Reflective Essays Tomball Spring 2016

Reflections on ACP

Tomball Spring 2016

Pruden, Sunnye R | Facilitator

Adria Berry
EDUC 1300
May 2, 2016

Adjunct Certification Program Reflective Essay
I am grateful for the Adjunct Certification Program. I gained valuable
knowledge and insight from this program and will never teach in the same way
again. The main thing I learned from this program was that while I may have been
doing a good job of engaging my students, I need to do better. Often, I used too
many teacher-led activities and I needed to focus more on student-led activities.
This program opened my eyes to this reality and gave me the tools to act on it and
make a change. I was totally open and ready for all of the changes that came my way
during the ACP, but most of them have required some work. I don’t have a lot of
time to re-work all of my lessons, but I’ve been doing it anyway.
I have incorporated the knowledge I’ve gained into my classroom in several
ways. The first way is through using new technology that Sunnye taught us about
during class. For example, I’m working on Kahoots now and will use Zaption and
TEDEd when I teach an online section in the Fall. Second, I’ve begun completing full
lesson plans before I teach a lesson. Therefore, my students are getting the full
benefit of BOPPPS. I wasn’t always clear about our class objective and definitely
didn’t ever do a Pre-Assessment or Summary before ACP. Those are now becoming
the norm in my class so students expect them. Third, I’ve begun researching more
student-led activities and have made sure to limit my lecture time. Learning about
CATs has been so helpful and all of the resources to find them is priceless.

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I’ve become a more effective instructor through utilizing the BOPPPS
strategy. Lessons flow smoothly and students know exactly what to expect at the
beginning of each class meeting. By planning out higher-level questions ahead of
time, my students are sure to be constantly challenged whereas I used to ask most of
my questions on the fly. Students have always and will always be my primary focus
so this course taught me new and fresh ways to have student-led classes.

I believe that all faculty can benefit from more technology training. I’ve
heard a rumor that the Tomball campus will have an optional Instructional
Technology training program in the fall and I’m looking forward to hearing more
details about this. Technology can be overwhelming, especially since it changes
constantly. A course that presents new programs, software, and teaching tools
while also giving instructors plenty of hands-on time to learn to use them will be
incredibly useful.

I think that having time to sit and chat with fellow instructors was a priceless
opportunity that I definitely don’t get enough of during the semester. We all teach
at different times so there are times that weeks go by where I don’t even see another
instructor in person. It can be a little isolating at times and could cause a disconnect
if I didn’t actively search for connections on campus.

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Reflective Essay

Ashley Majzun

No matter how long someone has been teaching, there is always something new to
learn. I think this is the beauty of teaching. This program has definitely helped me learn not
only about additional resources that I can use in my classroom, but also that learning does
not stop in the classroom. When I first entered the program, I had so many questions in
regards to how I could improve my teaching methods and create a classroom environment
that was more effective. By the end, I have learned so many new things, including new
student preparation strategies, classroom assessment techniques, and new technology that
I can integrate into my lessons. I have also learned the significance of classroom
environment and how it can affect my students. In conjunction with this, I gained new
insight into how I can foster the motivation that my students have and help them learn
more efficiently by getting to know them and also being prepared as well. I enjoyed
learning about the BOPPS lesson plan because it gave me an opportunity to review how
prepared I am for my classes. If nothing else, the BOPPS lesson plan allows me to put more
thought into what I want to do during class, as well as helps me manage my time.

I currently have one online class and two calculus recitations. Although most of the
techniques and strategies I have learned were for a traditional classroom, I have used new
techniques in both of my classes. First, in my calculus recitations, I have been using the
BOPPS lesson plan as a kind of a framework for what I am going to cover since I am not
responsible for teaching new content, but instead reinforcing already learned concepts.
Immediately, I saw a different reaction in my students (even in my 8:30 am class) when I
hooked them in the beginning with a bridge. Similarly, I have used what I have learned
about creating a sense of community in the classroom for my online class. I have been
reaching out to my students who fall behind on work, as well as sending out encouraging
announcements for them to keep up the great work they are doing thus far. Again, I had
immediate results with students thanking me for checking up on them and answering any
questions that they had.

Because of how quickly I have seen the results of what I have learned in this
program, I can confidently say that without a doubt, this program has made me a more
effective teacher. Even without these results, it has made me more reflective on how I teach
and how I may be coming across to my students. My focus isn’t so much on what my
students may not be doing, but how I can do everything that I can to help them along. This
program has made me more understanding of my students, as well as better prepared and
organized.

Overall, this program was so amazing that I feel that every instructor should attend.
At the very least, I would love to attend professional development on an annual basis to
ensure that I am up to date on the newest and most effective teaching strategies. The only
thing I could suggest is that there could be content specific professional development
activities. Although general teaching strategies across all classrooms is important, I feel
that there may be different techniques and strategies that work best depending on the
discipline. Other than this, the Adjunct Certification program is wonderful in its current
state. I want to thank Lone Star College for this opportunity. I went to find better methods
to change my students lives, and in the process, it has changed mine.

Reflective Essay-Barbara Keith
On Day 1, when I heard the word lesson plans I though “Oh no, this is one of the reasons I
stopped teaching 8th grade”. But that is because I did not know how to lesson plan using
BOPPPS, nor did I know how easy lesson planning would be. I always had the intention of
setting aside some time to lesson plan, but the task was to daunting that I never took time to
lesson plan. Honestly, I didn’t know where to begin. Plus I though a class discussion or group
work along with a lecture was good enough. The biggest insight I have gained from the Adjunct
Certification Program was learning how to lesson planning using the BOPPPS method and that
tons of lesson plans already exist and I don’t have to start from scratch. I just needed to learn
how to find them online, where to look. To search lesson repository would find me tons of
lessons, and I have never even heard of the word lesson repository. Now that I have the resources
where to find lesson plans my idea of planning my lessons will actually happen now!

