Candy...it works every time :)
eye contact voice inflection
Hi Robin,
This is great to hear. Having a talent like you do really helps as you well know to relate to students and create rapport with them. Plus, it never hurts to laugh.
Gary
I find that mini-lectures intertwined with activities pertaining to the subject regardless of whether it is skilled or knowledge based including math courses usually works best for me. I have natural tact for being funny and at times engaging. I have had alot of people tell me I should have been a comedian. Just natural but glad I am like that. It helps me to break the ice not only for the students but also for myself because I have butterflies before each class no matter how many times I do it.
I would show them videos from youtube, engage in discussion and break the class into small group with a short assignment.
I keep my students engaged the most with mini-lectures, discussion, videos, and response to videos.
I encourage them to ask questions and discuss the learning topic thru out and explain that it is part of grades
Hi Angelique,
This is a great way to increase interest and give the students some very practical experiences. Plus, I would guess your dog really enjoys the attention so it is a win win for everyone. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Gary
I keep the general structure the same to promote consistency, but within the normal structure I add varience, such as funny pictures in power points, Q and A during the presentation, making ID power points with labels blacked out and quizzing students about structures in the photo, providing personal input/experience during presentation, and utilizing multiple lab type procedures, trying to add a little bit of variety every day in class. When we do not have animals in school I bring in my own dog to surprise them when they think they're going to only be doing microscope work. It's a good mental break for them to be able to practice restraint and sample collection on him, as well as being calming having an animal to pet and interact with.
Participation by the students specially with demonstration and making them do a return demonstration and role playing seems to get them enthusiastic and engaging in learning what they need to know in class. I did observe that my students can retain more that way.
I like having at least one in-class problem to solve each week. While it takes a lot of time to create/plan, the instructional and assessment benefits are huge.
I ask alot of questions to check for understanding of my students. If I am only receiving answers from a few students and seem to leave out others, I ask those who were answering to "give the others a chance to answer". Sometimes it might be that the quiet ones may need more time to think.
Also, I try to make the questions relevant to what they know, what they should know or what they have studied.
And...give positive feedback eg. "Thank you for your answer. I think there may be another way. Can anyone else think of another conclusion that may better answer my question?"
Hi Marsi,
I use both of these to get my students motivated. They really like seeing their career in action plus listening to people who work in it. It helps to make their studies relevant just as you mentioned.
Gary
I have found that it is good to keep students involved in the lesson by asking their view of things or why they think something is the way it is.
Guest speakers and field trips are good ways to keep students active in their learning!
Hi Eric,
A lot of successful communication in teaching involves getting students engaged in the learning process. By being dynamic and entertaining instructors can capture the attention of students much easier. In all of this though we need to remember that we can only be who we are so we need to use our personal strengths as we work with students.
Gary
Being dynamic, moving around in class rather standing at a place. Adequate preparation to avoid reading from your lecture notes or powerpoint slides. Intermitent breaks at each hour of lecture, and variations in tone of voice reflecting the content presented as well as constant eye contact with the students to determine when their attention is waning
Role playing, personal experiences brought into the classroom. I also will involve hands on experimentation to prove important points.
I also will play games like family feud and jeopardy. This really gets all of the students involved.
I try to keep my lectures short and always add peresonal experience to my lectures because it's so much more interesdting to the students.
