Understanding how students learn will allow you to change the stimuli in the room. As a cosmetology instructor I know that a huge portion of my learning comes from being visual and through hands-on and after a certain amount of time sitting (theory) I get bored. Therefore, I try to teach similarly to the way I learn. I try to give a certain amount of time for lecture,10 minute breaks, give some hand-outs for enrichment, quick activities like puzzles, games, group work etc. to keep the students focused.
Knowing the statistics of how much is learned via hearing, seeing, and hands on was good information. I plan on using more appropriate reviews based on those figures. I had already helped with the filtering process by giving cues to what the valuable information was during a lecture. However, having more exact information is very helpful.
David,
Instructors are more effective if they have different ways they can deliver content. Not only do these different ways assist the students in the learning process the variety helps to keep the attention of the instructors. This prevents them from becoming bored with teaching the same thing over and over again.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Albert,
Great way to introduce application learning as a part of the educational process. You are right about the retention going up because the more they use it and problem solve with it the greater the value they will attach to the content and procedures you are sharing with them.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This is a great point. Having one method of teaching instruction can be detrimental because not all humans learn and interact the same. Teachers must be skilled in various methods of teaching and to do that they must first understand learning!
By understanding the needs of the class and observing how the students are involved on it.
Understanding the concepts involved in adult learning is certainly of value as an instructor. Identifing the impact of the student's past experiences, coupled with the "drinking out of a fire hose"(read overwhelming)analogy, certainly helps me to understand how my content and presentation can impact the student's educational perception.
I would tell student where the course is headed and how I intend to get them there (goals and objectives).I think it's important to show the course's relevance to the student's career path.
Every day presents new challenges for me as an instructor in how to get the important information to stick and every class has it's own dynamic. I find one thing that helps the most during a lecture when a student is blocked or struggling with a concept or theory is to stop everything and bring all of the students into a studio (the lab for me, as I teach audio production) to literally show them the practical side of what we were discussing. I then have the student that was struggling stand right next to me as I demonstrate the whatever and after the demonstration I have them execute the same task. I'll also instruct them to speak out loud the specific steps and specific reasons why each step is necessary. I'll praise them at the completion of the task and get the rest of the class involved in the applause. That usually really builds their confidence for the future. If I have enough time (in this one type of example) I have also been known to then alter the variables of the situation we just addressed and have a different student go through the exercise or have the group work on it collectively. The students really seem to appreciate this and retention definitely goes up.
Stephen,
This is what connected teaching is about. You draw a connection between their life experiences and what they are learning. This way they remember more and are able to make more applications of the content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Art,
You have listed a win win approach for everyone. Your students are learning and you are enjoying teaching as a result of how engaged they are. This is what teaching should be about.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach in a technical school, many students have
no experience with our technology so finding ways to relate our technology and processes to their every day experience (episodic) would make it easier to understand more abstract technical terms and procedures. For example a piston is shaped like a cup.
I know several instructors that think teaching is lecturing to a class. That's not necessarily teaching, it's simply lecturing.
Teaching is getting through to your class, or rather getting through to each any every student.
This must mean adapting to the class by adapting to each student. By looking in the eyes of the students, you know who gets it and who does not.
Our task should be to modify our delivery to meet the needs of each sudent. That doesn't make our job easy, but it is rewarding when we see the students becoming more aware of what's intended in the class.
After many years of teaching, I love it when students tell me "I've never had a teacher like you. You seem to be interested in really helping me to understand. Thanks."
This is when I know I'm doing my job. And obviously, students grades improve; and my job satisfaction improves.
Marcia,
I like the way you approach reinforcing the learning of your students. You are giving them several different ways of getting the content stored in their memory banks and making it ready for use.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Understanding the basics of learning will benefit me because I will be able make my instruction and focus on learning more relevant to each of my students. By being aware of their previous life experiences and career aspirations, I can foster learning experiences that will resonate with them. From an earlier class, I now realize the importance of debriefing activities. I see how reflection on an experience or activity helps learning to occur. When my students go to other areas of the hospital, I give them a printed sheet to write down their experiences on and to also reflect on what they have seen/heard; they then share these with the other members in our clinical group. This helps the student articulate and think about what they have learned and it also gives the other students something to watch for or experience when they go to that department.
By understanding the basics of learning, it will help you to create a template for teaching that will help all types of students or learners. Everyone is different in the way that they learn so trying to adapt to all students with your lesson will make class run smoother.
Amber,
Teaching is a matter of experience and growth. We all need to be on a journey of discovery as we expand our expertise in teaching.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Through the years my teaching has adapted and I utilize many more analogies as well as real life examples to aid instructional objectives.
George,
These types of mental connectors really help the students to acquire the needed content. I have found that the students have fun when they get to develop different types of learning strategies and share them with others.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
It will cause me to look for more ways to use hands-on type training to help the student to retain more information. This even would work with word lists where memorization is important. Making an interesting episode out of the list would make the information easier to remember.
Charmian,
Spoken like a dedicated professional educator. We cannot stay with what we are doing if it isn't working. Making modifications and adaptations are critical to keep students engaged. This is why I like to get to class early and chat with the students as they file in. I get a "read" on the class that day and can adjust my instructional plan based upon what I find out.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
