Teaching Portfolio
Angeline Stoll Lillard
Department of Psychology
University of Virginia
August 1999
Table of Contents
Theory of Teaching
Generalized Methods
Specific Teaching
Courses
Research-Related Teaching
Teaching Writing
Reviewing for Journals
Teaching Assessment
Course Improvement
Activities
Appendices
Theory of
Teaching
The overarching
purpose of my teaching is to stimulate my students to be better functioning
members of our society. Through my
courses, I expect to:
1. Increase students’ knowledge base.
2. Assist them in becoming critical consumers
of information.
3. Hone their communication skills in written
and oral modes by forcing repeated practice and offering feedback.
4. Motivate them to help others by modeling
caring myself, by increasing their knowledge of where help is needed (goal #1),
and also by educating on how they can help.
For graduate
students and distinguished majors students, I have the added task of teaching
them the professional mores of the discipline, guiding them through the process
of becoming contributing professionals.
Generalized
Methods
In order to succeed
in these goals, I must first engage students.
To engage, I must inspire them with information, presentation style, and
as a personality. Personally, I try to
be lively, interesting, open, and accessible.
For example, I use anecdotes from my own household to illustrate
concepts in child development. If I am
lecturing about children’s overregularization of grammatical rules, I will
describe my daughter Jessica saying, “I knowed that I sawded those deers
runninged.” I also try to get across
the essential simplicity of integrity; more and more I think we have a
responsibility in moral example as well as knowledge provision. As to information, I try to present concepts
that I find extremely interesting in terms that the students will find
digestible. I try to make the
information relevant to their lives, for example by using clippings from front
page newspaper articles to introduce a topic.
As to presentation style, I attempt to make my own voice and movements
lively and attention-getting, but also try not to hold the floor very
long. I ask a lot of questions, and
wait for them to answer. I try always
to encourage their responses, gently walking them through why incorrect
responses were not correct, or (preferably) realigning those responses to make
them right. Further, I break students
into smaller groups (of 2-5, in a classes of 100-200), make them ponder
problems together, then ask for students to tell the class what they came up
with. Examples of these moves are in
the appendix.
I love the feeling
of a good day teaching, when the students were on the edges of their seats
waiting for the next line, or were engaged in a heated discussion about some
issue. I appreciate students telling me
that they switched to a Psychology major because of my course, or that
Statistics was so much easier than they expected.
Specific Teaching
Courses
At UVa, I have
taught Child Psychology (PSYC 250), Undergraduate Research Methods and
Statistical Analyses (PSYC 305), Developing Theories of Mind, The Origins of
Knowledge (both PSYC 582), and Graduate Developmental Research Methods (PSYC
751).
For all my courses,
I keep the syllabus and relevant materials on a web page which students can
access (see http://www.people.virginia.edu/~asl2h/). I put old exams and answers to exams there as well as outlines
for future classes. I have begun to use
the ITC-Toolkit facility as well.
Psychology 250. Child Psychology is a 250-student class with discussion sections. Students range from first to fourth year,
and include majors as well as students who take no other psychology. I lecture twice weekly for about 50 minutes,
and for the final 25 minutes of each class, we do an exercise, watch a film, or
interview a visiting parent with baby.
I try to have a baby come in every 3 weeks; the babies get older as the
semester progresses. I do some standard
infant experiments and ask the parent questions, and also have the students ask
questions. This creates a wonderful
live example to refer to in lectures, and to give them a better feel for what
we mean by a baby of X months. Films
are to serve the same purpose; they can show experimental paradigms that I
cannot recreate in class. An example of
a demonstration is to divide students into subjects and coders (in adjacent
seats). I then show students 2 video
clips, a Houdini magic trick and a comedy episode. The coders are secretly observing how long the subjects stare at
the end of each videotape. After this,
students usually understand why looking time measures are thought to be useful
assessments of infant cognition. (Of
course, this is controversial, and we do not get into the deeper issues in this
introductory course.) We also have a
“Child Fest” in which 4-6 children ages 2 to 6 come to the class, and the
teaching assistants demonstrate classic experiments we have talked about during
the course. The script from the most
recent of these is in the appendix.
Students love these demonstrations.
For the sections,
beginning this semester students must do two hands-on projects and write each
up. Students choose which two of
several alternative projects to do, including observations of children on
playgrounds, interviews with parents (including their own), examining moral or
gender issues in an a sample of children's media, and reading and evaluating
research articles. During sections,
students discuss readings for most classes, and review lecture and text
material prior to exams.
