You must have a strong syllabusДЇor large lectures to work well, the syllabus contract needs to be ironclad. I think of it as my personal toolkit for teaching large-lecture courses. Some of my experiments have worked and others didn't. Since 2007, I have explored ways to make the large-lecture format engaging for students while keeping my sanity and delivering a robust, challenging course. Teaching roughly 2000 students every year helps me achieve these goals on a scale that I could never achieve by teaching smaller courses. Specifically, I wanted to make a difference in the health of the global environment and the lives of students. I entered higher education because, like many, I wanted to make a difference. It allows me to connect with more students. It's true though: I do love teaching large classes. It's disbelief mixed with a suspicion that I might be a little out of my mind. I love the look I get from people, especially fellow academics, when I tell them I teach classes this size-and love it. Signaling my teaching assistant (TA) to turn the house lights down a quarter, I switch on the handheld microphone and welcome my new class of 435 human biology students. Head up and shoulders straight, I glide past the back 10 rows, then the middle 15, and finally the front seven. I shuffle my oversized black-wheeled bag past him and make my way into the auditorium at San Jose State University (SJSU) in California. Climbing the terra-cotta tiled steps of the oldest building on campus, I see a student ahead holding open the door for me.

College physics 101 lecture