Teaching & Learning Rhythms: Tools to Enhance Student Engagement
Teaching is, in many ways, a performance art. When you approach the podium, you are much like an actor taking the stage.
You never know exactly what is going to happen in the classroom and how students are going to respond to the material you present.
Because of this ever-present uncertainty, you want to be both in the moment and aware of the moment, sensing when to go with the flow, and when to help shape the flow.
Your ultimate goal as a teacher is to become a spectator, as students become 
engaged with the course material and take charge. Ideally, leadership is handed back and forth in the classroom, in a delicate balancing act.
Believe it or not, there is a method to creating these ideal learning conditions.
In this 90 minute seminar, multiple teaching award winner Alex Fancy of Mount Allison University trains professors and instructors in how to capture that elusive flow when teaching seems effortless and students are excited and eagerly involved in learning.
This seminar covers:
- Ways to resolve ongoing issues of “flow” in the classroom
- Finding the right balance between information and reflection, repetition and variation, and low and high energy
- Engaging students as “co-managers” of learning
- Shaping rhythms to provide a sense of engagement
- Teaching as a dramatic performance and energy exchange
- Analyzing your course structure with attention to short and long-term rhythms
- Why rhythm and balance are essential to shaping classroom communities
- The six-act approach to teaching
- Ways to manage a disengaged student
- Working with natural ebbs and flows in the teaching dynamic
- Centering yourself in the college classroom
- Mindfulness and reflection on your teaching process
You will also receive a brief white paper outlining the theory behind this recommended approach to teaching, along with 100 questions for self-assessment of your teaching performance.
Who will benefit from this seminar?
- Faculty educational developers at all levels.
- Faculty educational developers at all levels of post-secondary institutions.
- Administrators with a special interest in encouraging teacher reflection and self-assessment.
About the presenter
Alex Fancy is a long-time professor in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Mount Allison University in Canada. He has been recognized for his award-winning teaching across campus, regionally, and nationally.
Fancy has received multiple awards for his experimentation, passion, and involvement with teaching throughout his career. He was the first recipient of Mount Allison’s Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award in 1984 and was awarded the Association of Atlantic Universities’ Distinguished Teaching Award in 1991. He has also earned the coveted 3M National Teaching Fellowship. In addition, he has been chair of the Council of 3M Teaching Fellows. In this position he was actively involved in bringing the validation of teaching to a wider audience, including decision makers.
Recorded: 10/14/2010
Running Time: 90 minutes
Video with PowerPoint
 | Alex Fancy |
Available in CD or print transcript format. Presenter's handouts are included as a PDF on CDs and in hard copy with transcript purchases.
Make this program available for ongoing training
Order the Campus Access License and load the CD content onto your institution’s internal web site for unlimited, convenient, on-demand access for all members of your campus community
