Introduction1
Recommended Design Features
Idea 1: Design instruction so that students engage in routine practice in internalizing and applying
the concepts they are learning (and in evaluating their understanding of each) 2
Idea 2: Teach students how to assess their reading4
Idea 3: Teach students how to assess their writing5
Idea 4: Teach students how to assess their speaking7
Idea 5: Teach students how to assess their listening9
Idea 6: Design tests with the improvements of student thinking in mind10
Idea 7: Make the course “work-intensive” for the students, but not for you12
Idea 8: Use engaged lecture13
Idea 9: Require an intellectual journal (when it is relevant to your class)14
Orientation (first few days)
Idea 10: Give students a thorough orientation to the course15
Idea 11: Develop a syllabus which highlights your expectations for the students17
Idea 12: Give students grade profiles25
Idea 13: Use a “student understandings” form29
Idea 14: Explain to the students, when orienting them to the class, what will happen on a typical
class day (and why)31
Idea 15: Explain the key concepts of the course explicitly during the first couple of class
meetings32
Idea 16: Discuss class time as a time in which the students will PRACTICE thinking (within the
content) using the fundamental concepts and principles of the field33
Idea 17: Make the point that the content is a SYSTEM of interconnected ideas34
Idea 18: Think of yourself as a coach35
Idea 19: Discuss the textbook as the thinking of the author37
Daily Emphasis
Idea 20: Encourage students to think—quite explicitly—about their thinking38
Idea 21: Encourage students to think of content as a form of thinking39
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