Hi Manfred,
I like the way you offer variety to your students. This is what it takes to keep them engaged for the long of time. I teach from 4 until 10 pm so I understand exactly what you are facing with your planning. I follow the same strategy for my instructional planning.
Gary
One class is lasting between 4 and 8 hours. This is much too long for doing only presentations. Therefore I mix theoretical knowledge with practical exercises that follow the flow of the lecture. E.g. students try out the commands they just learned on their PC's. After lecturing I hand out several lab exercises to provide the students with even more hands on training. They spend about 30% of their time working on them.
After finishing a chapter they have to answer about 10 to 20 quiz questions. This is part of the homework and will be discussed in the next class. Another part of the homework is to take a online class about the subject.
With al this different elements I try to accomodate all the learner preferences.
Hi Jorge,
Good point about making the connection between the lab in school and the real world. The more the students understand this connection the easier their transition to it is going to be.
Gary
Hi Alma,
Good strategies. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Demonstrating or discussing how techniques practiced in labs are performed on the job, in a real world setting stresses the importance of mastering these techniques by making them mire relevant to the students experience. Doing this also gives the students a greater understanding of how those technique fit within the scope of the practical skills they must acquire in order to be proficient in their chosen field.
Open and Closed Questions, Read, Reviw, Getting the main idea in reading is central to effective studying.
The following are my different instructional styles:
1. I state the goal and objective repitatively before the class start in a manner that students must pay attention what I am talking about.
2. I break down any difficult word in my statement and ask them wheather they understood or not the goal and objective.
3. I illustrate a lot on the board. Whatever I found harder for students I used to draw diagrams to make them understand. I usually draw hundreds of hundreds diagrams in one course.
4. Diagrams are included in my tests so students are found interest in it.
5. I demenstrate lots of examples during my lecture and found it worthed. Students understand much better with examples.
6. Mu tone varies a lot in the class. Along with ups and down of my tone students allertnesses are changed too. They can easily recognize the important part of the lecture and fix their attention in the class.
7. I do lots of acting, comedy and entertaining in the class so that students never feel bored in the class.
8. I found students love to get positive reenforcement by knowing the success stories in the field. Lot of my graduates they come to my class as a guest speaker to share their experience and joy in their working enviornment and personal life.
9. i use power point to show them slides and web based many information about their lesson.
10. When students are lacking concentration I make them in groups and start group discussion based on the topics.
11. I ask questions to evaluate their understanding after every topic and I ask randomly to every corner.
12. I never leave the class with incomplete lecture, means I close the discussion for the day before leaving.
I give them a learner inventory quiz to see which type of learners they are.
I try to accomadate the learning styles of all my students by utilizing as many different teaching tools as possible. I write notes on the board and then go over them. I use powerpoint presentations, printed handouts, relevent movies, and text book work. I prepare crossword puzzles, review sheets and sometimes play games with the information such as Jeopardy.
Hi Chuck,
This is a great way to provide instruction. You are offering a number of different learning avenues to your students while providing variety and change of pace.
Gary
Hi Ron,
Good reminder for us all. The stories that are told in class need to be directly related to the current topic. They lose their value when they are off topic or seen as rambling.
Gary
Spend enough time during and after class with the inquisitive learners.
During a lecture I will use PowerPoints, handouts, or indicate the chapter in the text. This allows for visual and auditory learning. Depending on the subject matter and length, I will usually break up the lecture with an activity, demonstration, or small group session to reinforce the learning for tactile learners. I find that everyone can learn using different styles, but some people have preferences in how they learn. Using different methods of instruction tends to reinforce the learning, even if it isn't their learning style.
Stay on the course subject. I had a professor that spent far too much time in a biology course on his favorite subject - birds, which was, by all student agreement, a waste of valuable class time that could have been spent on much more practical material.
The professional stories add interest and may help students retain more information!
I have been able to reflect on the changes in my field from when I began and how things are now that I instruct students to enter the field. By staying current in my registry and with continuing education in my field, I am able to help students understand the newest technology in our field.
Strategies implemented for relevant and applicable content have included but not limited to discussions centered around industry news topics and case study review on dynamic situations and matters of precidence in industry. Such topics have included healthy reform advocacy/overhaul, the importance/necessity of HIPAA in today's industry and the impact of technology on health administration processes.
I break each class into intro items (news articles), then move into a lecture or mini-lecture, add in videos (usually 1 - 3 minutes) and complete with a case study or project work. This approach usually covers all the learner types and keeps everyone involved.
I use my industry experience, engagement with professional organizations, and published research articles to ensure course content is evidence-based and has high relevance to the student’s desired career field.
While teaching I try to plan numerous "side trips" where I will leave the lecture/presentation to explore "real life" scenarios through the use of video/multimedia. For instance, the use of the Welch-Allyn website for students to "inservice" on the equipment that we will be using that day in procedures. I will then follow up with a demonstration of use. These "side-trips" are a great way to engage the students as well as implement factual information from the manufacturer that is very necessary for the students to know. It enables the students to more effectively apply the knowledge and information that is given in the lecture.
