Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching. 

TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: Unwind

As you prepare to embrace the joy of a well-deserved break, here are some highly scientific and serious recommendations to help you unwind:

Unwinding: Here’s one way to do it 

• Before you depart for the holiday break…
• Post an “On a conference call” notice on your door and enjoy 30 minutes of uninterrupted sleep on your office floor.
• Try forming teams with your fellow faculty members and see who can zip down the hallway on chairs the fastest. Bonus points for wearing your academic regalia for that extra aerodynamic flair.
• Gather a group of friends and dramatically read your syllabus as if auditioning for a Shakespearean play. Turn your plagiarism policy into a tragic monologue!
• Find a colleague (or more) and see who can come up with the corniest “worst joke” possible. Extra points for eye rolls and groans. 
• While away…
• Feign Covid and quarantine yourself from your family for five glorious days of rest.
• Wear earplugs to dinner with unpleasant extended family or friend groups to insulate yourself.
• Let the dishes sit in the sink for a day longer than you think is proper.
• Take yourself out to a picnic in a park -- find a park and enjoy your favorite picnic foods under a tree (weather permitting).

Remember, this break is yours to enjoy. Recharge, refresh, and come back ready to inspire more minds.

With lighthearted cheer,

Your faculty development team

DID YOU DO IT?

Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Come to the CAFE on Resources for Enhanced Assessment of Student Learning on TODAY to learn more about how faculty use tools like PollEverywhere, Gradescope and Hypothesis.is in their classrooms, and stay for dessert during the Implementation Hour to get started building these tools into your own course designs. 

Attend the December 4th workshop on Outcomes-Aligned Assessments, co-sponsored by the Office of Assessment, Undergraduate Studies, and Core Curriculum Committee, for support revising or creating a new syllabus and assignments that are effectively aligned to your course outcomes. 

Join your colleagues for a Mentoring happy hour where we will debrief experiences and build community around mentoring on Friday, December 6. 

Prepare for next quarter at a Course Preparation session 2-4pm on Wednesday, December 18th, followed by a happy hour 4-5pm.

Check out the several Teaching and Technology Workshops offered by Academic Technology over winter break.

Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here:

• Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here. Don’t forget to check out our Faculty Associates office hours these next two weeks, after which point they will take a pause to unwind too. Updated offerings of office hours will return in Week One of Winter quarter. 

And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development and Faculty Collaborative events.