Teaching Within the Rhythms of the Semester [Hardcover]

The authors model practices that instructors at every level may use to get off to a good beginning, maintain motivation in the mid-semester doldrums, and achieve successful closure at the And. Each chapter opens with a vignette that illustrates challenges teachers encounter and the ways both they and their students respond to them.Part One: Prelude to the Semester.

1. Exploring Teaching Styles.

2. Creating Magic in the Classroom.

3. Stalking the Superior Syllabus.

Part Two: Tempo of the Semester.

4. The Opening Weeks: Establishing Community.

5. The Interim Weeks: Beating the Doldrums.

6. The Final Weeks: Achieving Closure.DONNA KILLIAN DUFFY is professor and co-coordinator of the Activating Learning in the Classroom (ALC) program at Middlesex Community College, Bedford and Lowell, Massachusetts. JANET WRIGHT JONES is professor emeritus of Middlesex Community College and former co-coordinator of the ALC program. In 1991, Duffy and Jones received the International Award for Teaching Excellence presented by the International Conference on Teaching Excellence at Austin, Texas, as well as awards for Teaching Excellence at Middlesex Community College.Teaching Within the Rhythms of the Semester is a unique and far-reaching guide to teaching and learning that is organized around the ebbs and flows of energy that occur within the time frame of a course. It combines a lively and innovative balance of theory and application with practical techniques for creating successful learning experiences at each stage in a semester.Writing in a clear, straightforward, and highly engaging manner, Duffy and Jones discuss ways of teaching and ways of learning. They model practices that instructors at every level may use to get off to a good beginning, maintain motivation in the mid-semester doldrums, and achieve succesl§