Another big insight I gained from ACP was, a lesson became easy to plan once you knew
why you needed to plan. I learned that having an objective would help me to guide the lesson to
what my students should learn vs. just learning. Learning how to write a good objective helped
me so much, so that I can get to the higher level of learning; which is ultimately where I want my
students to be. The handouts to me were like cheat sheets from writing objectives to writing
higher level questions. The handouts gave such good guidance on how to do it, which made
doing each part of the BOPPPS much easier.

Immediately, as I learned something in ACP I tried it in my hybrid class. For example, I
used socrative the next day and I also used the concept of giving a floating due date. Also the
technology class honestly was so helpful. I was able to upload a zaption lesson in D2L that day.
And using zaption will be great for my hybrid classes. The lesson I made in ACP I will use for

my summer class. The syllabus snapshot I plan to use for all my future classes and I will from
now on hand each student a prep strategy for every class. And over the summer I will redo all my
lessons with my co-workers that were in ACP and then use those lessons.

Oh my gosh, I knew that I needed help, I just didn’t know where I needed to begin. I had
the activity part of a lesson down, but not the other parts. ACP made me a more effective
instructor by showing me how easy it is to lesson plan and the importance of each part of the
BOPPPS. Going over each piece of the BOPPPS helped me, I never how important it was for
pre-assessment and post-assessment. Teaching EDUC 1300, my students think my topic is
common sense. So understanding that it’s important to do a pre-assessment for my benefit and
my students was helpful. It will help me figure out that maybe there are some things in my
lecture that I can skip and it gives my students more of a voice. Also I was not even doing a post
assessment, because I didn’t want to quiz my students to death. But there are ways of asking
questions and it is important to find out what they learned to see if I was effective or not. Believe
it or not I have had students tell me at the end of the year that they wanted some kind of post-
assessment. I always ask my students for feedback so that I may be a better professor. I just
didn’t know there were different ways to do the post assessment, so learning those techniques
will definitely make me more effective.

I have 2 suggestions that I have for further professional development opportunities, is to
offer a follow up to this class. I would love to see a maybe one day or couple half days where
students who completed this program get to create more of their lessons using BOPPPS. During
this process I even wanted to create more lessons immediately just to get feedback on those
lessons. I’m lucky I have co-workers who took this program with me and we plan to do this, but
I still might just email Sunnye and ask is this right or what are your thoughts, comments on this

lesson. Kind of like a feedback work day would be great. Also I would love a follow up on the
technology class, it was the best. Again a format where we get to continue what we started in
class, having computers open with a station for each. I feel I could have benefitted from having
more time at each computer because I didn’t go to each station. Even though you can do this at
home, sometimes it helps having others to ask how to use this type of technology especially
since it’s new.

ACP REFLECTIVE ESSAY

As I have concluded my experience in the ACP, several things come to mind that will continue
to have an impact upon my future teaching endeavors. As a physician, I have spent a lot of time
in college and post-graduate level courses. Therefore, I have observed many, many hours of
teaching that was concentrated mostly in the hard sciences. For the most part, my educational
experiences have consisted of receiving massive amounts of information whereby I was
expected to regurgitate this information on periodic exams. Even though I found comradery
among my fellow students, this kind of education was not an engaging experience and was
seldom inspiring. This teaching was done this way presumably because it has always been
taught that way and I accepted this as the norm and sort of a “paying of my dues” in order to
become a physician. As I was exposed to this course and the ideas discussed by professor
Pruden, I began to wonder about why most of the most effective methods had been omitted
from my education. As a result then, my reflections now on the ACP course including Blooms
impact, engagement, and future learning effectiveness, all originate from this stark comparison.

As mentioned above, most of my experiences in education have consisted of the very lowest
order of blooms level thinking fed to students by “firehose” methodology. As a result, most of
my peers at graduation had become masters of memorization and information regurgitation.
While mastering lots of facts, my pears were very unprepared for higher level thinking that
required application and analysis. Unfortunately, the job that we were specifically being
prepared for, required taking the lower-level information and using it for higher level thinking.
As a result, medical school graduates by and large, including myself, felt very unprepared for
the clinical setting upon graduation since patients rarely present in multiple choice format. It is
no wonder that most physicians feel that they learned more their first year in residency than all
of their classes combined.

In addition to being exposed to only low-level teaching from a bloom’s perspective, very seldom
did my instructors attempt to engage students or build rapport as a common interest in
medicine and patients. As we discussed in the ACP course, teaching is seldom effective if the

student cannot clearly see the value of what they are learning. In other words, it is difficult to
fully engage the mind without first capturing the heart. By engaging students and building a
commonality of purpose, students become inspired to learn more. In this way, learning with a
purpose is always more effective that learning for the sake of an exam.

Lastly, and sadly, for many educators, they naturally will teach in the manner that they were
taught. As I began to teach Anatomy and Physiology, I was quite proud to tell my students that
this course will be the hardest course that they have taken. The implication being that if you
want to be in my world, you must first suffer as I have suffered. In other words, the onus of
engagement was placed upon the student to suffer for the sake of their goals. While there is
some validity to the claim that goals mean work, this approach excused me as the teacher from
doing anything extra that would enhance learning, engage the students more, and cause
students to actually think about what they were learning. The ACP experience has illustrated
clearly how this approach will not only limit my effectiveness as a teacher but will limit my own
approach to future learning as well.

