry Wheel and Short Story Square"
Presenter: Susan McKnight, Tarrant County Community College - Northwest
Designed for English 1302, these are interactive exercises in which students read and respond individually to a piece of literature before class, then discuss and compare responses in class. Because each student brings one completed response, everyone has observations to share. Students learn that readers may respond to a single work of literature in multiple ways. Consequently, each may have something different to contribute to discussion. While they may not always agree on their interpretation, together students will build a body of evidence based on the text. Their small group discussion promotes understanding of the particular poem or short story, preparation for a written literary analysis, and realization that in reading literature, meaning resides in interaction between the text and an individual reader's experiences/values. Although the "poetry wheel" and "short story square" are most appropriate in English composition classes, these graphic organizers are adaptable to a wide variety of topics and disciplines.
"Heroic Quest Exercise"
Presenter: LeeAnn Olivier, Tarrant County Community College - Northwest
This interactive GIFT works well as a creative writing assignment or a narrative assignment in a composition class. It is also useful when exploring stories about heroic quests in literature.
"I Remember Now!"
Presenter: Ken Luke, Tyler Junior College
This GIFT details an assignment that allows students to demonstrate how well they have learned material and understand concepts in a 5 page paper that requires them to integrate information instead of repeating information and then forgetting it.
"Oh! Those Millennials!"
Presenters: Manoucher Khosrowshahi, Tyler Junior College
This GIFT will offer tips on how to reach and teach these Digital Natives with Web 2.0.
"Quick and Easy Podcasting"
Presenters: Christine Hubbard, Tarrant County Community College - Northwest
If you've been thinking about posting audio podcasts for your students but thought it would take too much time or be too difficult, this session is for you. Using an iPod Nano and an inexpensive microphone, you can tape yourself as you lecture, edit your lectures with Audacity, a free software program, and post them in your online classrooms, email them to students, or host them on a podcasting website. Don't wait another semester to learn this easy and effective way to enrich your students' learning experience!
"Take Notes!"
Presenter: Cindy Gaddis, Tyler Junior College
This GIFT will demonstrate a system of notes given to students that contain examples to be used in upcoming classes. The notes help students learn the importance of note taking and help them improve their test performance.
"The Gift of Teaching Organizational Skills"
Presenter: Marsha Heaton, Southwest Texas Junior College
This session will teach instructors how toÊkeep their students organized.Ê Students maintain a notebook where every assignment is filed behind the appropriate divider tab.Ê As part of the final exam, students are asked to write an essay describing how their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills have improved.Ê The assignments in the notebook serve as examples for students to use as proof of their progress during the semester.Ê This tool can be modified to suit any teaching discipline.
"To Thine Own Self Be True"
Presenter: Erin Littlefield, Blinn College
Facilitating Student Writing Self-Evaluation I will share my self-grading rubrics, describe how I use them in class, and talk about how I use those self-grade comments to better direct my own comments on their written work.
Convention Headquarters:
Learn more about...
Registration &
Hotel Reservations