24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Successful Teaching
What makes a good teacher? What makes a great one? In addition to illustrating the important role that teaching—and teachers—play in civilized society, Professor Allitt outlines the structure of the following 23 lectures and introduces you to the other veteran Great Courses professors who'll appear throughout the course.
1.
Successful Teaching
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13.
Cogent Thinking and Effective Writing
A great weakness in American education and, consequently, in business is students' writing. Improve the way your students write with Professor Allitt's suggestions for assignments and exercises, including assigning papers with sentences of 10 words or fewer (to stress the merits of precision), 100- and 500-word summaries (to test students' ability to isolate issues in a text), and more exercises.
13.
Cogent Thinking and Effective Writing
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2.
The Broad Range of Learners
There has always been a strong relationship between teaching and learning. Here, discover how lifelong learning habits are cultivated by listening to students share their own insights, and hear teachers stress why it's important to always keep learning.
2.
The Broad Range of Learners
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14.
Teaching Revision and Editing
Continue your exploration of how to encourage and strengthen student writing with pointed advice on editing drafts (such as looking out for verb-tense inconsistency), rewriting papers (such as reading drafts aloud), and practicing more writing (such as having students keep a journal).
14.
Teaching Revision and Editing
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3.
Starting Out Right
The first day of class. It's the most daunting moment in the career of both new and seasoned professors. In this lecture, learn how to make the most of your first class meeting by actively getting to know your students' names, demonstrating why your subject is so important and fascinating, establishing your expectations, and more.
3.
Starting Out Right
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15.
Coaching Students on Presentation Skills
Presentations, delivered by either one student or a group of students, are a part of nearly every teacher's classroom. So what makes a presentation so bad? More important, what can you do as a teacher to improve the quality of your students' presentations? Discover the answers to these questions here.
15.
Coaching Students on Presentation Skills
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4.
The Teacher's Persona
Discover ways to develop and enhance your teaching persona—the in-classroom personality that establishes respect among your students. These include establishing guidelines and boundaries; using dress, regionalism, age, and other personal characteristics to your advantage; and avoiding the pitfalls of treating students as peers.
4.
The Teacher's Persona
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16.
One-on-One Teaching
Research shows that one-on-one contact between teachers and their students has benefits for both parties. Here, watch two instances of Professor Allitt interacting with individual students and witness just how effective and valuable this kind of teaching experience really is.
16.
One-on-One Teaching
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5.
Planning the Work
What do you want your students to learn? How do you intend to teach your subject? How would you solve potential learning problems? The answers to these questions lie in this lecture on the art of planning, which can help cut down on your degree of uncertainty and strengthen your teaching confidence.
5.
Planning the Work
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17.
The Learner's Perspective
Learn from students themselves their perspectives and opinions on the art and craft of teaching. What do they want from a teacher? What responsibilities do they take for their successes and failures in the classroom? How do they think teaching could be improved?
17.
The Learner's Perspective
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6.
The Teacher-Student Relationship
Listen to what teachers and students themselves have to say about the importance of maintaining responsible and productive teacher-student relationships. Professor Allitt also offers tips on the best ways to create and maintain a strong practical and professional working relationship with your students.
6.
The Teacher-Student Relationship
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18.
Exams, Evaluation, and Feedback
In this lecture, Professor Allitt reveals several approaches you can take to creating, administering, and grading exams—whether multiple-choice, short answer, or even oral tests. Plus, investigate ways to deal with cheating and plagiarism and how to approach—and learn from—your students' evaluations of your class.
18.
Exams, Evaluation, and Feedback
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7.
Dynamic Lecturing
Throughout the history of education, lecturing has been one of the basic ways teachers pass information on to their students. So what makes a lecture good? How can you work toward becoming a more effective lecturer? What kinds of mistakes do lecturers commonly make—and how can you avoid them? Find the answers here.
7.
Dynamic Lecturing
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19.
Maintaining Your Enthusiasm
When you've taught for quite a while, it can be easy to lose enthusiasm for your profession and your subject. But research shows that students respond favorably to enthusiastic teachers. Here, learn how to reinvigorate your teaching by tapping into new research in your field and experimenting with team teaching.
19.
Maintaining Your Enthusiasm
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8.
Teaching with PowerPoint
The 21st-century classroom is filled with all manner of technological teaching aids, yet it's easy for these technologies to be misused and overused. With PowerPoint as your example, focus on tips for using technology to complement, not control, your teaching style.
8.
Teaching with PowerPoint
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20.
Managing the Challenges of Teaching
Teaching is not easy—especially for beginners. This lecture exposes strategies for maintaining your confidence in common challenging teaching situations, such as when you have a large course load or when you have to teach outside of your area of expertise.
20.
Managing the Challenges of Teaching
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9.
Demonstrations, Old and New
From PowerPoint, move on to other technologies that can both enhance and detract from your lectures. This lecture reveals the pros and cons of using older "technologies"—like blackboards, whiteboards, and in-class demonstrations—and more recent technologies such as clickers, e-mail, and podcasts.
9.
Demonstrations, Old and New
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21.
Creativity and Innovation
Just as important as maintaining enthusiasm for your job is instilling in your classes a sense of the unexpected. Look at some valuable techniques for keeping your teaching style interesting and innovative, and discover why these techniques can be more effective when they take advantage of your location or the special circumstances of the moment.
21.
Creativity and Innovation
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10.
Teaching the Critical Skills
Teachers must resist the assumption that their students know how to read critically. Here, Professor Allitt stresses the importance of having your students read aloud as a way to develop and enhance their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, tone, and other components essential to analytical reading.
10.
Teaching the Critical Skills
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22.