By considering the levels of thinking, the engagement of students, and the desire to be more
effective, I have already dramatically shifted my approach to teaching and to students. By
asking questions that require thought and by intentionally bridge-building in my classes, I have
seen a dramatic difference in the level of interest and engagement of my students. This has
been evidenced by students actually staying after class to ask questions about the material and
its impact upon them. Therefore by just incorporating a few things that I have acquired from
the ACP experience, I have already become a more effective teacher that is focusing on higher
levels of learning. Therefore, for me as an educator, the ACP has been a very valuable
experience. I believe that expanding the course could prove valuable as well for teachers that
have completed the initial ACP. I believe that a self-paced online program that would allow
participants to spend more time on specific aspects of the course, like preparatory learning and
teaching tools with new technology, would deepen the value that was already gained by ACP
participants.

ADJUNCT CERTIFICATION PROGRAM REFLECTION

David C. Turner April 28, 2016

As a new adjunct to the Lone Star College System with LSC-Tomball, I am always excited to seize
every available opportunity to grow professionally and to become a better educator for my students, as
well as to help fulfill the vision, mission, and goals of the college. So when the adjunct certification
program opportunity came up, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the program. I
didn’t really fully understand what I was getting myself into, or what all it would entail, but I dove in
head first. Just like doctors and lawyers who practice medicine and law, educators practice the art of
educating students. We don’t know everything there is to know about teaching and learning because it
is a unique field that is always changing and evolving. As our students change and are different, so must
our instructional methods be to better serve them. Entering into the adjunct certification program, I
have gained many valuable insights from my participation in this program that have reignited my
passion for teaching. I am excited to implement the new technologies that I have discovered through
this course into my classroom instruction; and even more excited to see how it will benefit my students
and help them to grow. You cannot place a specific value on knowledge because it is priceless.
Knowledge is the only thing that we can gain that no one can ever take away from us; therefore, I would
rate the knowledge that I have gained from the ACP course as priceless. I am a better educator for going
through this course. In addition to the value, knowledge, and insights that I have gained from the ACP, I
have also learned a great deal of things to incorporate into my classroom instruction.

One of the tools that I have incorporated into my classroom right away is Zaption. Zaption is a
very fun and interesting way to imbed questions directly into videos from YouTube and other sites. You
can even embed your own videos into Zaption. Before I discovered this site, I would use clips from
YouTube, Ted.com, Khan Academy, and other sites to supplement my instruction; however, I would
have to pause the videos myself and then ask the students questions. When I am teaching an online

ADJUNCT CERTIFICATION PROGRAM REFLECTION

David C. Turner April 28, 2016

course, it was impossible for me to stop the video for students as they watched it on their own and I

would just have questions for them that they could answer during or after the video. All of this was the

OLD WAY of doing things and it was somewhat effective; however, with Zaption, my online students are

going to benefit more from instructional videos embedded with questions because it will be more true

to a face to face classroom and be more engaging. I also learned other instructional technology tools

such as plickers and socrative. These polling/quiz programs help to get quick and easy formative and

summative assessment data. I would utilize these tools more for formative assessments and checks, but

they are a great tool to engage students in the learning process. Some teachers are intimidated by using

technology in the classroom; however, I embrace it in my daily practice of teaching. Technology makes

teaching more efficient and effective when it works properly and is used properly. In this technology rich

society that we live in, exposure to multiple technology platforms is going to be a great benefit to our

students as they acquire skills that they need in order to compete in the job market.

I would like to see more professional development opportunities similar to the Adjunct
Certification Program that included more innovative teaching methods, the latest instructional
technology platforms, teaching best practices, student engagement, and on how to prepare for a full-
time position with the college. I would also like to see more professional development opportunities
that are geared towards online learning because our online course offerings are expanding and we need
more support to engage these students and to help them to be successful. Most of my courses are
taught online because it is more flexible for me in conjunction with my full-time job and other
responsibilities. I know that many of our students who work full-time and have families and other
responsibilities choose online coursework for the same reasons as well. I want to show them that a
healthy work-life balance can be achieved while pursuing your degree and I will lead this initiative by
example because I am in the same boat as my students. More trainings or professional development in
this area would help other professors as well as myself to improve our online courses and instruction.

Dr. Denise Tischler Millstein
English Department
May 2, 2015

Reflective Essay

I am glad that I gave up Wednesday nights for the Adjunct Certification Program. In fact,
I have already recommended it to two colleagues. They were both excited about the program,
and I would not be surprised to learn that they had signed up for the next session. They had heard
about the program, of course, but weren’t sure what it was all about. I explained that it was very

much like a refresher to the Practicum I had in graduate school with one key difference: we get
to talk about strategies for several disciplines, which I enjoyed learning, and it is taught by and
for experienced fellow teachers. I think that learning what instructors in other disciplines do and
don’t do in the classroom, the challenges they too face, as well as what they value most was
really unifying. I just knew that I would bond with the English teachers in the program, but that’s

not what happened. Instead, I found myself expanding my circle to include teachers in the
sciences. In other words, two valuable things I learned was that instructors experience much the
same thing, regardless of what subject they teach (or even what campus they come from) and
that we can certainly learn from each other.

More specifically, as a teacher, I learned a lot about what our students (as millenials)
have come to expect of us as their instructors. I had already noticed a number of these things
myself, but assumed they were tied to the school where I was. Apparently, that’s not true: it IS a
generational issue. For instance, when I was a student, I never dreamed that any of my professors
would forge personal relationships with me, much less care about if or how well I was learning.
My learning was put squarely on my shoulders, not theirs. But then again, I went to a really big

school. I am actually glad to hear that students today like their professors to take an interest in
them as people. It just matches up with my personality in the classroom, and now I know not to
feel funny about this connection, but rather that students actually appreciate it. I also like to see
that students expect teachers to take responsibly for actually doing their jobs. I never felt like I
had any recourse at my big school if I ended up with a terrible or disinterested (bored?) teacher.
Today, I think the expectation is for something completely different. I want to try to meet that
challenge.

