James M. Lang. On Course: A Week-by-Week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching.(Book review)

James M. Lang. On Course: A Week-by-Week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2008. Pp. 316. Cloth, $26.95; ISBN 978-0-674-02805-7.

The first semester and indeed the first year of teaching at the college level presents instructors with a number of challenges. James M. Lang's On Course: A Week-by-Week Guide to Your First Semester of College Teaching addresses many of the common issues that instructors confront during their first semester. Lang's work is a useful survival guide for what can be a difficult experience. Although he advises new instructors to organize for an entire semester of teaching that integrates learning objectives into the syllabus and uses them as a road map for the semester, his approach offers a fair amount of flexibility. He covers important topics such as how best to construct a syllabus, effective teaching methods, technology, dealing with students, assignments, time management, how to re-energize a class towards the end of the semester, and adjusting to a new department and institution. His observations about the importance of classroom time and how to utilize the rhythms of the semester to one's benefit are particularly insightful. Lang encourages new instructors to experiment in the classroom and find techniques that fit their teaching style. But he rightly warns about the dangers to first-semester instructors of becoming overly ambitious in the classroom, too often outspoken in faculty meetings, or too committed to service.

Lang's work draws heavily from the scholarship of teaching and learning. Those unfamiliar with specific issues covered in its literature will find the lists of resources he gives at the ...