Author: Yujie Zhang

Summary

I received invaluable suggestions from scholars across various departments, with special thanks to professors and peers at University of Houston, and my mentoring group from https://econmentoring.org/mentors-2023/.

The tips include:

  1. Don’t be afraid to share the challenges you face as an early-career educator. The more you teach, the better you’ll become.
  2. How to improve the classroom environment: use tools like iClicker; do not hesitate to call on students for answers; pause to assess how well students are absorbing concepts; upload slides with blank spaces and work through questions with them during class; while it’s good to have a fun atmosphere, remember that learning is hard and not everything needs to be entertaining.
  3. How to conserve energy during public speaking both mentally and physically: do not rush through material or panic about leaving some content for the next class — you are going slow maybe because the material is indeed challenging for your audience; throat lozenges help; use mic if necessary; speed matters and have deep breaths; stand or move around to avoid stiffness.
  4. How to interact with students and collect feedback: hold office hours to connect with students; do a survey of how they want to improve the class, and you can even share results to students to let them know we will work on this together; be empathy of what obstacles students may be facing esp. with a diverse range of students (a common feature in public schools), and guide them to available university support.

Useful resources

  1. Freakonomics: podcast, book. Freakonomics - The hidden side of everything
  2. Marginal Revolution University: video, courses. Economics Videos | Marginal Revolution University (mru.org)
  3. Economics of Star Wars: Economics of Star Wars

Conferences to follow

  1. CTREE - AEA conference on teaching and research in economic education
  2. NAEE - national association of economic educators
  3. CTaLE - center for teaching and learning economics  regional conferences economics education sessions
  4. teaching economics conference at Robert Morris University

Course: Principles of Microeconomics

24 Spring, UH Undergrad

Before the semester