I also work on
graduate student teaching for courses with graduate student TAs. At our weekly meetings, the graduate
students bring up problems they are having with students, and we discuss
possible strategies to handle these.
For example, if the class seems sleepy, I urge them to make the students
write for 5 minutes about something, then share what they wrote. I find this easy and fun and the graduate
students seem to really appreciate it.
This semester I am requesting that all graduate students have the TRC
evaluate their teaching with a Teaching Analysis Poll. Graduate students understandably usually do
not want a professor sitting in on their class; my hope is that the TAP, being
external to the department, will be less threatening and will be helpful. I give all students the opportunity to give
a 20-40 minute lecture to the large class if they would like the experience.
Students are
evaluated by attendance and contribution to discussion, 2 of 3 mid-term and one
cumulative final exam (short answer and multiple choice format), and their
discussion section papers.
Psychology 305 is
the first of a 2-part sequence required by majors. Most students take it their third year, often with dread. This dread stems from the fact that many people
take psychology because they are interested in people, and a large proposition
of such people have an aversion to math.
In fact there is not a lot of math in this course, and most find that
the math is not all that difficult, and are relieved. There are a few, however, for whom it really is difficult; the
way of thinking is simply very unnatural to them.
305 is a large
class, about 100 students. Because of the size and the information that must be
conveyed, I lecture about 45-50 minutes of most of the 75 minute class, then
have a brief break during which those who feel very comfortable with the
material are free to go, followed by a hands-on exercise designed to reinforce
the material. This may consist, for
example, in my assigning a problem which they are to work on in pairs for 10
minutes, followed by students explaining to the whole group (usually about 10
of the 80 students stayed last semester) how they solved the problem. Regarding the number of students staying:
many of my students had already had an elementary statistics course because
they were so concerned about the difficulty of this one. Because of their excellent backgrounds, they
found it was not all that difficult.
As to the lecture
part of the course, the topics I cover and texts I use are prearranged by prior
agreement of 305 and 306 teachers. We
periodically assess whether to change these.
I try to blend the statistics and research methods aspects. The latter is much more interesting for
students; statistics, they complain, is dry; however, for logical reasons it
makes sense to first set up how to do an experiment (methods) and then how to
look at the data (statistics). More
thrilling examples were needed to spice up the statistical presentations.
The lecture course
is augmented by weekly lab sessions, taught by graduate students. There are 12 students in each lab. The lab assignments (a series of projects)
were developed by other professors and a lead graduate student TA takes the
graduate student instructors through the sequence. I attended their weekly meetings to answer questions, but not
having developed the labs had obvious consequences in terms of my sense of how
they integrate. I need to get a deeper
handle on the labs and refer to them more in my lectures.
305 Class
Evaluation: I give 4 exams and a final over the semester; all students must
take the cumulative final, and of the other 4 exams, only the top 3 grades will
be counted towards the final grade. I
give a mix of short answer and multiple choice items. They are required to work out statistical math problems during
the latter half; they may use a calculator.
My goal is that questions make them think; I hope they will learn while
taking the exam. Their laboratory grade
counts 50% and their lecture (exam) grade counts 50%.
Psychology 582. Developing Theories of Mind. In this graduate seminar we read and
discussed recent source material in my main field of interest. Although one student yearned for lectures,
most were pleased with the discussion format.
We began each day with students sharing what they had written about in
thought pieces derived from the readings (they were asked either to write two
pages about some issue of interest, or to come up with two discussion questions
based on the readings and then answer them.)
This usually led to about 80 good minutes of discussion, at which point
we would break for 20 minutes, and resume for a half hour of discussion. Then I would have everyone write for 5
minutes about whatever they found most interesting in that day’s discussion,
and we would go around the class for the final 15 minutes telling and
responding to those writings. I loved
this format; it really brought out who everyone was and what there main issues were. It allowed lots of exchange and back and
forth. No students really knew my area,
but the 11 students brought in there own areas of knowledge (several were
advanced social psychology, and one was an advanced cognitive psychology
student) leading to exciting and interesting exchanges. I really enjoyed this class. Students were evaluated by class
contribution and their final paper.
Graduate Research
Methods course was co-taught with Prof. Claes von Hofsten. We included hands-on projects using a
variety of research methods, for example taping, transcribing, and analyzing a
child's talk, and running some classic Piagetian experiments. The students also gave three presentations,
two very short ones on experimental papers, and one describing their final
project for the course, a grant proposal.
Readings covered a variety of methods and statistical issues in the
field.
