RE: Video on Call Patterns
While I do not disagree that some students might cause, by asking / or answering questions, the flow of the class to go backwards to a degree, I must say that when I pay my hard earned money to take a class, I darn well want my questions answered. I am in that class for a reason; to learn. Consequently I fully expect questions I may have to be answered (as applies to course material) and I personally don't care if the instructor likes it or not.
As one may imagine, I afford that same philosophy to my students. Inspired Class room management techniques do not require an instructor to ignore a student that may have his hand in the air a lot, or a long time. Just sayin' .....
Nancy,
Glad you liked it and see how you can apply this approach to your own questioning methods.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This was an interesting video and I can see the benefits of not getting off track. I have never paid attention to call patterns, not ever considered it. I will pay closer attention, because can say from personal experience that some students raise their hand to ask a non-relevant question to see if they CAN throw you off track. Ineresting indeed!
Pamela,
You raise a good point and I think a lot of how you manage Q&A sessions depends on your current group of students and how you manage their contributions to class. So use your best professional judgement and student interaction will be solicited in an orderly manner.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
The video on Call Patterns was interesting. This is my first experience in teaching students vs. teaching employees. I found it very odd that one would not respond to a raised hand. It certainly can send the wrong message to the student. Agree with the comments about off-topic, but we should be able to redirect focus.
John,
As the learning leader you are keeping your students on target with their discussion sessions while keeping the course moving forward. Some instructors have trouble with handling questions that go off topic and once that start to happen then the class can quickly be derailed and it is tough to get it back.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I will also admit that I was somewhat taken aback by the video. Perhaps because I have the luxury of small class sizes I don't find it necessary to skip over questions. When it is something off topic I give a quick answer and offer to discuss it further after class. Often even an off-topic question or story can be redirected to the subject at hand; "That is not really an example of this principle because....", then offering a modified version which does apply.
Skipping over a raised hand is rude behavior especially for adult learning. There are no dumb questions; however we all have dealt with the "Spring Butt" type of students. They always have a question, an answer, or want to be herd. It is important for the instructor to graciously engage these student, but do it in such a away you don't reward their poor behavior and keep the class on track with the lesson. If you skip the person, or put them down, how do you thank the rest of the class will perceive your actions?
I agree that students have questions and as instructors it is my responsibility to respond according. So I personally try not to pass over a student with a raised hand. But if for some reason I do miss them for whatever reason, upon hearing their question I may simply as them to let me respond to that at the end of the lecture so I do not take the class back too far and still make it through my lesson plan and that student doesn't feel neglected.
Don,
I agree with you in relation to having the instructor respond to questions that are directly related to the course. It is when the student with the hand in the air wants to ask an off topic question to derail the class that the learning leader has to exercise class management and make sure that this does not happen. When this does happen and it is handled properly it doesn't take long for the word to spread among students that they should ask questions that has relevance and if they do they will get them answered by the instructor.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
