I recently had the pleasure of observing a "mentor teacher" who is one of the best instructors I have ever seen. He didn't stay with one type of delivery for more than 20 minutes, moving from lecture, experiment, demonstration, questioning, video and so forth. All students remained interested and engaged. It was impossible not to be drawn in and to pay attention to his lecture even though it was not my field! He also had a great sense of humor which added tremendously to his presentation.
We have lecture 2 nights a week, we ask that students turn in their power point notes every week, so that keeps them awake. To keep them interested I try to engage them in the lecture, make it relevant to what they will be doing out in the field. Sometimes I tell stories of patients and or situations that have come up over the years. I walk around the room a lot during lecture. For my students who like to be using their tech gadgets, if I am walking around the room it isn't as easy to hide from me.
We have lecture 2 nights a week, we ask that students turn in their power point notes every week, so that keeps them awake. To keep them interested I try to engage them in the lecture, make it relevant to what they will be doing out in the field. Sometimes I tell stories of patients and or situations that have come up over the years. I walk around the room a lot during lecture. For my students who like to be using their tech gadgets, if I am walking around the room it isn't as easy to hide from me.
Hi Mark,
I am sure you do a fine job preparing your students for the real world while entertaining them.
Patricia Scales
I like to make them get involved in the discussion, whether is be answer questions, read somthing for me, play a game and call them. Make them get involved. I also like to see why they are not paying attention, by asking them, because sometimes they are bored or have a lot on their mind.
Response to Patricia Scales
Hi Patricia,
One thing I try to do is mix up the class. I do not like using power point for lectures, rather case studies and role plays, this helps in getting all students involved with the class.
When we do lecture, I will do a review of the material but ask in depth questions regarding what the main purpose of the chapter was, then I will bring a relevant case regarding the topic. It may be to read the case and answer questions, or prepare a presentation for the next class or even act out the case and then discuss the outcome.
Thanks so much,
Kelsey
I actually am an actor entertainer and I have actually said during lecture, I am here to entertain you and if you learn something along the way that is a bonus.
I use variety of activities to keep my students engaged. I teach Information Technology courses in Career College. My class is five hours duration and normally starts from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm with 15 minutes brakes in every hour which makes instructor engaged hour as four hours. I therefore have to be innovative to keep my students engaged. I give intermittent quizzes. Long lectures are boring so I use power point presentation to explain important concepts and technologies. I give my students more hands on and lab activities to sharpen the skills they required to succeed in the real world.
If it is a lab setting I will give them a few minutes of one on one time to reinforce what they are doing correctly and give them assistance with anything they are struggling with.
If it is a lecture I will pull them back in by by including them into my what I am saying or asking for their input. If it seems to be several inattentive students I pause to reiterate the direct connection between the material and real life situations in order to make it relevant.
Hi Williams,
Great variety to keep students engaged.
Patricia Scales
Hi Michael,
Active learning is a must in order to keep students engaged.
Patricia Scales
I give shorts brakes, intermittent quick quizzes and since the class is Information Technology class we have a lot of hands on activities which engage the attention of all students.
I found that the best way to capture student’s attention:
A) Remember the student’s names
B) Call on the students by their names and ask them questions.
C) In the middle of the lecture walk to the back of the room, and observe them.
D) If there is any seat open in the first row ask the student to move to the front.
I will change to a group assignment, review what we just went over and call on people to answer or change from lecture and writing on the board to instructional videos or powerpoints. Sometimes I switch to games on the topic like jeopardy questions or even hangman.
I walk around the room as I'm lecturing and call on random students to answer questions. This way, all the students are paying attention just in case they're next to be called on.
I designed some of the class discussions to take the form of jeopardy and millionaire games. There are some token prices associated with winning these games. Some real test questions are embedded in these games. These have aroused the interest of students. Now, everybody not only stays connected with the class, but looks forward to their turn to play the games.
Variety,
A long time ago I was told the mind can only absorb what the butt can endure. Change, get them up and moving, prevent death by power point, with our medical classes we can talk about a procedure then immediately go to hands on skill and do that procedure, keeps the blood flowing.
As some of the other respondents have stated, long class times tend to drive students attention rates low. I found mixing lecture with relevent hands on activities that relate directly back to the lecture helps, bring back attention levels
I like to ask random questions during my powerpoint lecture. For example, if I come across a difficult or new term, I'll call on a random student and ask them if they can tell us what it means. Since I teach medical, a lot of the terms can be figured out by breaking it down to its Latin or Greek roots. If they're struggling, then I help them to break it down and get the meaning of the word figured out.
Hi Jennifer,
I like the idea of payday quizzes. We have to be creative with our teaching to keep students engaged.
Patricia Scales
