I plan to lecture for the first hour and a half. I try to involve the student as much as I can. Asking them questions, quick history note about the people that influence the field, a funny story related to the subject. Followed by a 30 minute demonstration.I also make take a 10 min. break after the first hour and a 20 min break after the second hour.
After the second hour break, I let them go into the lab and expriement on what they learned from the lecture and demonstration.
A half hour before it is time to leave, I will review and/or re-emphsis the important subject matter, go over any homework assignment, a quick pre-veiw of the next meeting's learning objectives.
Rebecca,
You make a good point. The more we know about ourselves the more we are going to be able to understand others in relation to their preferences and successes.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think first being aware of your own learning preferences is important to ensure you are not only teaching to the learning preference you are most comfortable with. Thinking ahead through your lecture material to see where you could implement other learning preferences.
Students need to know the purpose of the course and how it will better them.
Tina,
I like to use case studies as well for some of the reasons you list. They help the students to see relevancy to the content and application of the needed skills.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I implement real life application/scenarios. Also bringing in current event issues pertaining to topic. To tie all if it together ,I will assign case studies to discuss their thoughts.
Kent,
Your experiences from the field help to increase the value of the course content being presented. So by blending them you are helping students to see the application portion of the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have found that relaying some of my personal experiances in the field, I can blend the coures content into real life.
Gloria,
You are making it personal and that is what learning should be about. The more you can get them to think about their own experiences the more connections they will make with what is being taught. Thanks for sharing this strategy with us.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Jason,
I use case studies a lot in my classes as well. They really help the students with their critical thinking skills which is what they will need to be able to do when they are in the field. Keep up the good work and keep sharing those case studies.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Well - when I'm teaching Medical Lab procedures; I asked the students if they have had blood drawn from them, and what do they remember about the experience,(was the MA courteous, clear with the information/instructions, and if she/he followed all proper sterile technics/ OSHA procedures).
If I'm teaching Codding and Billing;
I have asked students; how many of them have actually read their insurance billing information because (the information that we receive that stats "This is not a Bill" to make sure that they are not bee charged for something that was not done for them. I think this is the best way to have them apply what they are learning in the classroom
Gloria
I think you can only do this after a few days of learning your students. Not that they will tell you, but how you deliver your instruction in those first days could give you some feedback as to who the learning styles might be. Use a broad base of instruction in the first days to test knowledge, attention, participation, etc. I think this is how you develop a great learning environment for different types of learners.
Teaching medical lab material, I love case studies. I can give a mini-lesson and then a case study for my students to figure out. That ability to put in use the newly learned information always excites my students and has them wanting to learn more because they now see the ultility/relevance of the material.
Gregory,
Students like variety and change of pace in their instruction. You are providing both with your approach as well as helping them to see relevancy to and make application of the new information they receive.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I design my lesson plan knowing that I need to address the visual, tactile, auditory, and kinesthetic student.
With this in mind I shall start my labs with a hand out listing the objectives to that day's lesson. I then will demonstrate a given technique on a student and then ask the student to give their feed back to another student that will try to administer the same technique.
Michael,
You are doing a great service for your students. By them knowing what the real world is like and being evaluated with real world standards their transition to the work will be much easier.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Jacki,
The more you can connect course content to real life the greater value they will associate with the course. They really like examples and stories about the field as it relates to the topics being studied.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
You have to make it relevant to real life for them. Personalize it in a way that matters to their life.
The first thing I did was to make my classrooom\ lab look as much like a service department as possible. Then I called as many dealerships as I could find and ask the owners how they evaluate their employees. I implemented their evaluation strategies as my grading system.
I like to use innovated demonstration styles to intrigue my students. I feel if introduce new and exciting things to them they will stay motivated