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
Education is for everybody. A good teacher makes all the difference. You should always uphold your students' self-esteem. The best teachers work at the most prestigious colleges and universities. Professor Allitt dispels these and other common—and sometimes controversial—illusions about teaching and American education.
22.
Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths
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11.
Engaging with Discussion, Part 1
Equally as important as critical reading skills are critical speaking skills. In the first of two lectures on this subject, discover how to make the most of your seminars with helpful ways to coax participation in your classroom, including calling on quiet students and encouraging your students to ask plenty of questions.
11.
Engaging with Discussion, Part 1
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23.
The Anatomy of a Great Teacher
Listen to professors describe their lives and learn the answer to one of the most important questions in this course: What makes a good teacher great? Some common characteristics of great teachers that you explore include thinking of teaching as a calling, not a job; being able to be self-critical; and constantly striving to improve.
23.
The Anatomy of a Great Teacher
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12.
Engaging with Discussion, Part 2
Watch class discussions in action and learn how small groups can strengthen your students' abilities to communicate intellectually; how the special type of seminar known as the case method can prepare your students for the professional world; and the vital role of humor in turning your seminar into a productive environment.
12.
Engaging with Discussion, Part 2
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24.
Teaching and Civilization
Conclude the course by taking a giant leap back and viewing the art, craft, and importance of teaching from a historical perspective. Why is education so important to advancing civilization? Who are some of history's greatest teachers? And what is the moral and political significance of this honorable and ancient profession?
24.
Teaching and Civilization
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12
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Overcome Obstacles—Demosthenes of Athens
Here, Professor Hale outlines the goals of the course. Then, he introduces you to Demosthenes—the ancient Greek orator whose life and career illustrates how practice, hard work, memorization, the acceptance of early failures, and other skills are essential to overcoming obstacles from stage fright to speech impediments.
1.
Overcome Obstacles—Demosthenes of Athens
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7.
Build a Logical Case—Susan B. Anthony
Logic should always guide the sequence of your thoughts, whether you're giving a sermon, a corporate report, or a birthday toast. Discover how to avoid digressions, offensive statements, contrarian views, and other pitfalls that may disrupt the logic of your speech, with examples from Susan B. Anthony, John Stuart Mill, and Chief Joseph.
7.
Build a Logical Case—Susan B. Anthony
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2.
Practice Your Delivery—Patrick Henry
Key to effective speaking is using your voice and body to reinforce your meaning. Using examples from Patrick Henry, Oliver Cromwell, Winston Churchill, and others, learn how the power of a speech lies not so much in words as in vocal and physical elements like tone, pitch, facial expression, and posture.
2.
Practice Your Delivery—Patrick Henry
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8.
Paint Pictures in Words—Tecumseh on Unity
Narrow your focus to the individual words and phrases you use in your speech—each of which can make your topic unforgettable. With the help of Tecumseh, Homer, Aesop, and others, examine ways to create and use evocative images, avoid mixed metaphors and hyperbole, and more.
8.
Paint Pictures in Words—Tecumseh on Unity
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3.
Be Yourself—Elizabeth I to Her Army
In order to make the deepest possible connection with your audience, it's essential to talk about yourself. This lecture provides you with advice on opening up to people about yourself—your experiences, your emotions, even your weaknesses—with some lessons taken from speeches by Elizabeth I and Sojourner Truth.
3.
Be Yourself—Elizabeth I to Her Army
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9.
Focus on Your Audience—Gandhi on Trial
Now that you've learned how to overcome obstacles and prepare, it's time to learn the essential elements of actually giving a speech. Here, Professor Hale uses famous historical figures, including Gandhi and President Kennedy, as models for how to deliver your speech to—and connect with—specific audiences.
9.
Focus on Your Audience—Gandhi on Trial
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4.
Find Your Humorous Voice—Will Rogers
Learn how to use humorous techniques such as hyperbole, incongruity, and surprise—even when your speech is of the utmost seriousness. The secret of effective humor, as speeches by Will Rogers and others show, is to ensure that each laugh makes a point and focuses your audience's attention on the topic.
4.
Find Your Humorous Voice—Will Rogers
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10.
Share a Vision—Martin Luther King's Dream
Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech is one of the most iconic speeches in modern history. More important: It's the perfect example of a speech with the power to inspire. In this lecture, discover ways to articulate and share your personal vision with an audience.
10.
Share a Vision—Martin Luther King's Dream
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5.
Make It a Story—Marie Curie on Discovery
Turn now to a series of lectures on composing effective speeches. Here, investigate the benefits of organizing information into a story to give your details weight and vividness. One powerful example of this concept at work: Marie Curie using storytelling to explain the complexities of radium—and to make them memorable.
5.
Make It a Story—Marie Curie on Discovery
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11.
Change Minds and Hearts—Mark Antony
Sometimes, you may find yourself speaking before an audience who needs to be persuaded about your point of view. Discover invaluable tips for swaying emotions and opinions by appealing to sentiments, repeating facts, and using props—just like Mark Antony does in his unforgettable speech from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
11.
Change Minds and Hearts—Mark Antony
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6.
Use the Power of Three—Paul to His People
What is the power of three? And why is it so important to writing a great speech? Find out as Professor Hale unpacks the 13th chapter from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians to demonstrate why a speech—and the examples and anecdotes it uses—should be planned in threes.
6.
Use the Power of Three—Paul to His People
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12.
Call for Positive Action—Lincoln at Gettysburg
Finish the course with a look at what Professor Hale considers the greatest speech ever written: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Two powerful lessons you can take away from Lincoln's words: Include a clear call to action near the conclusion of your speech, and always craft a strong ending.
12.
Call for Positive Action—Lincoln at Gettysburg
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