To outsiders, college and university faculty may seem to have it easy. We are paid to think and to share that thinking; we spend a lot of time reading books, studies, and journal articles in our fields; and often we have summers “off.” In reality, faculty must balance multiple responsibilities and stakeholders, sometimes attempting to keep the schedule of a business executive, but usually without the help of paid assistants. Teaching well, in particular, takes resolve, practice, and attention paid to the needs of a diverse constituency of students; in short, excelling as a classroom leader is a challenging task that is often insufficiently emphasized or rewarded by Chairs and Deans.
We at Eager Mondays are teaching experts, and we can help you with fresh, innovative and effective responses to the sort of nagging teaching concerns that you may not have time to address without help. Maybe you have shared some of these thoughts with yourself or a colleague:
- “I’d like to give my students a clearer and more holistic understanding of what they will learn from my classes.”
- “I’d like to assign my students tasks that are intellectually engaging rather than repetitive, limited, and dull.”
- “I want my students to show more evidence of having prepared for class.”
- “I enjoy lecturing (it worked for me as an undergraduate), but I am sure that other approaches could be more engaging, student-centered, and effective.”
- “I wish my students would participate more in class.”
- “I’d like students to learn from the collaborative assignments I think up for them, and not just complain about logistics and their underperforming peers.”
- “I’d like to supplement my teaching with more in-class writing and critical thinking tasks.”
- “I’d like my students to enjoy meeting my high expectations for them.”
- “I’d like the process of providing written feedback for my students not to be so tedious, time-consuming, high-stakes, or punitive.”
- “I’d like to inspire my advanced undergraduates and graduate students and teaching assistants to discover why they want to continue work and studies in our field.”
- “I’d like to see and measure evidence that my students are learning something from my classes.”
As faculty members ourselves, the founders of Eager Mondays know what you expect and require when asking for help: enjoyable conversations, valuable consultations, and thoughtful and even innovative solutions to problems. With our focus on creativity, and on inspiring students to participate in their own learning and discovery process, we can help you recognize and take advantage of new strategies and opportunities in the areas of teaching, professional development, and academic networking.
We at Eager Mondays have the experience, strategies, case studies, and research into teaching that can help you feel more confident as a teacher, administrator, and colleague. We love talking about teaching, learning, and professional development for college faculty, and we look forward to discussing with you ways you can create professional experiences that will excite you about every aspect of your life and work as a college instructor!
Your first steps might be to sign up for our monthly newsletter for faculty:
You might also drop Andy Jones a line at andy -at- eagermondays.com to schedule a chat, a consultation, or a visit. We hope that we can help you prepare for your teaching and professional challenges!
