Susan Cox
As a college teacher, this time of year means the end of a semester. As I wrap up my classes, I reflect on what went well and what things I might need to change for the next semester. I even ask my students to give me feedback on possible changes. I also try to make notes throughout the semester to help me with this process.
I found some new ideas this semester as part of a faculty group who read “Small Teaching” by James M. Lang and discussed his strategies to improve our teaching. Lang advocates for making small manageable changes that can positively impact students instead of big changes like revamping an entire class. For example, after my class brainstormed possible questions to explore for an essay, I listed the titles of articles we had read for that essay on the board and
then had several students pick two articles that would work well with one of the questions. I usually have my students do this on their own as they think about their essay, but this gave my students a jump start on thinking about how the ideas in the articles connected to the questions and allowed them to share ideas with one another to see even more connections than they would on their own. This only took a few minutes of class time and was beneficial for my students.
Small changes can be easier to make and maintain. Often those big goals seem unattainable and when we fall behind, we tend to give up. When I make changes to my classes, reworking a whole class is overwhelming, but adjusting a few assignments or class activities feels doable, which means I will actually make those changes.
Just like I reflect at the end of a semester, this time of year also leads many of us to reflect on the past year and to set goals for the next year. Considering what went well and what needs to be improved can be helpful in many aspects of life. Perhaps you could get feedback from family, friends, or coworkers. If you make goals or New Year’s resolutions, why don’t you try Lang’s overall idea and make small manageable changes that can have a positive impact instead of big,
harder to reach goals. For example, if you want to get healthier, you could park farther away from your destination, so you get more walking in instead of aiming to run every day. If you want to read more, instead of determining a number of books to read, set a goal to read five to 10 pages or minutes a day.
Lang’s approach is similar to a strategy Dave Brailsford termed “the aggregation of marginal gains” that he used to turn around the performance of British professional cyclists. Brailsford and his coaches looked at every aspect of cycling and found ways to improve them all by 1%. The combination of all these small changes led to big improvements and the British Cycling team began dominating cycling events. You could do the same in areas you want to improve. If you can get better by 1% every day for a year, at the end of the year you’ll be 37 times better. Maybe you want to get better at playing pickleball. You could find drills to help you practice your serve and work to improve it by just 1% and then do the same for other shots. Perhaps you want to be more grateful. You could start by finding one thing a day you are thankful for and keep adding one more thing each day.
If you do want to make some larger goals, you could break them down into smaller, more manageable pieces. As you reflect on this past year, whatever types of goals you make, don’t overlook the impact small changes can make in your life.
Susan Cox is one of The Republic’s community columnists, and all opinions expressed are those of the writer. She is an avid reader, an outdoor enthusiast, a mother, a grandmother, and an adjunct instructor of English at IUPUC. She can be reached at [email protected].
