Joshua Carney

Cutting out the 'fluff'

As teachers we hope that every word that comes out of our mouth, is on a powerpoint, or a note on the white board is relevant; but from the students' perspective, this is just not true.

One one way I have used to sum up the important points, that helps with the decoding/recoding/application process, is to create colorized flowcharts for many of the most important topics covered in class. Additionally, I try to demonstrate the relevancy of each box on the flowchart with either an in-class demonstration or hands-on mini project. Fortunately, my program is a very hands-on, software-based program. In many situations, I can sum the main points of a 50-page unit (and subsequent 30-slide powerpoint) down to a 3-4 condensed flowcharts!

I love the the idea of guided notes! I do upload all of the class Powerpoints to the school's online portal at the beginning of the term, and some students choose to print them out 3-to-a-page with note-taking space; but I had never thought about guided notes before. I think this is a great idea because it allows the students to take less notes, and pay more attention in class, rather than being buried in their notebook, trying to keep up with what they are writing, rather than fully absorbing the material.