Teaching Notes

Welcome to our comprehensive collection of notes designed specifically for teachers! This resource hub offers a variety of tools, strategies, and insights to enhance your teaching practice across different subjects and grade levels. Whether you're looking for classroom management tips, lesson plan ideas, or ways to integrate technology like generative AI into your curriculum, this page provides practical, easy-to-implement advice. Each section is thoughtfully organized to support your professional development and help you create an engaging, student-centered learning environment. Explore the notes, adapt them to your unique classroom needs, and inspire your students to achieve their best.

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EXCUSED ABSENCES. There are any number of legitimate reasons for a student to miss class — illness, participation in a college athletic event, a field trip for another course, or a family emergency. Officially, under College policy, there is no such thing as an “excused absence” except for athletic competitions. It is the student's responsibility to provide you with documentation for illness or emergencies. Sometimes you will be notified when a student presents confidential documentation to one of the Deans' offices, but strictly speaking it is up to you to determine whether or not to excuse any absences that are not officially excused by the College. Most course-related field trips are announced well in advance (and as often as possible ought to be on weekends), and your students should be advised to notify you as early as possible about them. Because participation in varsity athletic competitions is officially excused by the College, varsity athletes have copies of their competition schedules at the beginning of each term. They are responsible for letting you know at the beginning of the term about scheduled absences; their coaches stress this from the very beginning of their practices. Some faculty include all of the above information on their syllabi to have an unambiguous communication with students about their responsibilities. Since about one-third of our students are student-athletes, it is worth reminding them to provide you with their competition schedule (and its conflicts with your course) if they will miss class for that reason.

MASKING POLICIES. Current college CoViD-19 policies can be found here. Masks are optional on campus. However, as an instructor, you are in charge in your classrooms, labs, office, and any other instructional spaces. Professors have different philosophies underlying how they might proceed with masks in the classroom. Some poll students anonymously to get a sense of student concern with masking in the classroom. Others, because of concerns about their own health or the health of others in their families, apply a blanket mask requirement. Others leave choices about masks entirely to students since professorial suggestions often carry the weight of a requirement.

The full official college policy regarding masks is as follows:

We will continue to have an indoor mask optional policy for all campus spaces. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends masking as an important tool in preventing the transmission of CoViD-19. 

If you are experiencing CoViD-like symptoms or any other respiratory illnesses, you should wear a mask. 

Always be respectful of those who choose to wear masks to protect themselves or others.

HONOR CODE. Each Knox professor has the responsibility of making it clear to students when and how to complete work for their classes.

FINAL WORK. There are guidelines circulated by the Registrar's office concerning when and when not to schedule final exams, projects, and presentations. Watch for these and follow them. There are also guidelines about final exams agreed upon by the faculty. These are on the Knox Website (My.Knox) under "Faculty Resources." The main rule is that you cannot require students to do any work on Reading Days, so plan accordingly!

LATE WORK. As with attendance policy, here you have considerable discretion. It is best to have a clear policy announced in advance. You may simply refuse to accept late work, if no excuse is presented. If an excuse is presented, you can elect to require that the excuse be verified by a dean. (Our students know that faculty may require a dean's excuse when a student has had an emergency and has fallen behind.) If you choose to accept late work, it is, as already noted, best to have a clear policy set out in advance (such as a grade reduction or a partial grade reduction per day).

MIDTERM GRADES. Professors must submit midterm grades for all first-year students and any student enrolled in their course currently earning a C- or lower.

TROUBLE SIGNS. You may have a student who stops engaging with class, who turns in work that is decidedly weak (C- or below) or who doesn't turn in work at all. Please send an alert through FinishLine. (Look for the “Early Alert" icon under “My Apps” at the left of the My.Knox page.) These Early Alerts are essential for getting students the help/resources they may need to be successful. My office in tandem with Student Services can intervene, coordinate and keep you abreast of our efforts to work with vulnerable students. 

SYLLABUSES. Best to get them out at the beginning of the term and then treat them like the US Constitution (subject to amendment only with ratification).

EXTENSIONS AND COURSE INCOMPLETES. At the end of term it is not unheard of for students to ask for extra time at the very end of the term due to a wide variety of situations. If you feel it is warranted, you may allow such a request. An "Incomplete" is an option that gives the students (typically) up to four weeks beyond the end of the term to complete course requirements. This option is meant to be used sparingly, when something beyond the student's control has impeded his/her successful completion of the course. There is a form (available on the Registrar's site) that both you and the student must complete and sign before it is sent to me for final approval and signature. In such cases, you will also be asked to assign the student a default grade for the course (whatever grade he/she should earn in the course if the remaining work is not completed by the new deadline). This is done at the same time you are completing grade entries for all other students in the class. This default grade will not appear on the student's transcript unless the student fails to complete the remaining work. If additional complications arise and you wish to extend the deadline for incomplete work, please inform me. Let the negotiations begin!

COURSE WITHDRAWALS. Students may withdraw from courses until the deadline - two weeks before the start of finals. There is a form (available on the Registrar’s site) that the student, the instructor and the student’s advisor must sign and submit to the Registrar. Past that deadline, the Associate Dean of the College (Mary Crawford) must also sign off.

GRADING. If you want advice on where to draw the line (between, say, an A and a B), consult your departmental colleagues. Faculty Development periodically offers faculty workshops on grading practices. In order to be able to explain a final grade to a student, documentation is essential. 

TELEPHONE CALLS AT HOME AND/OR AFTER HOURS. Let your students know if it is all right to phone you at home (or not!) and (if so) what hours are appropriate. Some faculty decide to give students their cell numbers; others hold their cell numbers very closely. 

OFFICE HOURS. In general, faculty hold around 3 office hours each week. This is a time when students know you are available to answer questions and they can get outside of course help with assignments and it’s also a good time to grade. Students need to know when you are available and where you will be. You can hold office hours in your office or at other campus locations. Some professors like to hold “walking office hours” at the track or more social office hours at the Gizmo. Bottom line — let students know when and where to find you.

INDEPENDENT STUDIES. The average faculty member sponsors one or two a year (more in some cases). First-year faculty generally don't have the time for them, and it's fine if (when asked) you say no. Additionally, after your first year, you may also be approached to supervise a senior's Honors project or to serve on an Honors committee, something you might begin to discuss with your department colleagues even now. 

PROBLEMATIC STUDENT BEHAVIOR. It doesn't happen often, but when you have a student behaving in a way that disrupts learning and/or causes concern, please don't hesitate to contact me or Dean of Students (Deb Southern). Please don't think that when you're a first-year faculty member, life will be an endless string of student problems. It won't. Indeed, you should expect your students to be bright, engaged and committed. But it never hurts to be prepared!