Breadcrumb
Instructional Core
A Resource Guide for New Faculty
This guide is designed for faculty who are content experts developing their teaching practice. Resources are organized around three high-impact areas: building community and belonging, helping students understand why content matters, and closing class effectively. Each resource has been selected for its practicality and research grounding.
How to use this guide
- Quick wins (name tents, housekeeping slide, muddiest point, bridge statement) can be implemented in the next class session.
- Early semester moves (syllabus quiz, Brightspace announcements, WIFM hooks) are best set up before or at the start of a term.
- Deeper investments (recommended books, TILT framework, relevance maps) reward a weekend of reading and modest course redesign.
- Two books worth reading first: Small Teaching by James Lang and Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham. Both are accessible and evidence-based.
Section 5: Instructional Core
Strong teaching doesn't stop when content is delivered, it ends when students have processed, applied, and connected what they've learned. The strategies in this section focus on closing class with intention, so students leave with clarity and a clear sense of what comes next.
5.1 Group Application & Lingering Questions
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Think-Pair-Share A 5-minute structure: students think individually about a question, discuss with a partner, then share with the class. Especially effective as a wrap-up, ask a question that synthesizes the day’s key concept. Activity link: Think-Pair-Share |
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Jigsaw closure groups Each group gets ownership of one concept or case from the day’s material and briefly teaches it back to the class. Efficient for multi-topic lessons, students report feeling more accountable for understanding their assigned piece. Resource link: Jigsaw.org: Overview & Guide |
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Anonymous question queue Anonymous submission tools (Poll Everywhere, Mentimeter) let quieter students surface lingering questions without social risk. Faculty review the top questions in the last 5 minutes or address them in the next class opening. Resource link: Poll Everywhere: Q&A Feature |
5.2 Exit Tickets & Muddiest Point
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Muddiest point Students write one thing they found unclear on a notecard or submit via Brightspace Discussions. Faculty review before the next class and address the top 2-3 themes in the opening minutes or as a Brightspace Announcement. One of the most researched formative assessment techniques. Resource link: Muddiest Point |
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Brightspace exit ticket quiz A 1-2 question ungraded (or completion graded) Brightspace quiz due before students leave class. Use the Quizzes tool under Assessments, so grades populate automatically and also serve as an attendance record. Resource link: Brightspace Community: About Quizzes |
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Mentimeter live polling With Word clouds, quick polls, and open-text responses, students respond on phones, no login required. Immediate visual feedback. Works well for both opening retrieval and closing synthesis. Resource link: Mentimeter |
5.3 Tying Everything Together
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Advance organizer/course roadmap A one-page visual showing the course timeline. Reference it at the start and end of each unit, so students see how today’s topic fits the bigger picture. Particularly valuable in courses that students struggle to see as coherent. Resource link: Advance Organizers |
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Bridge closing statement Reserve the last 2 minutes for, “Today we learned X, which sets up Y. Next class we’ll use it to do Z.” Research on memory consolidation suggests this explicit forward-linking is one of the highest-impact, lowest-effort moves in teaching. Resource link: The Importance of Class Closure |
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Small Teaching — James Lang Practical, research-grounded interventions requiring minimal course redesign. Chapters on retrieval practice, prediction, and interleaving are directly applicable to wrapping up and review. A consistently recommended read for new faculty. Resource link: Small Teaching, 2nd Edition |
