Category: Assignment Design

Resocializing Reading

“In the official university,” write Tonika Sealy Thompson and Stefano Harney, “reading is outsourced…The classroom is a reading-free zone.” I suspect we all have experienced this phenomenon all too often as both students and teachers. Reading is what we do outside the classroom; we’re expected to come to class already having read, already having done …

Learning Can Be Fun! Creating Low-Stakes Assignments

Assignments can be used to inspire curiosity, help students build community with each other, and provide tools to think critically beyond the classroom. They don’t need to be obligatory benchmarks; in fact, assignments can even be fun! In this workshop, we understand “fun” as a form of joy, mobilization, and engagement in the learning process, …

Using Backwards Design: A Practical Guide to Creating Assignments

This workshop walks participants through the principals of backwards design and how they can be used as a framework for developing any assignment across disciplines. This easy step by step breakdown of using backwards design is accompanied by additional resources for assignment design and the option for scheduling individual and small group synchronous check in …

Reframing the Final Paper: Alternative & Creative Assignments

Writing is a central aspect of academic life. As instructors, we regularly assign essays, compositions, proposals, annotated bibliographies, and final papers. There are, however, alternatives or accompaniments to these written assignments that may accomplish similar goals, or facilitate additional ones. Podcasts, zines, timelines, and other creative assignments allow students to produce artifacts with audiences beyond …

Reframing the Final Paper: Alternative and Creative Assignments

Writing is a central aspect of academic life. As instructors, we regularly assign essays, compositions, proposals, annotated bibliographies, and final papers. There are, however, alternatives or accompaniments to these written assignments that may accomplish similar goals. Podcasts, zines, timelines, and other creative assignments allow students to produce artifacts with broad audiences in mind, and to …

Social Reading and Writing

Are you looking for ways to improve your students’ close reading skills or to kickstart class discussion by asking students to annotate readings online as a group before they come to class? Are you trying to find (new) strategies for peer review or collaborative writing projects? Or are you designing a hybrid or online course …

Peer Review

Have you ever felt concerned about your ability to provide constructive feedback to every student? Are you interested in building your students’ capacity to critically read and engage with each others’ work? Are you interested in building classroom community and incorporating peer review into your course from the start of the semester? Join the Teaching …

Putting NYC to Work: Using Place-Based Assignments in Your Courses

In the second installment of the TLC’s two-part workshop series on place-based learning, we’ll explore strategies for creating and integrating creative assignments that take advantage of New York’s cultural resources, including its many archives, museums, libraries, performing arts institutions, green spaces, etc. We’ll start by considering the history and theory behind experiential learning, and discuss …

Expanding your Pedagogical Toolkit

Looking for new and creative instructional practices to enliven your classroom? Interested in learning new ways to structure your students’ engagement with course materials? Energetic class discussions can help connect emerging thinking to the reading students are doing. A supportive classroom community can reduce anxiety about learning, and create space for reflection and intellectual engagement. …

Museum Pedagogy

Over the past generation, museums have undergone an enormous transition. No longer simply repositories of artifacts and authority, they are now, as the Smithsonian’s Stephen E. Weil once described, “a place for somebody.” As museums have moved toward a visitor-centered approach, their education departments have professionalized and developed a series of techniques designed to engage …