I also learned a lot about how technology in and for the classroom has evolved over the
last fourteen years especially. I have always tried to bring in physical objects, film or TV clips,
music, PowerPoints, and etc. but I was woefully behind about how useful cell phones can be to
encouraging student engagement, for instance. They don’t have to be a mere pain in my side, a
distraction, I’ve discovered; they can become tools for learning. I particularly love the polling
and quizzing sites we talked about. I have already started incorporating phones into my current
lesson plans when and where I can. And, I know that next semester I will be planning for them
from the start. (Students, I think, even enjoy trying to find the answer quicker than their
classmates, one thing I never expected.)

I am not sure just yet if this program has made me a more effective teacher or not. I can
say, however, that it has provided me with an infusion of enthusiasm for teaching that I was
deeply in need of. In graduate school, I was co-chair of the graduate student Pedagogy
Committee. As junior faculty, I oversaw our army of GTAs and even helped the graduate student
committee give out a $1000 Graduate Teaching Award. In other words, I had always loved
teaching, talking about teaching, best practices, and etc. But, if I’m honest, I was getting so burnt
out from putting in so much for so many years that I was starting to consider if I should make a

career pivot to another industry. I am happy to report that the Adjunct Certification Program has
given a new spark to my old passion. It has reminded me that a merely “good” day in the
classroom is better than the best day in any other job. And, a “great teaching day” fills me with
an indescribable feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment, one that makes me think I’m crazy for
ever considering doing ANYTHING else.

I know that my department at least has several opportunities for instructors who would
like to have more professional development. There are Brown Bag lunches and a professional
reading circle that adjuncts can join to talk about teaching and to get new information about our
profession. I also see that COTE offers lots of opportunities for more formalized workshops and
“classes.” However, I haven’t done any of these things, and I haven’t really considered what else
might be offered to help make adjuncts feel more like the valued professionals they (we) are. I
was tenure-track once, and I know firsthand that not all professors feel that adjuncts are worth
the time and effort. Thanks for NOT being one of them, but rather for spending the time and
lending your expertise.

Jennifer Richardson
ACP Spring 2016

Portfolio Assignments: Reflection

Since I have had no formal teacher training, I began teaching the way that I preferred to
learn. I'm a traditional sort of student. I learn best when I sit in a lecture and take notes. So, that
is how I taught. I admit, I could tell that the students, as a rule, were not receptive to that style of
teaching; but I put blinders on. It was them, not me. They needed to grow up, mature.

In effect, I see now, I was avoiding the issue because I did not know any other way. I did
not know how to engage them in a way with which I was comfortable. I didn't want to turn into
some touchy-feely teacher with touchy-feely games and touchy-feely grading methods that spoke
to young people who were disciplined enough to just pay attention.

What I've been fortunate enough to realize through ACP is the fact that there are
countless ways a teacher can engage students that do not originate in that far left end of the
spectrum that I dislike and was avoiding. There are so many clever mechanisms and techniques
that even I could enjoy as the teacher one could use to get students interested. For example,
mobile phones have always been a forbidden evil in my classroom, but now I’m anxious to try
several different ideas that involve students ‘ringing in’ with their mobile devices. The jigsaw
method, too, is another favorite takeaway. I’ve attempted something akin to this that I came up
with on my own, but it didn’t quite feel solid or sensible. Reading out the jigsaw method filled in
the gaps and it will definitely be something I will incorporate.

Structuring the class through a thoughtful lesson plan, too, is something so simple but
that I've never done. I will do it going forward now. A BOPPPS-style lesson will give a sense of
completeness, a sense of accomplishment to each class period. I think that is really important and
I did not know how to tackle that before.

Jennifer Richardson
ACP Spring 2016

Perhaps the most important revelation I’ve had over the course of the last several weeks
is that the more ownership the students feel of our class, the more invested they will be. I am
determined and excited to completely throw out my previous what-I-was-calling-lesson-plans
this summer and start from scratch on my curriculum. I will bring to my planning and then bring
to my classes in the fall that acute awareness that the students need to be made to feel that what
we are doing matters personally to them and that they have some stake/say in how we go about
learning it. There, therefore, has to be a cohesion to my class that has never existed before.
We’ve randomly moved from unit to unit, abruptly, with no logical or intuitive segues. That has
to change.

I want to develop an overarching theme that will remain with us throughout the entire
semester, one that can be referenced and utilized no matter what writing or analysis technique we
are studying. I want the students to see my class as a comfortable academic space, one where
they don’t have to be constantly regrouping and reassessing each time we switch units.
Regrettably, I feel this has been the case thus far. ACP has provided me with the ability to
recognize this and a passionate desire to want to correct it.

So, I'm grateful for this experience, grateful for to the resources to which we have been
exposed and grateful to you, Sunnye, for your patient enlightenment, energy, passion, and
appreciation. How wonderful it would be if these pedagogy-type workshops or intensives were
available to faculty, adjunct and full time, on a regular basis. We’ve never had a faculty fellow at
Tomball, but are getting one this fall. Maybe this will facilitate the sort of thing I mean: open
sessions that share new technologies, review CATs, focus on the discrete portions of BOPPPS. If
the sessions are as engaging and worthwhile as ACP has been, I think the entire instructional
body would benefit from continued pedagogical instruction.

