July 2025: Grading and feedback

Potential topics

• Getting students to focus on feedback, not the letter or percentage grade
• What recent scholarship has to say about grades (e.g., the effectiveness of “ungrading”)
• Strategies for managing large volumes of grading
• Providing thoughtful, individualized feedback in large courses
• What to do when you just don’t know what to say about student work

August 2025: Preparing to teach (deadline June 16)

Potential topics

• Crafting an effective syllabus
• Redesigning assignments, assessments, and other components of a course you’ve previously taught
• Building relationships/rapport early in the term
• First-day-of-class activities that set the tone for learning
• Preparing to teach a course that’s new, that’s not your favorite, or that’s outside your comfort zone

Please carefully review our submission guidelines if you’re considering writing on an upcoming theme. Note that you needn’t write only about upcoming themes; we always welcome submissions on a wide range of topics. Likewise, if you miss the deadline for a given theme, we will still consider your submission for publication in a subsequent month. Should you have questions about themes or suitable topics, contact The Teaching Professor’s managing editor, Jon Crylen (jon.crylen@magnapubs.com).