Sometimes class size cannot accomodate a whole lot of "doing." I like to incorporate independent exercises into my classes. Outside acitivty that is presented to the class after the fact.
I agree, I try to change my style up just to keep the students involved. It helps me stay involve too.
I agree when not everyone has the same learning style, classroom activities need to be varied. I try to offer the same information in several ways to give all learners exposure.
I would have to agree. In my culinary kitchen I try to enforce that the student work in a way that represents that they are making food in a mass prodcution not just one or two plates at a time.
It's also about not waiting for things to not work to try alternate styles. Simply changing things up during a class period can reinvigorate students who are "lulled" into inactivity by what becomes predictable about an instructor's method.
Yes, it's all about finding new ways to explain the same things over and over. You never know when or what will trigger that "light bulb" moment when they finally understand what you are trying to teach them but the more ways you can explain it to them the more options you have for getting everyone in class to have success.
Sometimes when I'm teaching I feel like all I'm doing is repeating the information over and over. And while that it is true, while I'm repeating it, I'm doing it in different ways. I'll first start by doing a lecture on the material. THen I'll split the class into groups where they teach each other the info I just lectured on. Then I'll give them an article to read on the information. By the end of all this repetition, I hope that I've covered all different types of learners.
It's also fun to have a student teach another (who may have been absent) how to perform a procedure - no hands, words only.
The larger the class,the greater the challange about this topic. Not everyone has the same learning style. I have found some will learn with the hands on during activities. But, I also feel that an even number of student will just learn by repetition or by an itellectual learning style.
Agreed! We can introduce and discuss a procedure a number of different ways, and solicit input from the students in doing so. But, in the end, it the actual practice that puts the student in the "driver's seat". The post production debriefing is invaluable in that setting.