Katerina Wingfield
Reflective Essay

The Adjunct Certification Program was a very enlightening experience. Since I started teaching
at Lone Star College, I had hopes of exploring this opportunity. I found that it truly exceeded my
expectations. As an experienced teacher, it is easy to get caught up in the idea that you have it all
figured out. Many times in education, educators get complacent with what they have been doing and
what has been working to get them from one semester to the next. This program shows educators that
there is so much more to science of teaching.

The Adjunct Certification Program has given me so many tools to enhance my teaching. I’ve
gained several benefits from this program. One thing I have gained from this program is understanding
the importance of student engagement. I have always been the kind of educator that really likes to
have students interact in class, however, this program took me to another level. In an ever-changing
world, it is important to keep up with what creates and fosters student engagement. I’ve learned that
each student is different, however, there are creative ways to cater to them all. The second thing I have
learned is the importance of technology to the classroom. Many of our students have spent all of their
educational life in the presence of some form of technology. In order to continue to reach them, we as
educators have to research and implement technology into our lessons. This is a much needed tool to
ensure student mind stimulation. Another important idea that I have taken away from this class is the
need to thoroughly lesson plan. It is important to visualize your lesson and create a plan that actually
reaches your intended goal. The BOPPPS lesson plan module allows educators to create a student goal
and then design the stepping stones to get to that goal. Student engagement, technology use, and
lesson plan preparation are all very important tools/ideas that I have gained and developed by
participating in this program.

The knowledge that I have gained from the Adjunct Certification Program is priceless. I have

already started to use this information. I have incorporated several technology tools in my class. I used

Plickers as a pre-assessment activity. The students seemed to be more interested in the idea of the

lesson when playing this game. I have also used Kahoot as a post-assessment tool. I have also started to

alter my lesson plans to incorporate the BOPPPS format. This has allowed me to really be effective in

reaching the intended objectives for my lessons. I am not drifting from what I want students to truly

gain from the lesson. The BOPPPS allows you to plan everything that will happen in class, from the

lesson introduction, to the questions that are considered relevant, to the close of the lesson to check for

understanding.

I believe that I am definitely on the path to be a more effective instructor. I am confident that I

will be more successful at reaching more students that enter my classes. Professor Pruden has provided

us with a wealth of knowledge to guarantee a higher level of learning and instructing in our classrooms.

I am more excited and feel more equipped to effectively work with my students and guide their learning

process. I also feel like I am more effective in area of organization. The information provided by

Professor Pruden requires a high level of teacher organization which in turn can increase and improve

student organization. I am more effective in preparation, technology usage, objective planning, and

engaging my students.

I truly feel that this program is a wonderful asset for instructors. There was not many things

that I would change about this program. However, in an effort to provide ideas for forward thinking, my

suggestions would include the following:

1. Increase the length of the program: this would allow more time to practice concept
execution.

2. Separate educator disciplines to allow for a more defined group to develop an effective
professional learning community for departments.

3. Incorporate this into some sort of requirement for all new educators and extend it a little
longer through their first semester. It should begin at the beginning of the semester for
returning instructors.

These are the only suggestions that I would bring to the table. I do believe, however, that the program
in its current state is great.

This has been a very enlightening and humbling experience. I realize that there are so many
more things to learn about educating our students. I also realized that I enjoy working with other
professionals who share the same passion and drive that I have to educate. Professor Prudent was
awesome and I enjoyed going through this experience with her and my fellow Lone Star educators.

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Reflective Essay

By Kimberly Pruner

The adjunct certification program was something I have been
planning to embark on for a few years now, but I kept postponing it.
Honestly, I have to admit I was rather reluctant to sign up for this
course because I have been teaching for a while. My hesitation and
skepticism stemmed from I suppose, “What else is there to know”? I
know my subject, I teach the material with all my heart and soul, so
what’s left? The answer I found was that there is a lot to learn, from
planning a lesson with objectives to pre and post assessment
strategies.

So to address the question, “How have you incorporated
knowledge gained into your classroom and what value and insights
did I gain in the adjunct program? The information I learned in the
adjunct certification program was so beneficial. First of all, as our
book, Teaching Tips, By Mckeachie so eloquently points out that
teaching is about learning not about teaching. The first and most
important point that was really at the core of this course were the
objectives. Prior to taking this course, my objectives were informally
defined, so for example I was more focused on the “download” of
information from the text then how a student may or may not process
the information that was provided. I plan on using objectives to frame
how my lectures are formed in the future for each class meeting.

Furthermore, I plan on revamping my fall courses to reflect these
new lesson strategies. My large focus will be specifically to use pre-
assessment methods, this I think this was definitely a missing link
in the courses I have taught in the past. Previously, I would assign,
“chapter questions”, but these questions lacked the higher cognitive

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level of critical thinking, according Blooms Taxonomy.
Additionally, this method was also problematic because the students
were not applying the concepts, and typically if you can’t relate back
the material to specific events then they will likely forget what they
have learned. After completion of the ACP course, I learned and
devised a way of incorporating current events and then tying these
back into relevant concepts in their readings.

Motivational and participatory lessons I believe are closely
linked, as if I can create a dynamic classroom, motivation will likely
increase. Participation in my courses in the past were not
problematic, I believe this was because of the many graphic and
controversial topics that we discuss. However, there is always a
handful of students who were always actively engaged while several
others sat quietly in the back of the classroom. This became an issue
because typically I tie a small percentage of the grade to open
discussions.

This course offered me great insight in terms of how to remedy
these issues. The first solution, was the parking lot (I renamed this to
the halfway house) this where I can put questions on hold and return
to them, particularly if they were off-subject. The other solution was
to distribute poker chips each time a student participated in the
discussion. (I will use inmate-homemade playing cards instead)
Once students received 3 playing cards they had reached their goal
for today’s discussion.

