Adapting to meet students’ needs

Describe a challenge you have wrestled with in your teaching

When I came to UW Bothell in 2014, I struggled with my teaching. My students were not doing very well and were not happy in my classes. Over the next few years, I made a series of major adjustments to my teaching and the way I supported students that were quite effective. I felt like I had figured out teaching.

The pandemic and the return to in-person teaching changed everything. I now see students struggling in numbers that I have not experienced since I first started teaching at UW Bothell. A lot has been said about pandemic-era learning loss, but it seems that the issue is bigger than students not remembering all the math they need for my Calculus I courses. They seem overwhelmed by the demands of college, and many seem unsure that they can meet expectations due to their pandemic-era experiences.

What did you do to solve or overcome that challenge?

I have not overcome this challenge, but I have made progress in different ways.

First, I introduced just-in-time review in Calculus I. I explicitly review and have students practice prerequisite skills for a calculus topic before introducing the topic. For example, we review trigonometry prior to talking about the derivatives of trigonometric functions. I focus on reviewing the skills most necessary for what we will be doing in calculus. I create time for review by using a flipped teaching format.

Next, I worked with associate teaching professor, Nicole Hoover, to create a stretch Calculus I course, where we teach Calculus I over two quarters. The slower pace provides ample opportunity for structured review, discussion of college readiness skills, and time for students to adjust to college expectations. The proportion of students passing both quarters of stretch calculus is comparable to the proportion of students passing Calculus I prior to the pandemic.

It has been harder to address all the other reasons that students are struggling in Calculus I. I now provide explicit instruction on many things that students used to figure out on their own, like how to sign up for the online homework system, how to upload things to Canvas, and why homework is important. In the week leading up to each exam, I talk about the format of the exam and how to study for the exam.

One specific intervention that has been especially successful is a daily low-stakes check in with students while they are working in groups. I check their in-class work and assign participation points during class. I used to have students upload their work to Canvas, but this has been a lot less work for me, and it gives me a chance to check in with every student every day. My class attendance is now 80-100%, and students seemed more willing to reach out with issues and more responsive to other types of intervention like advisor outreach.

What did you learn from that experience?

The most important lesson I learned is that solutions to issues we encounter in our teaching are not permanent. Practices that were amazingly effective in the past might no longer connect with a new group of students because we all change over time. The need for revision does not necessarily mean that we did something poorly or improperly in the past. We must constantly reflect on our teaching practice and adapt to meet the needs of the students we have in our classrooms.

I have learned that revising our courses does not mean that we need to throw everything out. Rather, we need to identify data points that we can use to make targeted changes. I look at students’ introductory assignments, student feedback, homework completion and attendance. Building relationships with students often gives us the information we need to focus on pain points and provide support or targeted instruction to move students through those moments.