33 Simple Strategies for Faculty: A Week-by-Week Resource for Teaching First-Year and First-Generation Students

by Lisa M. Nunn

Winner of the 2020 Scholarly Contributions to Teaching and Learning Award from the American Sociological Association

Many students struggle with the transition from high school to university life. This is especially true of first-generation college students, who are often unfamiliar with the norms and expectations of academia. College professors usually want to help, but many feel overwhelmed by the prospect of making extra time in their already hectic schedules to meet with these struggling students.

33 Simple Strategies for Faculty is a guidebook filled with practical solutions to this problem. It gives college faculty concrete exercises and tools they can use both inside and outside of the classroom to effectively bolster the academic success and wellbeing of their students. To devise these strategies, educational sociologist Lisa M. Nunn talked with a variety of first-year college students, learning what they find baffling and frustrating about their classes, as well as what they love about their professors’ teaching.
 
Combining student perspectives with the latest research on bridging the academic achievement gap, she shows how professors can make a difference by spending as little as fifteen minutes a week helping their students acculturate to college life. Whether you are a new faculty member or a tenured professor, you are sure to find 33 Simple Strategies for Faculty to be an invaluable resource.  

Genres: Teaching, Nonfiction, Education

156 pages, Paperback

Published October 12, 2018

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through this in preparation for a faculty discussion group at work. It has some good ideas in it but the reading experience is a bit bogged down to my tastes with too many fonts and student quotations cluttering up each page. I think the quotes are nice to read but in the middle of a narrative paragraph, not so much.

The ideas are simple, maybe too simple? I struggled to find a new idea or one we were not already intentionally implementing in our stepped up advising program, our pathways program, and so on. But for people who maybe are not so student focused or for faculty teaching at places without these programs, this will be a useful read, as it gives 33 ways an individual faculty member can reach out to students. And while the subtitle says first-year and first-gen students, we all know that pedagogy good for those groups tends to be good for everyone.

[Erin Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ostensibly geared at faculty seeking to engage first-generation students, but the suggestions will be helpful for reaching out to students of all backgrounds. Lots of great tips, with plenty of references to the academic literature where you can learn more.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

At a time when I'm going through training for my new job as an Assistant Professor of Practice, having a book like this to read that's both light, breezy, and thought-provoking while being related to first-year and first-gen student experiences seems like an amazing tool. I think Nunn has some areas that warrant additional consideration -- I think her approach to in-class activities work really well in smaller classes based around discussions or seminars, and work ideally in classes with sufficient time to roll out activities like this (which can be quite hard when trying to hit outcomes for a given course). I also think that while Nunn is almost hyper-attentive to student needs and the tendency for first-year students to be already stretched thin and exhausted, that she also overlooks how this might impact faculty. Encouraging faculty to spend as much time as Nunn does on one-on-one interfacing and evaluation of student well-being is a lofty goal, but in a semester where I'll be teaching 150 students while mentoring and fostering a team-based environment with 12 other part-time faculty (who are almost all working in other full-time capacities on campus), I'll be curious to see how many of Nunn's targets I can actually realistically hit. To Nunn's credit, she spends a lot of time talking about drawing boundaries around work that can be accomplished, but the aspirational model at the heart of this book seems like one best applied by college instructors with much more manageable numbers of students. I'll definitely be dipping into this every week for the upcoming semester though.

[Spencer Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invaluable for first-year professors or for anyone teaching a first-year student class. Practical, fluffless, with insightful remarks from students and well-researched strategies. I plan on going through this again next Fall.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous book! It's easy to read, but full of easy, actionable advice to make teaching first-year &/or first-gen students a much more rewarding experience for both college teachers and students. The many pull quotes from students really helped underline the necessity of the advice. And Nunn's introduction does a wonderful job setting up the importance of her advice to anyone who teaches college students (across a variety of institutional types and in a bunch of different types of classes).

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very practical advice for university lecturers who want to help students succeed, especially students who are low SES or first in family - some strategies that many of us probably already do but some I hadn’t thought of.

[Michelle Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elegantly written and authentic

Great choice for faculty reading groups; it’s well researched but also approachable. I’ll be recommending this one a lot, I suspect.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is quick to read and very thought-provoking. Many of my college students are first-generation, and all are first or second-year. 

Unlike many books on pedagogy that leave you with very little advice on practical application, this book is full of ideas and which ones the author implements in her classes. She gives reasons why you might want to go one direction vs another. Many ideas are results of a research study she performed that included first-year students at a public university and a private university, both of which make efforts to attract a diverse student population. She includes comments from students in the study about their experiences in college, with professors, specific classes, stress and time management, and making friends. 

I did a lot of underlining and expect to be referring back to it often. She also provides week-by-week ideas that connect well with where you typically are in the semester and what students might be experiencing. I am gratified to see that I use many of her strategies already, just things that felt right for my personality, but I can see many others that will be great additions to my bag of tricks.

I plan to recommend this book widely.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book which provides faculty with 33 easy strategies to implement in the classroom. I would highly recommend this book for faculty who teach first year experience courses for freshman in college trying to get acclimated to college. Many of these strategies can be implemented in both lower and upper division courses regardless of students' college experience level. I wish I would have had this book when I taught a first year experience course. Not only does the book provide useful strategies, it's a very easy read and contains a wealth of resources for those interested in learning more.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

These strategies are practical, easy to implement, and they make a significant difference on the class community. I highly recommend these practices for building relationships with students and for helping them feel welcome in the unfamiliar and often intimidating environment of higher education.

[CëRïSë · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very fast read, and one that did live up to its title. It was a selection for our Faculty Learning Community book club, and helped inspire some interesting conversations, prompting many of us to think about, and try, things we may never have otherwise.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a small book we gave to all our first year faculty. It has lots of great teaching ideas that are broken down for each week in the semester. Sometimes teaching resource books can feel overwhelming, This provides practicle strategies that are basd in solid research.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are teaching college first-year students, I highly recommend this book. It's full of strategies to use!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good, practical, and easy to read little book filled with quotes from students and real-life examples and ideas.

[Rilley McKenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic, easily applicable ideas for helping first year students (especially first-generation first-year students) feel more comfortable and familiarize themselves with expectations and norms. I particularly liked the idea of a low-stakes exam early in the semester (week 2 if possible) to show students what to expect and help them gauge whether what they are doing to learn is working.

[Kate Foley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent step-by-step resource for teaching introductory courses.