Evening Class Students
Evening class students typically attend class from 6pm to 10:30pm. Most of them work full time during the day and they are already tired when they come into class. Sometimes they want to leave early or even sleep in class. How do I prevent this from happening?
Petya,
I teach from 4 until 10 pm so I can appreciate your comments. As you mention you offer short lectures and then activities. I do the same because without a change of pace and plenty of variety my students are not going to be able to stay engaged. I really enjoy my students but I will say at the end of class I am worn out since it takes a lot of energy and planning to keep the class moving forward.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I teach mainly evening classes from 6 to 10 pm. The students coming usually late tired and hungry. It is diffucult for them to concentrate and think. What I am doing is delivering small short lecture followed by questions to the students. I am trying to engage them in discussion based on the lecture and their life and working experience.
Courtney,
Do you have a portfolio system for your students? I have found with very small classes that when I have the students do portfolios they come to class because they are individual projects so we can work on them even when one of the three students is absent. Not sure it will work in your situation but I offer it as an idea.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Courtney,
Do you have a portfolio system for your students? I have found with very small classes that when I have the students do portfolios they come to class because they are individual projects so we can work on them even when one of the three students is absent. Not sure it will work in your situation but I offer it as an idea.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I have the same issue. I have the added problem of a small class. If one, doesn't show up the others take it as their chance to skip class as well. I've tried a number of techniques mentioned. I'm still looking for something that works for smaller class sizes.
Todd,
Without some variety and change of pace the students will drift away from the topics very easily. I like teaching evenings because I get to be creative and keep the pace of class moving. Makes the evening go quickly with a lot of student engagement.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I also teach night classes as well - I find that if I split the lectures up throughout the evening and add some interactive activities in between, it seems to keep folks engaged.
Brian,
This is a good strategy to follow. You might want to put your students into groups and have them do certain questions. This way there is sharing between them as they talk about the answers and then when they share with the entire class. This really gets discussions going.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I was thinking of doing the Q&A session. In the back of our chapters there are review questions. I plan to go over them and have them answer them out load.Plus asking them questions as you go over a review will help. Plus that checks to see if they are paying attention.
Roxsie,
Great question and one I have been dealing with for many years. I teach from 4 until 10 pm so I know what you are facing. I use mini-lectures (25-20 minutes) and then an activity. The activity can be a Q&A session, role playing, small group, problem solving or a game. Anything to break the flow of the class yet keep us moving forward. I use a lot of interaction to keep students engaged. In addition, I teach in a animated way, maybe a little bit crazy, so the students aren't sure what to expect. The blend of all these strategies results in students that even though tired are able to concentrate and acquire the needed content.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