Another strategy I plan on incorporating is the use of pre-
planned discussion questions, in conjunction with “Interpreted
lecture”. This strategy, really encourages an active learning
environment. Students will be engaged by either being called upon
for a response, or volunteer to answer to these planned questions.

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Additionally, another strategy I learned was “pair share” or a team
based strategy, this allows students to feel more comfortable with the
assignment and it also aids in comradery in the classroom. This
strategy I plan on using with the “Post-assessment”. Here I plan on
incorporating either student generated test questions and/or
crossword puzzles as a homework assignment. This will offer insight
as to how well they have processed the material.

So to answer the question “How has this course made you a
more effective instructor”? This course offered fabulous insight as
creating an active learning atmosphere and how to engage students
in the classroom. It has made me a more effective by providing
valuable tools to use in the classroom, which has also has re-energized
me! I believe that I can convey the material differently now, with a
variety of strategies that may reach even the weakest student. I think
I will be more effective instructor because I understand that it’s not
just about the content, it’s the “delivery method”, which comes in an
array of techniques.

In response to the question of professional development
opportunities, I would like to see a course specifically designed for on-
line courses. A course builder, one that is designed an aids in
student’s success for the on-line community. What is the most
effective way on-line to convey material? Perhaps this should be
discipline specific, Social sciences, Math, English etc. because what
works in one subject may not work in another.

Adjunct Certification Program - Reflective Essay

Value, Knowledge and Insight that I have gained from this class.

Teacher’s teaching teacher’s how to teach. That is how I described this class to friends
and family. I was both excited and annoyed at the same time. I am person that is open to new
experiences so when I heard about the class, I immediately signed up. I like a challenge, I like
gaining new knowledge, I like becoming better at my job. I wanted to learn new thing from this
class. However, there was a part of me that was annoyed. What do you mean I need to learn
how to be a professor? I’ve been doing this for over 15 years with great reviews. Surely, I don’t
really need this class. I was wrong! Very, very wrong. I did need this class. I believe all faculty
need this class. I may have been a professor for many years but I was not the best professor I
could be, not at all. I know my subject well, but I did not really know how to teach.

There are two main insights I have gained from this class that will positively effect my
students for years to come. The first one is that I haven’t really been student focused. Of
course, I thought that I but in reality I was not. I taught in the traditional way, I stood at the front
and dispense knowledge at a rapid rate and expected the students to figure the rest of it out on
their own. This allowed me to be in my comfort zone and really did not effectively reach my
students. I have learned to change how I deliver the material so that it is easily digestible. If my
main goal is for students to learn psychology and apply it to their own life then I need to make
sure that they understand it in the first place.

The second insight and probably the most profound moment in the class was when I
asked you how to get through all of the information in the textbook using the BOPPPS method.
You told looked me in the eye and said, “Who says you need to get through all of the information
in the book?” My brain started imploding….isn’t that what we are supposed to do? You told me
that we are supposed to cover the Student Learning Outcomes outlined by the college. That
changed everything for me. Armed with this new knowledge, I will focus on deep knowledge of
certain aspects of psychology instead a wide surface level grasp of facts.

Incorporating the knowledge learned into my classroom.

Once I saw the inherent benefits of the knowledge gained in this class, I immediately
started incorporating new practices for my current classes. I was convicted during class one
evening when we were talking about asking questions to students. I ask questions all the time
which made me think that I was engaging the students. I realized that I wasn’t really engaging
them at all. I would often ask surface level questions with obvious factual answers. I would
rarely wait for the students to formulate an answer, afraid of the looming silence I jumped in and
answered the question myself! I started thinking about questions as a part of the learning
process. I thought them out before class, made sure they were at a deeper level of thinking and
waited longer for a response. My students were perplexed at first but they have jumped right in
to the new method and I believe they are benefitting from it.

Another big change I have made is incorporating rubrics for paper assignments. I have
NEVER made or used a rubric in my entire teaching career. I wasn’t taught how to make one
and honestly, I thought that they were constricting. I saw them as elementary and useless. I
went way out of my comfort zone and made a rubric for my current class. It was time
consuming and frustrating at first. However, once I was finished, the grading went so quickly

and I gave them much more constructive feedback than if I just graded it on my own. I have
since created two new rubrics for my other class and I don’t believe I will grade papers again
without one.

Am I a more effective instructor now?

The strategies I learned from this class will push me into being a better instructor. I had
never heard of BOPPPS before and I would have scoffed at the idea of making a lesson plan for
my lectures. That’s what K-12 teachers do, not college professors. My powerpoint
presentations were my lesson plans….so I thought. I had never put much thought into the
reading assignments. I simply assigned the textbook chapter that aligned with the lecture. I
didn’t think if it was relevant or which sections I won’t even cover. I had never thought about
capturing my students attention with a bridge or assessing if they have any knowledge on the
subject. I thought of the class as a time of straight lecture, not of changing activities every 15
minutes with a large emphasis on participation. I did show video clips, used group work and
presentations but not at the level this class has shown me is possible and helpful for students. I
had never thought about assessing if the the students understood the material the end of class,
that was their problem, not mine. I used some technology, in fact I thought I was one of the hip
professors who used D2L and youtube. I didn’t know about the plethora of technology and
online resources available to educators. I will use the techniques I learned from this class to be
a teacher and educator instead of just a professor and dispenser of facts.

Further Professional Development.

I give Lone Star College credit for investing in the adjunct faculty. I have been an
adjunct for over 15 years and have never had an opportunity like this before. Since adjunct
professors make up a large core of the teaching force, it only makes sense to make sure they
have opportunities to improve and grow as instructors. One suggestion that I have is to make
continuing education a mandatory part of teaching at LSC. All professors can benefit from
courses like this one but I know the majority will pass on these opportunities due to time
constraints and not understanding the benefit to self and student alike. If continuing education
was a part of the teaching process (which it is in many colleges) then it will give those professor
the extra push they may need to sign up for a class.

