Dear Colleagues,

How do you spend the last class of the semester? Below are a sampling of suggestions offered by faculty from other colleges. Please consider this memo food for thought as you plan for the coming weeks.

If you would like to add to this list and share your favorite way to cap off a course, please email me and I will add your ideas to the Faculty Resource Guide, under “Teaching, Learning, and Classroom Resources.”

Regards,
Christine Rener

*********************************

· Remember that by the final class it is too late to teach students anything, let alone any new material. But the last class can influence student attitudes towards the course, the discipline, you, and the institution. Various authors suggest that the final class meeting is a key student retention milepost and recommend ending a course with the same high energy with which we start it.

· Don't let dreary course evaluations be the very last class activity. If you are doing them on the last day, have students complete them at the beginning of the class, and then carry out the wrap-up program.

· Each student (and the instructor) brings in an object to symbolize what meaningful experience each is taking with her/him from the class. They each, then, have to stand up, introduce themselves for the last time, and talk about their symbolic object and their experiences. Powerful things happen.

· Greet each student as they enter the classroom, or as they leave, recognizing one of their course achievements and encouraging their completion of their educational goal

· When the entire class convenes, summarize the role of the course, how it feeds subsequent courses in the curriculum, and thanking them for their contributing to the overall mission of your course.

· In large lecture class formats, you can also give a brief 'overview' lecture at the end, giving them the big picture view of the course ideas. Such overviews may be more persuasive at the end of the course than at the beginning.

· You can ask students (all of them or a random sample for a large class) to relate their most significant experience in the course. For small classes, they can write it down on a card first and then read it out or the cards can be shuffled and read anonymously.

· Have some sort of closing event. Food/drink is good, if possible, and is appropriate.

· Use the course material to point to something in the future that is hopeful or can be eagerly anticipated.

· Plan the final exit. If you can, position yourself at the door and shake hands with students as they leave.

*********************************

For advice, ideas, and practical teaching suggestions, please visit the Tomorrow’s Professor Mailing List. You may either subscribe to the list and receive brief, helpful articles via email or simply browse the archives. The “Teaching and Learning” list is one of five lists of interest to college professors sponsored by the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning.

Tomorrow’s Teaching and Learning
http://ctl.standford.edu/Tomprof/postings.html#teaching

Topics include:
Benefits of Learning Teams (#750)
The Perils of PowerPoint (#663)
The Challenges of Teaching with Others (#636)
Making the Most of Office Hours (#519)
Injecting Jest Into Your Test (#541)
Inspiring Students (#357)