Events
- Annual Convention
- Great Teaching Round-up
- Leading from the middle
- fall conference for faculty leaders
- Webinars
"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 2010
Great Ideas For Teaching Students (GIFTS) Seminars
Friday, March 5, 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 David Lydic, Austin Community College.
"Absenteeism, Tardiness, and Retention: How To Round Them Up and Keep Them on the Trail"
Presenter: Barbara Blair, Southwest Texas Junior College
How many times have you seen students sprinting across campus to get to your class on time? Or heard, "I got speeding ticket trying to get to class on time." Wishful thinking? I have been appointed to an ad-hoc Attendance Committee at our college to address the problem of attendance and tardiness; let's discuss institutional and faculty absentee policies and effective responses to students who come to class late.
"A 'Note'-worthy Activity to Improve Student Reading and Retention"
Presenter: Wendy Lerner Lym, Austin Community College
In this session, I will discuss using Reading Notes rather than quizzes or journal questions as a way to improve student reading, open up venues for student questions, and assess student participation. The Reading Notes I use have a specific template, and they can be assessed regularly throughout the term. Students report that they become more active readers. The notes move students away from quizzes that primarily reveal assignment completion or reader/response journal entries that are not useful for research papers or exam preparation.
"Click Your Way to Better Feedback"
Presenter: Monique M. Dupuis, Amarillo College
Are you looking for a way to keep your students engaged while gathering invaluable feedback? A student response system ("clickers") may be just the answer. A short & entertaining PowerPoint presentation will be made allowing participants to experience how responses are collected and results, offering immediate feedback, are reported.
"Clickers in College Algebra"
Presenter: Paula Whitman, Vernon College
Ever wish you could really engage your students? Paula Whitman of Vernon College shares how she integrated clickers into her College Algebra course as a QEP project and how the results transformed her teaching.
"Collaborative Testing: Another Learning Opportunity for Students"
Presenter: Lois Brokenbourgh, Blinn College
Our adult learners want to perform well on exams and need to learn material for long-term retrieval for the final exam, and sometimes for certification exams at the end of a course or Program. Students also increase their communication skills; hear different ways to look at content, studying, and test-taking skills. You will hear briefly about how to set up such testing and have access to a review of the literature and a more detailed PowerPoint® presentation.
"Improving Critical Reading Skills in Composition I: Using the Icebreaker to Develop a Thesis Outline"
Presenter: Marsha Heaton, Southwest Texas Junior College
Students are given an icebreaker at the beginning of the class period in the form of a challenging question. They are asked to write down the question and then provide an eight-sentence paragraph response. The length of the response provides the necessary details they need to support the topic sentence they have created from the question. Upon completion, the students are able to use this concept to begin a thesis outline for an essay.
"Passports for Student Success"
Presenter: Jan Anderson, Central Texas College
A quick and effective way to motivate your students, created by Constance Staley, Professor of Communications at the University of Colorado. This simple technique has multiple applications to encourage good attendance, adherence to deadlines, completion of projects, or any other areas where students need incentives to give them that extra boost toward success.
"Thinking Frames"
Presenter: Katherine Allen, Midland College
“Thinking Frames” are useful tools for instructors and students in learning critical thinking. They are 3-4 step skeletons that help students work through critical thinking steps, and already developed so teachers don't have to come up with them! They are applicable in various disciplines.
"Using Local Issues to engender student involvement and critical thinking"
Presenter: Sabra Gore, Amarillo College
Students in two-year colleges generally are weighed down with a combination of family, part-time or full-time work, and part-time or full-time school, feeling too busy to think about local issues. If a class or campus discussion goes local, it is often glossed over quickly. Faculty are missing precious opportunities to encourage students to become active, critical thinkers on local issues that effect their community's health, finances, and lifestyle. What is the quality of the tap water they are drinking? Will passing the bond election help or hinder? How can the most dangerous intersection be improved? While students are bound to a classroom, a textbook, or a computer, they have the opportunity to stop and think about local issues. Amarillo College's technical writing class provides such an opportunity through a service project which asks students to write a proposal offering a solution to a local problem, to research and analyze it, to report findings, and to present it to an audience.
"Walking in Someone’s Shoes"
Presenter: Pam George, Amarillo College
"Be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and erring. You will be all of these sometime in your life." – Author Unknown
This session is an experience in sensitivity training. We believe we know what others are going through as they deal with disabilities. We do feel sorry for those with disabilities while we really have little true understanding. This experience helps move our sympathy toward empathy and, in the process, changes our outlook toward those who are less fortunate than us.
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