Something that I realized through this course was that I am a holder of vast knowledge
in psychology but I’m not necessarily an educator. I have not taken a single course in education
in my college, graduate or professional career. Reflecting on that fact is mind boggling since my
job in essence is to educate students. I was offered my first teaching job the weekend before
classes started and was just thrown in and it was up to me alone if I was going to sink or swim.
I swam, but now I realize that I was barely keeping my head above the water and although I
improved with each semester I was actually going into lectures, papers, etc. without any
education tools. I think that one of the biggest improvements that Lone Star College could
make is to offer education courses to faculty. I learned so much about myself as a person and a
professor from the course and from other professors.

Thank you for the wonderful experience and investing in me. I see this class as a
hallmark moment of change for the better in my professional career.

Reflective Essay
Adjunct Certificate
5/1/2016
By Sara Azarpanah

It was two semesters that I planned to participate in Adjunct Certification Program (ACP), but
every time I missed the deadline. This time, I got the opportunity to send my application for this
course before the deadline and I was so excited to attend this class. I knew that this class is going
to be so helpful in learning new methods and technologies for teaching, but honestly it was more
than my expectations. I learned more than what I expected to learn, I got to know amazing
professor and colleagues and I enjoyed every single moment of the class.

Before, I didn’t have any idea about lesson plan, new websites for creating games, videos, and
quizzes. I knew that I have to make my class more active, more enjoyable and more fun for my
students, but I didn’t know how. This class gave the great opportunity to get familiar with
BOPPPS lesson plan to how to plan for each topic and assign time and activity for each
objective. I learned so many amazing techniques for assessing students before, during and after
the lecture. I also learned many methods to how to start and finish the class, and how to make
sure students learned all the material at the end of each topic. I also got familiar with many
wonderful technologies to create games, videos, etc. to get my students engaged and make my
class more fun for them. After all, I believe this course is an amazing source not only for
instructors like me with two year experience in teaching, but also for instructors who have many
years’ experience in teaching.

When I started my job as an adjunct faculty in LSC-Tomball right after my graduation in 2014,
my biggest concern was to make sure to be prepared before each session, and find extra
information for the assigned topic to have more informative class. At the first session, I was
totally prepared; I reviewed all the slides in detail, and reviewed two articles related to topic for
extra information. At the end of my class, I realized most of students were staring at me but
thinking about something else. Yes, they were really bored and they didn’t follow me, although I
spent so much time to make the class effective. So I understood that the most important thing in
the class is making the class student-centered rather than instructor-centered. I realized finding
new methods and techniques to get students engaged in class activities should be a big concern
for me as an instructor. So I tried to talk with some experienced instructors or even observe their
class to get some ideas for making my class more active and engaged. My effort toward learning

Reflective Essay
Adjunct Certificate
5/1/2016
By Sara Azarpanah

new methods for having a student-centered class did work a little bit, but I still needed a richer
guide and source. So I always worry about making a topic interesting and keeping students
engaged till I heard about this course that provided me a huge source of techniques and
technologies to apply in my class and make the class and topic interesting for my students.

I believe this program made me a more effective in so many ways. I learned how to get my
students prepared before coming to the class. I learned that I need to give a feedback to students
for every assignment and give them some choices for selecting assignments and due dates to
make them motivated. I also learned new technologies such as “Poll Everwhere”, “Kahoot”, and
“Ted ED Lessons” to create quizzes, videos and game in order to get my students more engaged
and interested in the topics. Moreover I learned how to make a plan for each objective with
assigned activities and time in order to divide the time of class more efficiently and effectively
among all objectives, so I think this course made me more creative and organized in teaching.

The only suggestion I have for this course is the time of the class. I think if this class starts at the
beginning of the semester, we will have more time to focus on doing the assignments, since
when we get closer to the end of semester, we will be busier for our classes and we don’t have
enough time to concentrate on this class.

This program was meaningful and understandable to me since professor Pruden explained
everything in a clear manner to us by demonstration and showing her knowledge in the best way.

My experience gained from attending the Adjunct certificate program (ACP) in Tomball
Campus of Lone star College could be summarized as below:

I have the ability to define the concept of building the course learning objectives based on
“SMART” and lesson plans for each of my sessions based on “BOPPPS” mnemonic, how to
engage the students and make them experience the deepest level of learning by applying different
varieties of technologies to my lesson plans. Determine the standards of building the course,
describe the criteria for writing learning objectives, classify learning objectives using Bloom's
taxonomy for content validity, distinguish between higher and lower thinking objectives, write
learning objectives according to criteria specified, develop and know the importance of the
educational activities during the course, define the active learning styles, share with my peers to
determine their teaching methods which are appropriate form learning styles of the students. I
learned the millennial generation characteristics and how they are different from my generations.
How to assess my students in my class.

I learned the different component of significant learning and bloom,s taxonomy including:
Evaluation, Synthesis , Analysis ,Application , Comprehension, Knowledge.

I learned a lot about new teaching strategies for example about the teaching learning
continuum and comparing the traditional teaching with new active learning techniques and their
benefits & their drawbacks. I hereby present an example of what I have learned and how I
incorporate this knowledge in my classroom:

I have modified to improve my students learning in Skeletal muscles of human lower limbs in
the Biology 2401 course which is Anatomy & physiology I.

In the past I just explained this topic in a 3-hour class, only by presenting some slides in the
format of power point and reviewed at the end of the class for the second time. However I
always found that Students had lots of problem in memorizing the name, location & action of
these muscles.

