I feel that involving the students in the lectures as much as possible is a great way to keep their attention. Asking students questions regarding the lecture material as you go will keep them on their toes and engaged.
stay focused on your syllabus that was created and given to students then when you lecture you should try and stay on track so the students feel more at ease with their course.
Some of the ways that I can make my lectures more relevant and effective is to provide real world examples, speakers with expertise, and demonstrations when possible.
Hi Vicki,
They should. I use them the first night of my class for several ice breaker activities as well as later in the course when we are doing strategy planning. By making and seeing them on the way the students really remember the content on the sheets.
Gary
Our department (English) is making an effort to incorporate more video and You-Tube into our mainstream English classes to supplement the textbook readings. The focus is then on the meaning of the material (themes) and how it relates to the lives of the students and people in general.
Thanks for the reminder Colleen. I have also used the "Think, Pair, Share" method and have had great success with it at another school. I am definitely going to put it into practice again this semester in my American Literature classes. Sometimes when teaching Literature, I tend to forget that my love of literature is not necessarily shared by my students, but when they can relate it to their own lives or to a common theme in the story, then they become interested and engaged learners.
I recently participated in an all day continuing ed course where the instructors had each of us working in small focus groups with a large sheet of art paper that we wrote our "brainstorming ideas" on with colored markers and then we went up to the whiteboard and taped them up so the whole class could see and follow our presentations. I decided if this worked with a group of teachers, it would certainly work with my students. I am going to an office supply store to buy one of those tablets before the start of my spring semester. The cool thing is they also have adhesive on the top edge of each sheet so it sticks to your whiteboard.
Hi Michael,
This is a great example of how to bring everyday applications to complex content. Also, your point about helping them be able to hold their own with other healthcare professionals when they out in the field is a good one. By them being able to do this you are doing a real service to the career development of your students.
Gary
In preparing lectures, I will try to make a connection with the student’s everyday life and the material. Take for example when dealing with the circulatory system. I will use all examples like Platelets are construction crews, WBC's are ambulance and emergency workers. I feel presenting material as this will allow them to learn and at the same time picture the significance of the functions without going over their heads or talking down to them. I get better test results when they can think outside the box. While presenting the material I never loose track of what is being taught and ensure that the student understands the correct terminology and functions so as not to set them up for potential embarrassment in future discussion among other healthcare professionals.
I ask for frequent interaction by asking students questions during the lecture, writing on the board and using visual aids to illustarte points. I practice the lecture to make sure that the timing and length of time are appropriate. I also try to incorporate information and ideas from periodicals and sources outside the textbook in order to engage students and enhance the materials at hand.
Inject humor that they will appreciate.
real life situations really make the course sound real.
Hi Karen,
Good strategies for reaching your students. The opening of a class with a quote or application example helps to make the class real for the students. You are also showing students application and relevancy in what they are studying.
Gary
Mary,
I agree that connection is key to retention. When students buy-in their learning improves.
Robin
Sounds like you have a good rapport with your students.
In order to make a lecture more effective, I like to use various means of delivery. I especially like to get them involved in the discussion so that they take ownership of the material. Brainstorming is an effective tool that draws students into the discussion to expand their thinking about the material. Giving mini lectures followed by some sort of student involvement awakens students to the use of their own thoughts and ideas and builds confidence in their ability to think through the material. This also helps them remember it.
This has occasionally been a struggle for me in the online environment. The school at which I teach has online chats. As it is only audio, there is no face-to-face connection. It is be hard to actively engage students at times in this setting.
Although I'm teaching online classes this quarter and don't currently give lectures, in the past I've tried to draw students in by using something memorable to start the lecture with. Sometimes it would be a quotation or a short poem related to the subject; other times it would be an anecdote. It got the class to start listening from the start, as a group. I also found that students appreciated references to how the information in the lecture might be applied in the world outside class.
I think attentiveness is garnered when you ask thought provoking questions and probe for responses as well as change the type of materials that you are working with so that their mind has to readjust itself to something new or more interesting to move onto.
I preffer short ones 15-20 minutes, and a really like interactive lectures. I like to know if the students understad and the only way i know if they dit it is asking questions
