I try to keep my lectures at aroound 15-30 min because I like to challenge the students to review what they learned in class. I call 2 students to the board and will ask a question from th lecture andn the one who answers first stays at the board to be challanged by another student. The goal is to be the one at the board the longest and it gives me an idea about whho pays attention.
I use the introductions made on the first day of class- I have the students fill out a 3x5 card with name, interests and goals- I then use the interests of an inattentive student to tie into lecture topics. This appears to work for me as a large portion of my students have similar interests and goals.
Mark, thank you for statign this! I get so involved with lecturing that I often forget how important & helpful this technique is.
I create an on the spot example combining the thematic material of whatever topic I am talking about and use that particular student's name. For example, if I am talking about the thickness of the walls of the human heart, I might say "if I were to take Johnny's heart out of his chest, I would notice that the wall of his left ventricle is thicker than the wall of his right ventricle." This technique keeps the class focused on the material at hand and immediately engages "Johnny." It also amplified the level of engagement of the other students as well because whenever a student is "singled-out," the rest of the students increase their level of engagement because they never know if they might be "next!"
I allow peer pressure to take root and push the inattentive student to be mindful of their particpation requirements in the class. I have to be careful to ensure that this doesnt become punitive though.
I have the class take quick stretching brakes.It seems to help.
Hi Khalda,
This is a great tactic to force students to pay attention.
Patricia Scales
to me guest speakers are the very best way.
I usually stop the lecture or the class work and ask the students to review what I have been lecturing by going to each student individually. Offcourse the student who are not attentitve in the class will jump up to look for the answers from left and right or he/she would not answer.
some time I would give them a mini quiz or would collect the class work from them to grade it. This way the inattentive student would be bound to pay attention and finish the work that they are suppose to do it in the class.
Be enthusiastic about the material that you are teaching. I have found that enthusiasm is contagious and it spreads through a classroom very quickly.
When dealing with inattentive students if I find im losing the students attention, a game or activity is always used or open labs
I just inherited a class that absolutely are turned off by PowerPoint presentations because of the experience they had with an instructor in the previous term. So as soon as I started my power point presentation I lost all 8 students. To over come this I minimized my use of the PowerPoint slides, put important highlights into a hand out and turned my lecture into more of a discussion with me leading it it where I need it to go. Their contribution to this style is to complete the necessary reading and come prepare to discuss what they have read and be prepared to fully participate in the discussion. So far it has worked well for me.
When I feel I'm losing students attention I will pause to ask questions to make sure they understand the material. I try to make sure that the class room is not conducive to zoning, i.e. not too warm, proper lighting, etc.
I stop the lecture and try to engage the students in discussion.
When I sense that students are not interested in class I will often use games to break up the lecture and get the students involved. I have various prepared review games that often has the students work in groups to review maerial presented in class. SO if i feel it is needed I will tell the students to get in groups and ask them various questions regarding the material. By breaking up the routine it gets the inattentive student focused and provides review of material which benefits to improve students retention.
I believe breaking up into small groups and then working on case studies or problems are one way to capture inattentive students.
I usually will interject a question and answer
session on the material just covered. Sometimes
I just have them all stand up and move around
for a few minutes to refocus them.
These are all very good ideas to keep students motivated and I will try to incorporate those ideas in my classroom.
I try to keep the students active during class by asking questions and allowing the students to interact with the class. I will take small breaks and interact with students during those breaks. (I also try to correspond the subject with real life events). This really helps the students.
be creative and demonstrative and add humor to it..it certainly would attract their attention..
Astrid
