Communicate high expectations. Make standard and grading criteria explicit. Help students to achieve those expectations and criteria. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning. Use problems, questions, or issues, not merely content coverage, as points of entry into the subject and as sources of motivation for sustained inquiry.
Students learn what they care about and remember what they understand.
Then focus on helping students successfully complete the assignments. There is no correlation between student evaluations and the perceived difficulty of the course. There is a very small positive correlation that is , good researchers tend also to be good teachers. Achieving Educational Excellence . Creating Excitement in the Classroom .