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Small Teaching" Best Practice Teaching Techniques
WHAT IS IT?
James Lang, decided to distill the research principles in the science of learning to create a series of easy, low/ no prep teaching techniques that would be high impact. The book (2016, Jossey-Bass) has 9 chapters that each start with the big end of the funnel with a concise summary of the underlying research and explaining the principle. Lang then narrows the funnel to general principles. Then he goes further at the end of the chapter to lists a series of bullet points of specific techniques.
WHY USE IT?
"The strategies that fall under the umbrella of small teaching can begin enhancing the learning of your students when you step into class tomorrow" -Lang, Small Teaching, pg 222 This technique promotes these Best Practices: Active Learning \| Formative Assessment \| Student Engagement \| Faculty-Student Interaction \| Student Time on Task \| Student Retention Small Teaching Facilitator Podcast Ep 28 - Small Teaching (9 mins, 25 seconds)
HOW DO I DO IT?
Mike's 2 Minute What/Why/How Overview Click CC>ENGLISH for Subtitles Faculty Prep: (All Modalities) KNOWLEDGE Best Practice Principles: Retrieving Regular low-stress, but accountable opportunities for "Forcing learners to recall learned information, concepts or skills from their memory... Memory retrieval works especially well in brief classroom interventions. You can find room for retrieval in almost any class period... even if it takes only a minute." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 22 &38 See Also: Activating Prior Learning Predicting Asking students to make some prediction about coursework/ material etc. activates "A basic principle that memory researchers have been exploring for many years now: making predictions about material that you wish to learn increases your ability to understand that material and retrieve it later.... it offers us a very simple means of helping students acquire both knowledge & comprehension... Asking students to make predictions requires a very small investment of time, which makes predicting an ideal small teaching activity." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 43 & 59 Interleaving "...Involves two related activities that promote high levels of long-term retention: (a) spacing out learning sessions over time; and (b) mixing up your practice of skills you are seeking to develop... everyone of your assessments... can become a potent tool in your interleaving arsenal." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 65 & 83 UNDERSTANDING Best Practice Principles: Connecting "Connection exercises provide a bridge between your expert comprehension of your subject matter and the novice understanding of your students. As you consider how to help your students create their own connections, keep that primary focus in mind. you are helping your students obtain the big-picture view that informs and animates your grasp of the material." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 109 Practicing "Whatever cognitive skills you are seeking to instill in your students, and that you will be assessing for a grade, the students should have time to practice in class... incorporating brief practice sessions into the classroom has been one of the most important changes I have made to my teaching in recent years." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 117 & 135 Self-Explaining "Self-explanation....can help improve comprehension by requiring learners to make connections between their knowledge & their skills. The best self-explanation techniques prompt learners to articulate not only what they are doing but also WHY they are doing it... they must tie their doing to their knowing." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 139 INSPIRATION Best Practice Principles Motivating Asking "The extent to which the learning or the subject matter seems important to the individual learner represents its subjective value; the extent to which the learner feels as if her work and practice will lead to a positive outcome represents the learner's expectations. Both of these elements must be present for motivation to be high... we can't turn every student into a passionate devotee of our discipline. We can, however, help create better learning in our courses with attention to some small, everyday motivational practices that have the power to boost both attention & learning." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 169 & 191 Growing "Individuals with a fixed mind-set believe that their intelligence is a fixed, stable quantity.... and that they are limited to that IQ for the remainder of their lives. Individuals with a growth mind-set in contrast, believe that intelligence is malleable and can improve with hard work and effort.... Consider your course & classroom as an organization or social space that has norms, codes of behavior and other malleable qualities (Howard 2015). Ensure that those norms include a growth mindset through as many small modifications as you can implement." -Lang, Small Teaching, pgs 199 & 215 Expanding "...although teaching innovation can begin small... it can also expand.... three big teaching pathways that strike me as logical extensions of what we have considered... and that I believe have staying power... *Activity-Based Learning* *Service Learning* Games & simulations." -Lang, Small Teaching, pg 223
LIVE ZOOM Adaption:
Implementing these Small steps can be translated directly to a live Zoom class as the same as a live on campus class - with additional possibilities in usage of Canvas Assignments & discussions etc to supplement implementations.
FULLY ONLINE Adaption:
Generally adaptable to Fully Online Assignment and discussion prompts and sequencing. However for specialized advice on Small Teaching Implementation Online learning *see: Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes* (2019, Jossey-Bass)**
WHO'S DOING THIS AT NC STATE?
Are you Using it? Or Want to be the first? Contact us: cte@ncstatecollege.edu

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Teaching Techniques Support:
cte@ncstatecollege.edu