THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PROFESSORS

Below is a document some of you may have already seen.  If you can't read this whole thing here are its major points:

Successful professors:

1) Take the initiative to meet and talk with students... their relationship with you is one of the leading factors in their retention (and more importantly) their success.

2) Give students richer assessment and let them see examples of what you expect early on. 

3) Don't waste class time.  Know in detail exactly what you want to cover.. pick the important stuff... for each class. 

4) Like I learned in Scout training, give positive feedback in public, be critical in private.  Try to foster an environment that is win/win not one that is they can lose.

5) Listen to your students and provide ways they can "talk" to you.  Find out what they understand and don't understand first and then go from there.   I'll add one of my own here... constantly probe students for misconceptions... every class...

6) Get students to work together in class and outside of class.  Remember knowledge is socially constructed, so get them constructing.

7) This is the one the TLTC is all about: Sharpen The Saw... that is take the time to modify and rethink your course and to think of ways you can get the concepts to your students.  Technology can help sometimes but so can I walk in the woods.  Another way is to attend Teaching Breakfasts, or chat with colleagues about what they do. 



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From:   Rick Reis
Sent:   Wednesday, February 5, 2003 6:19 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        TP Msg. #457 THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PROFESSORS


           THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PROFESSORS

Written especially for an accountability-minded reader, The 7 Habits
of Highly Effective People (Covey, 1989) provides a practical
foundation on which to build successful recruiting, retention,
completion, and placement strategies. We will leave some of Covey's
concepts-such as the "circle of concern, circle of influence" and the
"emotional bank account-for you to explore (which you can do by
reading the book or by listening to one of the many audiotapes
related to it), but we will look closely at the seven habits
themselves.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Traditionally, professors have built relationships with students
slowly-often not until the students' senior year or entry into
graduate school. One could logically surmise that in the meantime,
many other students had left school because of poor academic
performance, family or other personal reasons, or the need or desire
to accept full-time employment. Our experience is that many of these
challenges can be overcome when a professor provides wise counsel
during the student's crisis. Proponents of the accountability
movement believe that the retention of students through graduation is
in the best interests of students, the employment market, and our
larger society. Therefore, it is incumbent on professors to play a
more active role in students' success.

To be proactive, professors should:

*Anticipate challenges students are likely to face and plan for their solution.
*Initiate a dialogue with as many students as possible, early in the term.
*Gather sufficient information from students in order to meet their needs.
*Orchestrate a rich initial class meeting that achieves multiple objectives.
*Follow up promptly on student inquiries for information and on absenteeism.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Many in higher education have long believed that the richness of a
liberal arts classroom combined with a comprehensive campus
experience was sufficient in and of itself to produce an educated
person. While there is unquestionably much to value in that paradigm,
the student population has changed significantly since that belief
was formulated. As we will discuss in more detail in Chapter 3,
today's college and university students are far more likely than
yesterday's to attend classes part-time while working full-time. They
are also more likely to be older and to have family responsibilities
(whether in child-rearing or caring for aging parents). These
factors, along with the expectations of the stakeholders enumerated
in Chapter 1, have heralded a call for more measurable educational
outcomes than were common during the height of traditional liberal
art education.

To begin with the end in mind, professors should integrate the
following tactics into their teaching:

*Identify specific, up-to-date learning objectives for each course
that reflect the consideration of multiple stakeholders.
*Develop richer assignments that lead to the achievement of these
objectives that are relevant to students' lives.
*Provide detailed, eye-appealing syllabi that clearly explain course
objectives, strategies, and guidelines.
*Develop exams and other assessment tools before course material is addressed.
Clarify throughout the term the objectives communicated in the course syllabus.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

When students were housed in dormitories, sorority and fraternity
houses, and other on-campus housing, and when they focused their
energies entirely on their college experience, management of class
time was not as major an issue as it has now become. Both commuting
students and on-campus residents with wide access to support
resources (e.g., computer access at home or in the dorm rooms) expect
a highly focused and rich course experience. Effective professors
manage their class meeting time not only to address the most critical
concepts when students are physiologically receptive but also to
regularly connect activities and assignments to the core content of
the course.

To put first things first, the most successful professors will learn
to employ the following tactics:

*Develop a detailed agenda for each class meeting that includes time
parameters.
*Address critical learning objectives early in the class meeting
while students are most fresh and receptive.
*Develop assignments and exams that foster students' mastery of the
most critical content of the course.
*Dedicate class time to content on which students will be evaluated.
*Provide an overview of the following class meeting that enables
students to organize their thinking in advance of new instruction.
*Communicate regularly with students via e-mail to provide
reinforcement and clarification of upcoming classroom events.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

In his book, Covey presents "six paradigms of human interactions"-(I)
lose/(you wine, lose/lose, win, win/lose, win/win, and win/win or no
deal-and states that most highly effective people employ the latter
two regularly. Often professors are perceived by students to employ
win and win/lose strategies in their interactions. Such interactions
commonly lead to outcomes that are increasingly undesirable in
today's higher education environment.  For example, has any professor
ever really won an argument with a student? Using a win/win approach
will allow professors and students to achieve shared instructional
success. Students who see the professor as a caring human being truly
invested in their well-being will not only extend themselves to meet
higher expectations but also internalize high standards for
subsequent performance.

