Teaching Checklist

This checklist contains practical administrative items and resources essential for course and classroom management.

If you don't already have teacher training, consider Centennial's Teacher/Trainer of Adults certificate! Courses are short, intensive and practical, and reduced employee tuition is available. If Continuing Education teachers take the three core courses as well as Getting Started: Teaching at Centennial, they qualify for a $1 per hour pay increase.

One of the suggested resources in Centennial's Teacher/Trainer of Adults program is Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research & Theory for College & University Teachers, by Wilbert McKeachie. It's available in our college bookstores. For ideas about The First Day of Class, see this excerpt from Tools for Teaching, Barbara Gross Davis, Jossey Bass, 1993.

Make sure you give your program liaison an updated copy of any course handouts for printing (at least 10 days before the class starts). Check the latest version of your course outline and text. 

Prepare lesson plans. 

Review student services, safety and security information in the CE calendar or CE Faculty Guide (audiovisual, bookstores, cafeterias, computer labs, libraries/resource centres, information centres, Enrolment Services offices, security, Dispute Resolution (appeals, cheating & plagiarism, etc). 

Consult with your program supervisor and/or other teachers teaching the same course, if possible. 

Check room assignments and equipment with your program liaison; book media/audiovisual needs with the campus resource centre (library). Campus floorplans can be found under Locations & Maps (top of college website).

Pick up your portfolio/folder at the campus information centre where you are teaching. Also pick up any audiovisual equipment you have booked (evenings and weekends, contact Security via the campus information centre). 

Introduce yourself to students and ensure they are in right course and classroom (write the course name and number and your name and contacts on the board). 

Call out names of all those on the class list and check off attendance. Please keep this list confidential as it contains private student information - do NOT circulate or lose! Your most current class list is available to you through MyCentennial. For an Excel copy of your class list, ask your program officer.

Introduce course outline, including evaluation, activities, expectations, texts and course resources. (If teaching an advanced course, ensure students know exactly what you are covering so they can transfer to another more appropriate class or withdraw as soon as possible.) Consider an icebreaker to help the class know and learn from each other. 

Inform students how to contact you and/or the program liaison/support, i.e., office number, college phone extension, e-mail address. Please use your MyCentennial email for Centennial college business. 

Ensure students have appropriate breaks. 

Review "ground rules," safety issues, Walksafe program, student services, calendar information, and college policies relating to equity, inclusion and academic honesty (in college calendar). Ask students who have disabilities to identify themselves to you in private. Ask that cell phones be turned off in your classroom. 

Present lesson as appropriate to time and students. Here are PDFs of some suggested cooperative learning activities: think-pair-share; corners, five elements, placemat, solve-a-problem, jigsaw.

After class, please leave room clean and boards clear. Return furniture to original state. 

Report any cleanliness issues, broken furniture or equipment or technical problems to your program liaison. 

Develop a plan (including dates) for creating tests, assignments and handouts that incorporate one-week printing lead-time and course drop (withdrawal) dates. 

Confirm that all students are officially registered (students will not receive a grade if they are not officially registered and on your class list.) 

Remind students of services such as special needs, free tutoring, success workshops, counselling, Centre for Students with Disabilities, etc. 

Provide students an opportunity to give you feedback about course and instructional methods. Consider start-stop-continue, goals, what helped me learn. 

Provide student with formal feedback on their progress in course (before withdrawal date - midpoint of course). See grading tips and rubric tips for some grading/assessment ideas.

Provide a confidential environment in which students can officially evaluate your course. Leave the room while a student volunteer collects surveys and seals them in an envelope, to be returned to your program liaison. These assessments are not only used for feedback for you and your Chair, but also to determine our annual Continuing Education teaching excellence award recipients. 

Submit grades to your program liaison within published deadlines. If assigning an Incomplete ("I") grade, complete the required form and give it to the student and your program liaison.