TABLE 3.
Example instances of Positively Phrased Instructor Talk
| Category | Subcategory | Example instances |
|---|---|---|
| Building the Instructor/Student Relationship | Demonstrating Respect for Students | “Pretty much like, raise your hand if you work a job. Raise your hand if you work two jobs. Okay that’s great—what about three jobs? No three jobs. I’ve had students that are like, ‘I commute, I work two jobs, I have a crazy workload’… and so I really understand that. So, if there’s times that if you can’t make it, all I ask is that you communicate with me.”“What we’re going to do now, is I want to get to know you all.” |
| Revealing Secrets to Success | “Preferably, before each lab, you would have read the lab manual. Today, I know you can’t read it because some people don’t have it. It’s good to know what’s happening because you’ll go faster. And it’s kind of weird when like everyone’s done and they’re just staring at you and you’re still shuffling things around trying to figure out what’s going on. So, read the lab manual before and that’ll help you be prepared.”“Please, please, please ask questions if you’re confused about anything that’s going on in this class. Come to my office hours if you need more help. Also, like I said earlier, I’m pretty good about responding to my email, so if you guys email me, I’m pretty good about responding to that.” | |
| Boosting Self-Efficacy | “Pros: I want every single person in this class to get an A. And you are all a thousand percent capable of getting an A in this class. Lecture and lab. And I’m going to be that motivator for you and try to be like, ‘You know you can do this.’”“The people who have taken the quiz, they have done really well, so I know everybody’s going to do really well.” | |
| Establishing Class Culture | Preframing Classroom Activities | “All right, if y’all would transition from the talking portion to the writing portion. So, take the next 1 or 2 minutes. Write down the core of what you came up with about what you expect from the class.”“So, [today is] kind of a packed class. Not every class is going to be like this. We’ll probably get out pretty early most of the time. But today we’re probably going to go to the end.” |
| Practicing Scientific Habits of Mind | “So, we’re going to start collecting results now. So, go ahead and write down in your lab notebooks what you guys think your predictions are going to be.”“I’m going to stop talking and you guys can talk to your groups. Make sure that you remember all the information from last lab and try to think about what results we should expect to see.” | |
| Building a Biology Community among Students | “Get to know your classmates. I cannot stress enough that we have a really big class. There should be at least 10 people that like get you, have the same classes as you, can support you. This is a science community. And the more I can foster that, the better that you’re going to do in this class.”“Preferred pronouns are really important. We want to make sure that you are in a safe environment. We want to make sure we’re addressing each other correctly.” | |
| Establishing Class Culture | Giving Credit to Colleagues | No instances observed. |
| Indicating it’s OK to be Wrong/Disagree | “Let’s all come back now. So, can I have one pair share? Just raise their hand, what it is they talked about with their partner and then what they wrote on the index card. And remember, if you think that you got it wrong or something, that’s okay. We’re all here to kind of learn and figure it out together.”“Again, I have a lot of people come to me and say the terminology is way over my head right now. And I’m here to tell you that is totally okay, because we are in the very beginning, this is completely new to pretty much everyone here. Like, who here knew a lot of these terms. Exactly! When I took this class, I had no idea … We’re challenging to use the other parts of your brain that maybe you have not been familiar with before.” | |
| Explaining Pedagogical Choices | Supporting Learning through Teaching Choices | “And I don’t expect this to be a very long midterm, because I don’t think that’s necessary to adequately sort of assess your knowledge and give you a fair chance to show off what you’ve learned, which is the point of a midterm.”“I’ll also include any PowerPoints I use. Some days I like to use PowerPoints, other days I don’t. I have PowerPoints for everything, so it will all be posted. It’s just whether or not I decide to actually use it in class. I like to do some combinations. Some things are really nice to do on the board, that’s why I do that. Some things are just a lot of text and you need to have something a little bit more visual. I’ll make sure all those resources are available for you guys.” |
| Using Student Work to Drive Teaching Choices | “So, I’m going to leave you guys with the yellow [index card], so you can have something that you already know. And I’m going to grab the blue one, because I want to know how I can help you guys. If we need to go over something else, then I can help you guys with that. And that will be like super, super helpful.”“With whatever time is left over, you guys can work on that review sheet. And then if there are consistent questions, then that’s an indicator to me that I could go over that for the whole group.” | |
| Connecting Biology to the Real World and Career | “After this semester you’re all going to be experts in science. So, you can be the advocate for your family.”“No matter what field you guys go into, you’re going to need to write a lot at some point. Whether it’s short memos in nursing, whether it’s lab notes as a [health professional], whether you’re doing research and you need to actually do publications. Writing is like super-duper important.” | |
| Discussing How People Learn | “Because you don’t know something just because you heard someone say it a couple minutes ago. You need to sleep to consolidate the memory. You need to talk to a friend or your study group to get different perspectives. Learning doesn’t happen that quickly, really. So, it’s going to be challenging.” | |
| Fostering Learning for the Long-Term | No instances observed. | |
| Sharing Personal Experiences | Recounting Personal Information or Anecdotes | “I was born in [city], I lived in [state] my whole life. I’m trying to get my PhD. Right now, I’m getting my master’s. Hopefully one day I’ll have my own lab. I worked as [redacted] when I was an undergrad.”“I’ve been teaching for about 4 years at colleges. I taught at [university]. So, I’ve been around teaching a lot. Doesn’t mean I’m perfect at it. But just so you guys know, I kind of know what I’m talking about some of the time. And if I’m ever wrong, feel free to ask a question or to present a question.” |
| Relating to Student Experiences | “I was also an undergrad here. I took [introductory biology] at this school. So, I know a little bit about what you guys are going through right now and what you guys have done already. I took the practicals just like you did. A little bit of stuff has changed, but not too much.”“So, my name is [first and last name]. You guys can just call me [first name]. In case you guys don’t know I’m an instructor. So, if you need to address me formally it’s going to just be Mr/s, not professor, so you don’t add professor to my name. Nobody told me that when I was an undergrad and I always got really confused, so just so you guys know.” | |
| Unmasking Science | Being Explicit about the Nature of Science | “And if I’m ever wrong, feel free to ask a question or to present a question. That’s what the point is. That’s the point of academia. The point is for us to be able to learn how to ask questions and how to challenge things respectfully so that we can get the accurate information. Especially in science, that’s what we’re always looking for, right? We’re always trying to get as much clarity as possible.”“A lot of science is a bunch of jargon unfortunately. A lot of lingo makes it sound way… scarier than it is.” |
| Promoting Diversity in Science | No instances observed. | |
| Fostering Wonder in Science | “So, you guys have a lot of growth on your plates. I looked over them all. You have awesome stuff. Some really creepy stuff. Lots of colorful things. So that’s awesome.”“I’m excited for the semester” |