By Breana Bayraktar, Tips for Teaching Professors
By mid-semester, even the promise of beautiful fall weather and your choice of pumpkin-flavored treats might not be enough inspiration. Grading is piling up, students are tired, and the plan you made in August may not match the reality of October. The good news is that the middle of the term is a great time for a quick reset.
Here are three questions that I find especially useful:
What did I plan that is no longer serving us?
Compare your syllabus to what is actually happening. If a reading, assignment, or activity isn’t doing the work you hoped, consider trimming or swapping it. Cutting something is often a gift to both you and your students.
Take a good look at your grading backlog…
If you’re behind, you’re not alone, and the answer is rarely “grade faster.” Instead:
- Triage. Sort what’s outstanding by what students need first in order to do their next piece of work. Grade those assignments first.
- Shrink the feedback. Not every assignment needs extensive comments. Try two or three targeted comments focused on the skill students will use next, or a short audio or video comment, which many instructors find faster than writing.
- Reconsider the scale. Does every assignment need a full rubric and points? A simple check/revise/redo system can preserve accountability with far less time.
- Set a deadline and share it. Tell students when they can expect their work back, then protect that time on your calendar. A realistic promise kept is better than an ambitious one missed.
Who have I not heard from lately?
Look at who has stopped attending, missed work, or gone quiet in discussions. Midterm results can land hard. Some students feel discouraged, others disappear, and some assume it’s too late to turn things around.
- Reach out individually. A brief, warm message (“I noticed you’ve missed a few things and wanted to check in”) helps, especially for students unsure whether it’s okay to ask for help.
- Normalize the dip. Say out loud that midterm season is exhausting and that the second half is a fresh chance to adjust strategies.
- Offer a concrete next step. Instead of “come to office hours,” try “let’s spend 10 minutes looking at your exam and plan one change for the next unit.” Specific invitations are far easier to accept.
- Preview what’s ahead. Remind students of major deadlines, how remaining work builds on what they’ve done, and where support is available. People re-engage more easily when they can see the path forward.
What do students need to know about the rest of the semester?
Take a few minutes to preview what’s ahead: major deadlines, how the remaining work builds on what they’ve done, and where support is available. Students often feel more motivated when they can see the path forward. This is also a great place to share with them what you learned from any midterm surveys, reflections, or feedback from students you may have collected. And if you’ve not implemented any, it’s not too late.
You may be thinking – can I really make changes now?
I know I often am guilty of continuing down a path just because I’ve already invested my time and mental resources into it – but I’m trying to break that habit with some more objective and clear-eyed evaluation of where my efforts are going and whether these efforts are securing the results I want. Small changes can have big impacts, and a little course correction now can help everyone finish strong.