Maybe you’d like to combine the two loves of your life, teaching and scholarship, and perhaps build a satisfying and profitable academic career, but you’re not sure if this is really what you want or how to go about it. Or maybe you’ve made up your mind but need some good advice on how to succeed. If so, this book is written for you. So You Want To Be a Professor begins with a discussion of jobs in academia and how to find them. Chapters cover a wide range of political skills for future academic success, including lecturing, organizing a course, meeting your first class, testing, maintaining a research program, and writing for publication. No other book provides such a practical overview of essential career-building skills. Even junior faculty will benefit from the advice in this engaging, comprehensive book.

Presenting a Course

Presenting a course

There are many ways to build the scaffolding that helps your students construct what they learn. A major part of course organization is deciding what form of presentation you will use. In this chapter, I discuss the most widely used method of presentation—the lecture—and then present some alternatives to the lecture method of instruction.

Lecturing

The lecture method of instruction has received a lot of bad press lately. Some educators will somewhat haughtily proclaim “they don't lecture,” leaving the impression that all those who do lecture are educational Neanderthals.

The lecture method of instruction should not be so readily committed to its grave. A great lecture can be as effective as any method of instruction, and, done well, can be a memorable experience. ...

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