Sensitized professors who think win/win will regularly employ the
following tactics:

*Provide positive feedback to students in front of their peers.
*Encourage flexibility on assignments to enhance students' mastery of
course learning objectives.
*Prepare students thoroughly for exams-especially the first on in the course.
*Foster students' performance by providing and reviewing the scoring
rubric for each assignment as it is being made.
*Provide prompt, individualized feedback on scored exams and assignments.
*Talk regularly with students-before and after class meetings and via
e-mail between classes-about their progress toward their personal
learning goals.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

The mind that articulated the instructional phrase "Look to your
left, now look to your rightSİ" seemed to expect listeners to
understand the subject material instantly. Being the exploring,
experimenting beings they are, however, students seldom grasp complex
ideas by hearing a professor talk at them. In The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People, Covey eloquently explains the folly of such an
approach to achieve effectiveness within any relationship. When we
reflect on it, most of us would admit that those who have had the
greatest impact on our lives first listened to us unconditionally or,
to use Covey's word, empathically. They took the initiative to truly
understand us, before expecting us to embrace their view of the
world. Effective professors have learned that they do not "teach a
discipline" so much as they teach students-students who have the
potential to grow well beyond the multiple challenges they bring with
them to the classroom. Such professors will say that the most
rewarding aspect of their profession is to see the lights come on ion
the eyes of their students. It will always be so.

Seeking first to understand and then to be understood is facilitated
by employing the following tactics:

*Use a student profile form, such as the one in Appendix 5.1. of
Chapter 5, to gather useful information on each student.
*Employ the form throughout the term to note key points that surface
in conferences with students and related critical events.
*View students' various characteristics, experiences, and attitudes
as potential enriching elements of the classroom environment.
*Use vocabulary and examples to which your students can relate.
*Solicit "informal" feedback from students throughout the term.

Habit 6: Synergize

Synergy is typically defined as "an interaction or situation in which
the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts." Covey refers
to synergy as "creative cooperation." A professor who works toward
synergy believes that a particular course should be more than the sum
of its assignments, exam results, and classroom dynamics. Each course
should truly enrich the lives of students by giving them a foundation
on which to build an understanding of subsequent classes, life
experiences, and personal insights. As former (and current) students
ourselves, we have taken many courses, some of which achieved great
synergy and others that did not. Achieving synergy requires embracing
the first five habits to draw students in and to make the course an
individualized learning event.

To synergize, professors can employ the following tactics:

*Draw out students' experiences that relate to classroom topics.
*Link assignments and discussions to students' real-world lives.
*Employ small groups of students to focus on learning goals.
*Encourage out-of-class study groups.
*Create a community that celebrates the unique nature of learning.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Covey relays a number of parables, including one about watching a man
working to saw down a tree. The man admits to being at the task for
more than five hours. When asked why he didn't stop to sharpen the
saw, he exhaustedly exclaims, "I don't have time. I'm too busy
sawing." Many professors become frustrated when their once-successful
techniques fail with a particular group of students or, even worse,
with all of their students. But, like the sawing man, they do not
take the time to sharpen their tools. They do not realize that their
results will not change until they change the way they approach the
work.

In the last few years, truly fascinating research has been conducted
on human learning. As professionals, we should invest the time to
become familiar with at least some of this research and assess its
ramifications on teaching and learning methodologies.

Continuously developing educators can employ the following tactics to
"sharpen the saw":

*Establish mentoring relationships with effective veteran instructors.
*Mentor a novice professor, regularly discussing effective teaching
strategies (Zachary, 2000).
*Annually extend beyond a single discipline to read a well-received
book on teaching and learning practices.
*Make use of on-campus workshops, discussion groups, and related
resources-which are often sponsored by one of the growing number of
teaching and learning centers.
*Access online resources (e.g., www.developfaculty.com).

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a comprehensive vehicle
for facilitating the integration of accountability principles into
your teaching. While we recommend this particular book for its proven
track record in our, and others', professional lives, there are
unquestionably additional resources available that might help you
achieve similar success in yours. Why not invest a small amount of
time to develop the foundation that will enable you to achieve
greater accountability with you various stakeholders for the
remainder of your teaching career?