Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching. 

TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: Seeing the Scholar Within the Teaching

As teachers, we steward past knowledge and share it with our students. As scholars, we push the boundaries of what is known and create new knowledge. In the classroom, students most often meet us in the first role, but they don’t always see the scholar behind the teaching: the person who is actively questioning, exploring, and shaping new knowledge.

When we talk about our research in class, we are in a unique position to change that. We can pull back the curtain on how knowledge actually comes into being: how ideas take shape, how questions are formed, how evidence is weighed, and how failure is not a weakness, but an essential part of the process. When students see how scholarly pursuits unfold, learning shifts from simply consuming information to imagining the possibility of contributing to new knowledge. 

This week, we challenge you to let your students see the scholar within the teacher.

Here’re some simple ways to try it:

• Share the origin story of a project. What question sparked it? What surprised you? What didn’t work?
• Show process, not just product. A messy draft, rejected figure, reviewer comment, or failed approach can be more instructive than a polished final.
• Think out loud. Narrate how you interpret data, frame an argument, or make a design choice.
• Invite students into the uncertainty. Point out what your field still doesn’t know and why that’s exciting.

DID YOU DO IT?

Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey. The survey is anonymous, but if you choose to enter your name, you’ll be entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter to win a new book from Faculty Development!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Executive Function Coaching & Assistive Technology Panel on Thursday, February 19 RSVP

• Facilitating Student Belonging Through Advising on Thursday, February 19 RSVP

• TESE Revision Workshop on Monday, February 23 RSVP

• Pathways to Inner Peace: A Conversation with Diane Dreher on Monday, February 23 RSVP

• CAFE: Hacking the Publication Process on Wednesday, February 25 RSVP

 

WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?

• CUREs: Bringing Research into the Classroom
• Research-informed teaching
• Research is Education: Integrating Research and Teaching 

This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by On Shun Pak (Mechanical Engineering) on behalf of Faculty Development and the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here. 

And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development events.