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What do you do when you ask a question and get... deathly silence? You could, of course, asnwer the question yourself, and sometimes it may be the quickest way to keep up your momentum. But answer too many questinos yourself and you're teaching the class that if they sit silent you'll do all the work. A technique I have used is to rephrase the question to make it easier to answer. Simpli-fying is one way (instead of asking for all four vital signs, ask for just one). Or association ("we did this on Monday just after our review"). Or connecting… >>>
What sometimes gets lost in discussing learning styles is that (with a few exceptions) we all learn through all our senses. It's just that the message is stronger when a preferred modality is used. And it's not an either/or situation. I find myself preferring the written word, but also respond well to visuals and (a bit less) to kinesthic. My weakest area is auditory. Perhaps we should think of learning styles more as a ranking than a single choice. And we should plan to appeal to as many senses as we can when planning our lesson. Write what we say… >>>
Some students (even very good ones) seem so shy that they never hold up their hands when you ask a class question. If you call on this student and he/she doesn't know the answer, you risk turning them off for good. On the other hand, if they do supply an answer, you have created participation. One tactic (as mentioned in our lesson) would be to ask "opinion" type questions in this situation, since no right/wrong is involved. In my experience, however, shy students often answer "yes" or "no" or "not sure" to wiggle out of having to say something. Any… >>>
A key element in retaining students is to "touch the career" - to constantly remind students that what they are doing has reason and value. The classroom itself can be used for this purpose. Ideally, every time the student steps across the threshold he should feel he is IN the career. In some fields (culinary, auto mechanics, etc.) this is done for you since classes are taught in kitchens, shops, etc. But how do you dress a bookkeeping class? One instructor made posters of tax forms, balance sheets, W9's, etc. and hung them around the walls. For a class on… >>>
Lectures, as noted, need to be limited to about 15 minutes to keep the students' eyes from glazing over. However, many topics require expositioins longer than 15 minutes. One way I have found to break up a lengthy lecture is to periodically ask questions of the class. If I have just made a point, I might ask if anyone can think of an example from their own experience. Or, if there is a connection to something previously learned, I might ask them if "this sounds familiar?". Or I might probe for rationale by asking "why do you think this is… >>>
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