Best Practices
- Table of Contents:
- Active Learning
- Critical Thinking
- Assessment
- Cooperative Learning
- Plagiarism
- Student Writing, Research, and Documentation Resources
- Disruptive/Distressed Students
- Student Services
- UTA Suggestions
The following is a collection of materials from a multitude of sources, intended to provide both introductory information about each practice as well as ideas for how to incorporate them into the classroom. The links provide theory, practice, and frequently, both at once. Explore and discover new ideas to motivate learning in the English classroom. In addition, the Best Practices Committee encourages submission of your own ideas and resources, the materials you refer to again and again when planning and executing your lessons.
Through sharing and collaborating, we become better educators.
Active Learning
Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write reflectively about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves."(Chickering & Gamson, 1987).
Image Source: http://www.edutechie.ws/2007/10/09/cone-of-experience-media/
ACTIVE LEARNING is defined as any strategy "that involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing" and includes small group activities, collaborative learning, cooperative learning, and problem-based learning, to name just a few ideas (*Bonwell, C., & Eison, J. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1). Washington, DC: George Washington University, p. 2).
- Resources for Active Learning:
- UTA's Active Learning Site
- 101 Things to Do in the First 3 Weeks of Class
- Charles Bonwell’s Active Learning Site
- Problem Based Learning Theory and Practice
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.(From Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, “Defining Critical Thinking,” The Critical Thinking Community)
- Bloom's Taxonomy:
- Critical Thinking Verbs
- Bloom's Rose
- Developing Critical Questions
- U of Victoria Definitions of Higher Order Thinking
- Student and Instructor Activities for Higher-Order Thinking (PDF)
- Resources on Critical Thinking
- Research in Critical Thinking
- Wolcott & Lynch Educator Resources
- Robert Ennis's "A Few Suggestions"
- The Critical Thinking Community
Assessment
Given the high stakes nature of many of these assessment purposes, it is crucial that assessment practices be guided by sound principles to insure that they are valid, fair, and appropriate to the context and purposes for which they designed(CCCC Position Statement on Writing Assessment)
- Resources on Assessment
- CCCC Position Statement on Writing Assessment
- WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition (PDF)
- Critical Thinking and Assessment
- WSU Guide to Rating Critical Thinking
- Daily Classroom Assessment from U Delaware
- 9 Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning
- 50 Classroom Assessment Techniques (PDF)
- Holistic Critical Thinking Rubric (PDF)
Cooperative Learning
Even with its increasing popularity, a large majority of the group tasks that teachers use, even teachers who claim to be using 'cooperative learning,' continue to be cooperative group tasks-not cooperative learning group tasks("Essential Elements of Cooperative Education," ERIC Digest)
- Resources on Cooperative Learning:
- Essential Elements of Cooperative Learning (PDF)
- Facilitating Students' Collaborative Writing: ASHE-ERIC Education Report (PDF)
Plagiarism
Academic integrity is defined as being in firm adherence to a code or standard of values. It is a commitment on the part of the students, faculty and staff, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: Honesty, Truth, Fairness, Respect, Responsibility.(UTA Academic Integrity Page, 2008)
From these values flow principles of behavior that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action.(The Center for Academic Integrity, 1999)
- Resources on Plagiarism
- UTA Library’s online tutorial for students
- Office of Student Conuct (formerly Student Judicial Affairs) Academic Integrity Faculty Website
- Plagiarism Form 1 (PDF)
- Plagiarism Form 2 (PDF)
Student Writing, Research, and Documentation
- Resources for Student Writing
- UTA Writing Center
- Paper's Due Drop Inn
- Top 20 Errors
- Purdue’s OWL
- Diana Hacker online
- St. Martin’s Handbook online
- UTA Library subject guide for English
Disruptive/Distressed Students
- Resources on Disruptive Students
- Student Judicial Affairs Academic Integrity Faculty Website
- U Delaware's Suggestions
- U Oklahoma's Suggestions
- National Sexual Assault Online Hotline
- Responding to Distressed & Disruptive Behavior, Oregon State (PPT)
- Working with Disruptive & Distressed Students, Georgia State (PPT)
- Class Management and Behavior Develpment(PPT)
Student Services
- Other Student Services
- Office for Students with Disabilities
- Counseling Services
UTA Suggestions
- UTA Syllabus Template (DOC)
- Classroom Management PowerPoint (PPT)
- UTA Mentor Training Handbook (PDF)