Origins of Knowledge
was also co-taught with Claes von Hofsten, and was a wonderfully stimulating
course, with visits from Susan Carey, Liz Spelke, and Mike Cole intersecting
with the course. We pondered four major
ideas about how knowledge arises in the individual: nativist, epigenetic,
cultural, and dynamical systems. We
read many of the new Mussen Handbook chapters and used a discussion/thought
paper format.
Research-Related
Teaching
I greatly enjoy
one-to-one meetings with students, to discuss research possibilities with them
and to discuss what makes for the best research. (I find I don’t always do what I know I should, so it helps my
own work too.) I hold weekly 1-2 hour
lab meetings with graduate students, distinguished majors, undergraduate
research assistants, my paid assistant, and other interested students weekly
during the academic year. At these
meetings someone presents a research project and we all comment and discuss it,
with an eye to how to improve the project.
I also hold weekly hour-long individual meetings with students during
project development stages. At all
these meetings I try to think out loud, to model for them the process of
science, how scientists approach problems.
When I first begin
working with a graduate student (or an distinguished major), I ask them to work
on an ongoing project in my lab, to get their feet wet on how to collect
data. So far I have kept a paid
research assistant (destined for graduate school) who helps keep things running
right: we do work in local schools and there are many records to keep
straight. They also help oversee
beginning students’ methods. As the
first year progresses, I work with students to find the intersection of what
their hearts most want to study, my future interests, and my bailiwicks. Their second year they are to do a more
independent project in that area.
Whenever I do
research with a student, my goal is that it will end in a publishable
product. I worked with a UC Berkeley
graduate student for a year before coming here and we have two papers submitted
and a number of conference presentations.
I have one paper submitted with my current graduate student, and this
summer both the distinguished major’s projects I supervised will be written up
for publication. Students must write
part of papers to be authors; second authorship is earned by participating
actively in design and data collection and analysis, and writing methods and
results sections; however, at this point usually the deep ideas are ones I have
been working on. Later, as they develop
their own ideas and projects, I will retreat to being second (or later) author,
and the student will write the entire first draft. My policies on this and other aspects of mentoring are described
in my RA/Student handbook (“Research Guide”) in the appendix.
Another forum in
which I mentor graduate students is in responding to their presentations in
research area lunches. Every day one or
two areas in Psychology hosts a lunch at which faculty or students present
work. When students present, two kinds
of feedback can be offered: questions or responses following the talk, and
individual meetings following the talk about how one can better present material. I participate actively in the first kind of
feedback, for Developmental students and (less frequently) Cognitive and Social
students. For the second kind, I
sometimes email students with specific thoughts, and always welcome students
who request to get such advice (three students have approached me for
such). Such training was actively done
in my graduate student department and I think it is invaluable.
Teaching Writing
At my prior
university I was on a committee to institute a Writing across the Curriculum
program, and I continue to take a deep interest in student’s learning to write
well. I believe clear writing and clear
thinking are one in the same, and that the skill of being able to clearly communicate
on paper is integral to education. The
process of revision is the most important to learning to write. As mentioned, in my Psychology 250 class I
have students revise drafts of papers.
In graduate seminars, I have students write short weekly pieces and turn
in a single paper; I do not ask for revisions of these since as a graduate
student, papers to be submitted for publication are where one’s rewriting
energies should go. But I do comment on
the text on clarity, sound argument, factual information, and some minor
details. Honor’s students and graduate
students with whom I am working on a project must submit multiple drafts, and
we discuss them in person. I also
supervise predissertation papers and other graduate school required papers, and
again this is a process of teaching effective communication. In critiquing writing, I do not try to
comment on every aspect of a manuscript, but focus on a few points to make a
given work better. I also try to teach
graduate students about how to help with writing, for example, always saying
something positive, and not trying to say everything.
Reviewing for
Journals
Another teaching
role comes from doing reviews for journals.
Although these are often for senior colleagues whom I do not presume to
teach, when one reviews a junior colleague’s experiments and writing there are
opportunities for gently educating, and I take this role seriously.
Teaching
Assessment
I have used
mid-semester and end of course evaluations for assessment. The mid-semester ones I devise ask very
specific questions (what is great, what should change) and I read and respond
to these by discussing them in class son after giving them. I thank the students, let them know what
were the most frequent responses, and what I can do to change those things I
can change and why I will not change others.
For example, perhaps 40% of a class mentioned a delivery speed issue
with lectures, but 20% said I was too fast and 20% said I was too slow. I will let them know this. In my last semester, 2 students requested
that I give homework assignments. This
was a simple change and I began giving optional (not to be turned in)
assignments.
