At our annual Associate Instructor Orientation on August 21st, a group of IUB instructors generously volunteered their time and wisdom to help guide our newest instructors. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing all sorts of incredible “quick tips” I learned from these instructors about active learning and leading STEM labs. Today, I want to spotlight a workshop, “Saying Things about Stuff: How to Lead an Effective Analysis-based Discussion,” led by Rich Allberry and Sara Loy. One thing I really appreciated about their workshop was their inclusion of practical strategies, such as the “Notice and Focus” activity, which they skillfully led our participants through.
The “Notice and Focus” activity encourages you and your students to slow down—like, reallyyyy slow down—and have your students spend more time with the text before rushing to interpret it. It’s a great way to avoid the all-too-common reaction of “Well, what do you think?” or the dreaded “So, do you like this?” Instead, it takes a more thoughtful approach. Here’s the simple but effective process to share with your students:
- Notice: Take a long, careful look at the text. No rushing! Write down everything you notice, even if it seems small or obvious.
- Focus: Now, review what you’ve written. Can you spot any patterns or connections?
- Analyze: Finally, ask yourself why you noticed these things. This is the golden moment when you start moving from summary to real analysis.
Sara and Rich recommend after step 3 to develop critical inquiry questions that help your students move from summary to analysis. Asking a student why they noticed something is helpful, but pointed questions can help develop students’ thoughts.
If you try this strategy in your classroom, we’d love to hear how it goes! And a huge thank you to Sara and Rich for sharing their expertise during AI Orientation and for enriching the teaching practices at IU Bloomington.
Leave a Reply