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Course number: Math 31 - Calculus II

Scaffolded, Simple and Systematic

Reflection on Instructional Change:

This idea was given to me in an undergraduate course back in 2013 when a professor of mine would do this. She would ask questions and nobody would answer, so she would just stand there and wait. And wait... And wait. Eventually someone would say something. I thought this was a great way to get folks to talk (it got me to talk!), so i vowed to use this technique when I began teaching.

I have been using this practice since the very beginning of my teaching, all the way back in graduate school. I love putting pressure back on the students to answer questions and not being worried about getting through all the day's (and therefore, semester's) content. I always get through all the content for the semester. Standing silently and waiting for someone to answer or waiting for more hands to raise is wonderful.

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There was *one* semester (my first semester) of teaching Calculus1 and I was nervous about the difficulty of the course. I didn't wait silently when asking a question, but would often answer my own questions if students didn't. This created the culture of "oh, he'll do the problem himself. Let's just wait." in my classroom. The overall course performance throughout the class was terrible.

Math classes are no longer "The Travis Show." My students do most of the work, guiding me through the problems on the board. Students will not get better at their mathematics through osmosis, but rather doing it themselves. So while I still do problems on the board, a majority of the work is done by the students.

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The Checking for Student Understanding Module was the most influential for me. The feedback from peers in this module was very useful for developing and improving my teaching style.

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I noticed that I seemed to be the only person doing "The Travis Show" in the classroom. This realization even moreso motivated me to pivot my teaching style.

Evidence of Instructional Change

Example problems are now student practice problems Problems I would previously do myself. Now I wait for them to answer.

Student succeeding on midterm after scaffolded lessons and Socratic teaching style implemented

A student demonstrating their ability to answer problems on a midterm. I equate their success on this page of integrals to their participation in class.

ACUE CISLE badge

I did it!

Practice and Reflect on: Checking for Student Understanding

I would like to discuss how my scaffolded lesson planning led to more student participation in class, and then subsequently had an overall grade average increase. Travis from four-or-so semesters ago is drastically different from Travis today. Prior to now, almost all of my instruction was given as "The Travis Show," which worked, but only to a certain degree. To implement this, I needed to become comfortable with giving students time and space to answer questions that I asked. When students continue to push back against answering questions with silence, I pushed back against them and matched their silence. While a round-about way to get students to participate, it proved to be overwhelmingly successful.

I like this method because it reinforces a teaching pedagogy of my own:

"You won't get better at mathematics through photosynthesis. You need to do math and work through problems to improve."

I repeatedly echo this mantra throughout all my classes and strongly stand by it. By putting pressure back on students to discuss, communicate and reflect on lectures, it helps them succeed through various topics in the course. When they do succeed, they feel (I hope..) a sense of accomplishment and achievement for making it through a difficult topic.

Cold-calling on students has proven to be moderately-to-very successful in my classes. I gained some feedback on different ways to make students feel less singled out. Instead of calling on a single student, call on a single column of students.

"And for the problem presented on the board, what is the technique of integration we should try? Anyone from this column of students, what do you think?"

This is one of the many minor changes that I can do to improve the technique of getting students to engage more and etc. I hope to continue fostering a culture of participatory classes in the future.

Course Syllabus

Pre ACUE: link

Post ACUE:

Syllabus: link

Calendar: link

Faculty Bio

My name is Travis Hayes and I have been working at Sacramento State University for just over 3 years. My favorite class to teach is calc2.

This work was supported by:

National Science Foundation Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM Zone DUE 1832335

CSU Office of the Chancellor Academic Affairs grant for Faculty Professional Development

US Department of Education Hispanic Serving Institution Project STEM4Equity P031C210012

*Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the US Department of Education.

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