Course
Improvement Activities
I keep my knowledge
base current by attending conferences regularly, reading, attending talks,
reviewing for journals, and engaging actively in research. All this feeds into my teaching by allowing
me to share with students the current directions and findings of my field.
During the 1999-2000
school year I will participate in the University/Lilly Teaching program to further
develop teaching goals and skills, as well as to develop a course on culture
and cognitive development.
I have attended
several Teaching Resource Center workshops at UVa. One of these was on using one’s voice to guard against my going
hoarse in the beginning of a semester.
Another was on promoting discussion.
As a graduate student at Stanford I used the similar resource, including
having a lecture video-taped, attending several intensive workshops on teaching
writing, and borrowing teaching books from the library. As a faculty member at the University of San
Francisco I did the same, and there I was introduced to Angelo and Cross’s
(1990) book on assessment techniques and began using those and active learning
strategies.
Appendices
Research Guide
Illustrates communication with students working with me, goals and
means for keeping an organized laboratory (a skill they must learn), and direct
teaching on how to do research.
Syllabi
Illustrate effort at clear communication about course goals and
requirements.
Paper assignments
Not included here,
but available:
Samples of graded
papers
Lecture Outlines
Also placed at least a day before the lecture on the web, these guide
students through lecture content. I add
to them with markers sometimes during the lecture.
ChildFest Script
Tests
Despite the large class sizes, I include some short answer with
multiple choice questions. Although I
do not think many students perform differently on the two types, in my
experience students feel better when they have some short answer.
Selected Course
Evaluations
List of papers with
students
Not Here, but
Planned for Future Portfolio:
Pre- and Post-test
assessment
Current video of
teaching
Observation notes
from TRC
Relation between
Comprehension Checks and Performance
Examples of student
papers with comments.
305 Course
Improvement Plans
·
Begin with
discussing Gopnik & Meltzoff’s (1997)
book which claims we are all scientists as children but that only
“scientists” keep this up. Use to
launch discussion of what science is, and to show how deep inside of us all
there is a scientist (or how, at 18 months, we all used the scientific
method).
·
Give students a
pretest where they devise an experiment.
Have them give me one copy and keep the other. Throughout the course, after learning new concepts, have them
critique their experiment. At course
end turn in their log of their critique.
Also at course end have them develop a new experiment. This gives a pre- and post-test assessment
which I can also use in the portfolio.
·
Begin class by
having students write their goals. At
class 2, explain mismatches. Have
students keep reflective notes on what they are learning.
·
Learn names by
having TA take photo ids the first day and make photocopies of them. I think they will learn better when they
think I know them.
·
Learn more
about the student labs and integrate into lectures so the students can see the
connection between parts of the course.
·
Instead of
summarizing the last class myself, as I usually do, ask the students to provide
the main points. This puts the onus on
them to wake up and get involved.
·
Revise
lectures: some were too long and others too short. I kept notes at the end of lectures last year and need to go
through and revise. Smooth over parts
that did not work.
·
Use more video
demonstrations of experiments and discuss good and bad aspects of them.
·
Bring in
clippings of popular science articles and compare with scientific article from
which they were derived. Show how
journalists can distort information.
This gets at my goal of their being critical consumers of information;
we are all subject to media overload and we must retain a critical stance to
avoid being misled.
·
Work more on
activities during class: having student break into groups and solve
problems. Active engagement enhances
learning and is fun.
·
Use Toni
Wegner’s Comprehension Checks. These
will stimulate attendance (the course is offered at 8AM this fall!), will allow
me to see how well students are understanding, and will allow them to know some
major points.
·
Make more use
of the TRC library, and the Assessment techniques. Possibly apply to be a University Teaching Fellow to make myself
focus more on teaching, and to share strategies with others across the
university.
·
Have the class
do self-assessments soon after Test 1, so they focus not only on critiquing my
performance, but also notice how they are or are not contributing to their own
learning.
·
Be videotaped
and discuss the tape with a TRC person.
I have not been videotaped in nearly 10 years and may notice stylistic
or other features I should change.
·
Drop in on
sections and ask students how it is going, so they better know who I am, see me
in a more accessible venue, and so I can tap how they are better.
·
Put an anonymous
feedback form on class website, so students will have yet another venue for
supplying feedback, anytime.
·
Ask that
students who score in the bottom 15% of the class on any test be contacted by
their TA for an individual consultation.
This will help us to keep track of the students who need extra help, and
let them know we are watching. This
should lead to their working harder to get the concepts.