Norman Eng > Quotes

“A second alternative to clickers is to use color-coded index cards. When asking about their level of understanding of a particular topic, students can raise a green card (concept is understood), a yellow card (concept may need some clarification), or a red card (concept requires better explanation). Simply scanning the room for these colors can indicate where the class stands. This also reinforces the idea that the color-coded system reflects your ability as a teacher to clearly communicate, rather than the student’s ability to understand.”
― Norman Eng, Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting, and Engaging Students

“Often, students understand that if they say, “I don’t know,” the teacher will move on to someone who does know, which undermines their motivation to participate. The best way to address this is to move on to other students, listen to their responses, and then go back to the first student and ask him/her to paraphrase.”
― Norman Eng, Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting, and Engaging Students

“The most offensive question an audience member can ask is, "Will we have a copy of the presentation?" It means we've trained them as students to expect the most important stuff to be in the slides . . . instead of what's coming from your mouth.”
― Norman Eng, Presenting: The Professor's Guide to Powerful Communication

“If you’re teaching a course for the first time, you may have to create your own exemplars. Using previous students’ work is more authentic, however. The key is to show excerpts of parts that will potentially give students the most trouble. But aren’t you giving students the answer? you might ask. No. I am finding ways to help my students succeed—particularly the ones who need structure. Besides, assignments like this will differ from student to student, since they each have varied experiences. I know it’s less work to simply have students read the assignment requirements on their own. But the quality of work turned in vastly improves when exemplars are used. Students will appreciate the clarity.”
― Norman Eng, Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting, and Engaging Students

“Psychologist Jean Piaget once said, “When you teach a child something, you take away forever his chance to discover it himself.” Start with the experience; then relate it to the content.”
― Norman Eng, Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting, and Engaging Students

“The point is to always go back to the original student and hold them accountable for an answer. Letting the student go without answering—even once or twice—signals to him (and the rest of the class) that 1) they aren’t required to listen actively and vigilantly; and 2) they can remain uninvolved, or only involved sporadically. On the other hand, consistently going back to the student cultivates the expectation that all students need to contribute. Repeating, rephrasing, and building off are great K–12 strategies professors can use to help the unresponsive.”
― Norman Eng, Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting, and Engaging Students