Hoorah for you Paul! Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
The NEED to learn more about the topic I am teaching has never been a difficult balancing act. I have found that the more I learn about the topic I am teaching the more creative I can become with the materials, thus, I am able maximize my classroom time and organization.
Fortunatly it is easy for me. I teach a course on performance tuning and spend most of my spare time racing. This includes testing new product and theories that I apply to my racing and the classroom. Students are confident that the information they recive in class is current and useful. I share my sucess and challenges. Then we can list ways to make improvements. This generates excitement and makes for an excellent learning environment!
We have several hours a day outside of classtime to prep. We can use that for online training, both technical and soft skills. The topics we teach are mostly established technology that we are very familiar with, only occasionally do we encounter new subject matter. This leaves us more time to develop our teaching skills.
I like the idea of hearing from the student about what their goals are and what expectations they have. This may help students that have lost sight of their goals or maybe haven't thought about their goals for some time. They may spend some time reviewing their goals and reignite their passion for what they are doing. You could also refer to these goals and expectations days or weeks later during lecture, demonstrations or activities.
More knowledge is as important to me as is my new enthousiasm. The both combined incite new methods derivated from successfull ones. It also sharpens my sense of discerning reactions and participation of the always new students.
The tone of balnce for me is set by the feedback I precieve and recieve from the class. With in a short time frame I can feel if more discussion/lecture is needed. Combination of lecture & demo. In some classes it demo first, lecture on concept/skill, then demo again. Balance for me in developing new ways of teaching is a living being always growing, searching for the right key to open the door, so the student can learn.
I have found that evan small things help with furthering my base knowlage for my class, such as reading as much as can this is a must to stay current! Now that I am instructing insted of wrenching. As far as the devloping new and inproved instructing techniques i have taken the time to observe other instructors in ther class room styles.
Not only do learn from them but you realize that they just might be working with people you used to work with.
I alway tell my student not to burn a bridge because you never know when you just might need it.
BRAVO Joumana! Keep learning and keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
Hi Sean!
I also agree that it is a balancing act. Would you share some examples on your "balancing act"?
Thanks,
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
I know...I just talked to one of my graduates and I think I learned from him more then I thought I would. It's great to learn from your learners!
While it may not be necessary to know more about a subject to develop new teaching techniques, I certainly think it helps provide insight and/or a fresh perspective on the subject. For me, I alternate between learning and developing with the same slice of planning time outside of actual class.
In the reality that we have today, technology is in constant motion and in order to keep up with my design career and my educational side. Everyday I'm learning something new everyday and try to bring it in the classroom in a lesson or as story telling.
We are fortunate that our school provides us with support time. If we are instructing a 6 hour class, this leaves us 2 hours of support time to learn more about the subject we are involved with. The school also invites guest speakers that are experts in the relavant subjuct matter and this is a big help.
Balancing is a foreign word to me right now. I am new to being an instructor and I find it is often like I am taking the course for the first time myself. The good apsect to the carrer college where I teach is that we specialize in blocks and therefore I am able to build on my previous attempts at said material. Each time I teach one of our terms, usually six weeks, I tell the students it is an exploration. I will give them what I know from my experience and we will explore what we need to add to it.
Our classrooms are well eqipped with laptops, overhead projectors and the internet and so I can look up in real time any questions a class may have.
Classroom time management is something I find interesting. What I percieve as easy topics often run over due to discussions and questions, whereas difficult topics seem to run under the time alloted.
I have purchased several study guides with disks and I make jeopardy games on powerpoint to help in material retention.
Balance, a word so far off for now. For the moment I find I do tons of research on the material I teach to be better equipped. I attribute it to the life of a teacher and its fun to me.
I balance my need to continue learning my field with my need to develop new ways to teach... the best that I can. At one time i had the ability to offer extra credit for projects above curiculum, and would accept a research project that related to class materials for a small additional credit. Now I am in a much more restricted program and can not allow the off curiculum influences. I have been focusing more on self-discovery and when asked a question i try to always break down the process so the student always gives me the answer. I have once or twice been told I was answering a question with a question, but at the end I get to point out they didnt need me to get to the answer.
It's not easy,I try not to bring work my work home. We have at work what we call "support time" during this time I will look at varies tech. resources and also think of new ways to improve on classroom activities/creating a better learning environment,also more interaction with students during class helps to create a more positive environment.
Hi Robert!
Staying informed and trained is obviously very important; however, I do like you practical approach of staying calm and taking one student at a time.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
