IF YOU WANT TO:
Keeping the hour or two following a class open to talk with students.
Make a habit of staying after class to talk with students. "The biggest turn-off for students is for a faculty member to immediately to gather up his notes and his briefcase and virtually beat the students to the door after class," a professor of public health points out. "This suggests that he is too busy for students. I have developed a technique of loitering after class, very slowly erasing the boards and talking with students as they leave. The result is that after the first few days of class, more and more students linger as well and I get to know many of them in that way."
If another class is scheduled in the room immediately following your class, then do as a biochemistry teacher does and tell your students that you will stay in the hall for ten minutes following lecture to respond to students' short questions.
Hold office hours immediately following class. The same biochemistry teacher also schedules his office hours to follow the class meeting. "That way students who bring up more complicated questions right after class are invited to accompany me back to my office. I've found that students are more likely to have questions or comments at the end of a class when the material is still fresh," he notes. "This strategy lets me address their concerns immediately."
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California