Fortunately after coming to ACP of Tomball campus I changed my style and approach in the
following format and order:

1- I explained these muscles by slides for 30 minutes (meanwhile assessing my students by short
questions to engage them). During the lecture I show a website to them that has some short quiz
regarding muscles and every 5 minutes I ask them some questions about the muscles they have
been being taught by me.

2- I showed them a good video regarding this.

3- I divided my students to four different groups, one group was assigned for the muscles of
Gluteal area, another group for thigh region , a group for leg & calf, and finally one group for
ankle and foot . I gave each group a model of the human lower limb.

4- I considered 15 minutes for each group activity to review the muscles from their models then
asked one student from each group to explain the result of the group for the whole class in about
2-3 minutes (the first round was 20 minutes).

5- So every 15 minutes I switched the groups for different part of the lower limb. At the end of
about 80 minutes each the 4 groups reviewed the four areas of lower limb.

6- At the end I do a wrap up by the help of students over the muscles they have learned for 5
minutes.

So the most important technique of teaching I am interested and learned from this program is
“Group work” that will engage the students in group activity and they will learn how to have a
good team-working.

After this program I believe that my teaching style has been changed to a more new efficient
way of teaching since my students will be more active and interested in learning.

I have some suggestion regarding ACP. Because this program is very beneficial ,I suggest that
5 weeks better to be increased to at least 7-8 weeks and it would be better for participant
professors in this program to present at least 2 times during the program not only in the last
session to be more familiar with the teaching style of their colleague participant in ACP.

At the end I express my gratitiude to professor Pruden because of her dedication and also she
provided me this opportunity to come to this training program and learn how to be an effective
professor in class.

Sharman Holloway

Reflective Essay

Its helpful to take a minute and reflect on what I have learned from the ACP class. I
believe that the most valuable thing I have learned is how to stretch and grow as a person and as
a teacher. There is more to me then where I am as an individual instructor. I would say that I am
a good instructor and good at reaching students but this showed me how to be better and
hopefully reach more students. I give serious thought to everything I do in the classroom and it
has to have a purpose in order for me to use it with my students. I feel that I am molding their
future and I want to give them all the opportunities I can in my classroom to be successful. One
of the major components of teaching I have not utilized is technology. I truly believe to learn
math you need to do it. I have seen many “programs” in my days of teaching where they were
using technology to make math more fun. I don’t believe that is truly helping my students learn.
However, the immediate feedback you can get from technology is amazing. I believe that is the
most helpful part of teaching with technology I have seen.

The most ingenious thing I saw was using a phone to make students active participants in
the learning process and getting immediate feedback. That is something I will be putting into my
teaching skill set with my next semester. I will also be using Bingo with my students. I put it in
my lesson plan and I am using that lesson plan. (I honestly think it’s a great lesson.) I know that
the students I have in my classes are not confident in their skills and I am work on building
confidence all semester. Usually if they come they leave my class ready to work. I believe these
tools will enhance their confidence building and make stronger students more quickly.

This program has helped me take a good look at how I teach and truly critique myself and
think through all aspects of teaching from motivation to the actual oral and written questions I
give my students. I believe that often I question my kids off the cuff and don’t really plan out
my questions I will give with my lesson. I think if I look carefully and plan accordingly I can
have better questions and get to a higher level of thinking and application than just the imitate
me level. I also have looked closely at motivation because most of my students are not
intrinsically motivated. They are not taking my course for the love of learning they are taking it
to get to the next class and on to graduation. I think to help with motivation if I had bridges in
my lesson they would be more likely to be interested and motivated with the curriculum. Its
bring it to a personal level. I liked what a few students talked about in their presentations about
bringing in the heart. When you have them on the heart/emotional level you have them hooked
to the lesson and interested in what you are doing.

Another thing I noticed about myself is I enjoyed going to this class because it really was
fun and we did something different all the time and tried new things each class. I know my
classes can get a little boring and that is something I need to work on. I enjoyed the lessons
presented in the way I should be presenting lessons. Many times I have gone to training and
such where the instructor said we should be more active etc. and they lectured and power pointed
through the whole lesson. I would leave those lessons with no other ideas because I had not
actually seen the lesson presented in that manner to understand how to apply the principles.
Because our lessons were always presented in BOPPPS form I could see the application and get

ideas. Because the technology was actually used on me I could see how it would be helpful. (I
could also see how my personality could put that into my style.) Because Sunnye was
entertaining and informative I could see the need for that in my class. I am not normally an
overly outgoing person but I am pationate about my subject and love everything there is to math.
I learned by watching Sunnye’s example and had ideas of how to apply that. In my opinion that
was far more important than anything I read in the book. I could see how to apply different
techniques because they were being applied on me by my instructor and it was working!

I have a few suggestions I wish I could be a part of, that is to do something like this with
just people in my department. I would like to see how others have incorporated these principles
in my subject area to get more ideas. I don’t think it needs to be a whole class but maybe an
inservice where others could share more ideas that are personal to me. I enjoyed seeing other
peoples lessons in other fields but they were harder to apply. The other suggestion I have which I
realize was out of everyone’s control is to end earlier in the semester so I can apply what I
learned while I’m still on fire about it. By the time September comes and I am writing new
curriculum, tests quizzes etc. I will be back in survival mode and its more difficult to have the
time to plan each lesson with extra activities. The nice thing is I already have one lesson planned
and it is early in the semester I teach this lesson so I am hoping to carry that fire with me and get
a few more ready over the summer.

All I can say which isn’t adequate is how thankful I am that I was part of such a great
group of people with the best instructor I have had in years. This was truly a great experience
and I have come out of it a better person.