Class Prep
Beyond the standard be organized and prepared with content, materials, trips etc, which are expected of each teacher, what are some meaningful ways to show students you are excited and prepared?
Rosa,
Great! Excited and enthusiasm are hard acts to follow. Students often find this kind of environment infectious and tend to spread it around.
Barry Westling
I show my students that I am excited and prepared by being in class early and greeting my students (by name)with a warm and friendly smile. I write a question of the day on the white board and have each student respond to it on a flash card. This warms up the class and gets them excited.
Christie,
Sounds good. I think when students find something they're interested in, they're more apt to pay attention, become involved, engage in the discussion, and retain useful information.
Barry Westling
I like to have current handouts and case studies and current internet news stories available. when the class starts I ask them if they have heard about...and start the class off with that information. sometimes they look it up first then we talk.
David,
This may have more to do with curriculum than general readiness, but it sounds like a great topic, applicable for many kinds of classes, and would be a great adjunct to use for career or job setting.
Barry Westling
One way I have demonstrated class preparation is content that I share with them that is not part of the normal requirements for the class. For example, when I share with them a video from Andy Andrews keying in on the "7 Decisions of Highly Succesful People, I am bringing to the classroom a realness as it related to the post-college working experience.
Mike,
I like to share stories. Students like them and it provides me an opportunity to demonstrate enthusiasm, passion, and interest in the topic area. This can lead into, merged within the lecture or discussion, or shared afterwards to convey applicability.
Barry Westling
