Category: Tips on Teaching

by Lenin Grajo, Assistant Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy The reflections shared in this post were edited from the reflection I gave during the recently concluded Spring Certificate Ceremony of the Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning.  At the end of this month, I will conclude four amazing years teaching in the Department… Continue reading What Teaching at Saint Louis University has Taught Me

by Mitch Lorenz, Graduate Student, Psychology My first teaching assignment fell into my lap unexpectedly at the institution where I received my Master’s degree. This seemed like good fortune and a great opportunity to gain some teaching experience. I was excited to transition from student to teacher but, after a brief period of elation, reality… Continue reading Establishing Credibility in the Classroom: Day One Tips

by Gina Merys, Associate Director, Reinert Center This past weekend (March 18-19), the Reinert Center co-hosted our annual Academic Portfolio Retreat. Over a two day period, invited facilitator, Dr. Marilyn Miller led 25 faculty members through writing a beginning draft of each of the sections of their academic portfolio for tenure and/or promotion. Attending this… Continue reading Portfolios as Tools for Reflection

by Kelly McEnerney, Graduate Assistant, Reinert Center Imagine you will be teaching a class next week without textbook-prescribed course modules, chapters, and PowerPoint slides that dictate what students should know and how learning should take place. In such a case, what would you use to structure class time? In the absence of the textbook script,… Continue reading Designing Effective Lesson Plans

by Sandy Gambill, Sr. Instructional Developer, Reinert Center Have you put in countless hours recording lectures for a flipped classroom, only to find the model isn’t working as well as you had hoped? Perhaps the students don’t seem engaged during classtime or are complaining about the amount of work expected outside of class. Technology is… Continue reading Is Your Flip Flopping?

by James Fortney, Instructional Developer, Reinert Center Earlier this fall, I posted a short entry in The Notebook about the role of communication in developing and sustaining classroom engagement. I described engagement as a “potentially inventive conversation between communities with differences,” wherein members work together to generate new ways of thinking and talking (Deetz, 2008,… Continue reading Communicating Engagement, Engaging Communication: Part 2

by Lenin Grajo, Assistant Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy In the Fall semester of 2013, I started having conversations about an international teaching and learning collaboration with a colleague and mentor of mine from the Department of Occupational Therapy in the University of the Philippines in Manila (UPM) for implementation in the fall of the following… Continue reading Collaborations in Teaching and Learning: A Transformative Experience

by Kim Levenhagen PT, DPT, WCC, Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training This has been a problem for me since my early years of teaching: I would come to class after assigning a reading ready for a robust conversation in the classroom.  Then, I would pose a softball of a question to the class to… Continue reading How Do I Get My Students to Read the Assignment?

by Mitch Lorenz, Graduate Assistant, Reinert Center The focus on effective teaching within the classroom can overshadow the importance of effective teaching outside of the classroom. Interactions with students outside of class can take many forms, from the post-class clarification to the awkward public run-in, but the most structured outside of class interactions occur during… Continue reading Make Office Hours Great Again