Showing your personality adds the personal touch that students appreciate. It's an opportunity to show your passion for the subject.
Your personality plays a large role. You need to be comforatable enough to get in front of a class to teach them the information and at the same time make it interesting. If you have a dry personality and take that to lecture, you have a greater chance of loosing the student's attention.
My personality is crucial in how the students respond to my instruction. I remain positive and motivated, to try and keep the level of energy positive in the classroom. If the morale is high in the classroom, there are much better outcomes.
It has been my experience, there is great value in understanding the need for myself to be awrae of my personality and how I valuable it is to be able to adjusts to the "climate" of the room and the people in it. Mood has to be left aside and the delivery is always my greatest focus.
We should select a classroom delivery that is suited to our personality strengths and weaknesses. If instructors play to their strengths, their passion for the topic may be better perceived by the students. If instructors just deliver material and the delivery method is more closely matched to their weakness, they struggle with the delivery, which students may perceive as the instructor doesn't know the subject matter, or doesn't like the subject.
I don't always use a serious life experience situation when instructing, some times I will use funny situations that I have came upon during my medical experience to show them the true meaning of the profession in a professional and comic situation.
Hi Thomas:
Discussion is good, especially when it isfocused and involves students. Engaging students in discussion and getting them to participate is better than listening to someone lecturing (although, that is important and has it's place too).
Another consideration is, just like you, there may be students that are great conversationalists, so giving them (and others) an opportunity to express, comment, explain, or describe key points in a lesson leads to higher levels of the classroom learning environment.
Regards, Barry
I would say my personality is more verbal. I enjoy talking to people and having interaction. So starting a conversation in class, and turning it into a classroom discussion is easy. This allows for everyone to be engaged in the topic and learn from it. I use power point with handouts for the students and have them note the important points from the classroom discussion and how they apply.
Hi Kellie:
Yes, stories, situtaion, circumstances, case studies, past mistakes, all these can be effective for earning.
For those students who don't get the association, you can eith preface your story with "I'm going to share a story that will demonstrate to you that....etc". Or you can do the same thing afterwards, as in, "So, as you can see, it's important that we always....etc".
Sometimes some students just need to have the obvious pointed out to them. They'll still remember the story and probably the point you had as well.
Regards, Barry
Hi Meron:
Yeah, when we plan our course by thinking about "how would this be for the students", we are being student centered and the outcomes from our instruction are usually better.
Lectures - conversation - stories. Students like stories. They are memorable and they can relate to much of the material if it's presented in an easy to follow format. These classes are more interesting and enjoyable.
Sounds like you've got a good approach going for you there!
Regards, Barry
I agree, I use story telling to associate learning to the real world and to get my students back on track. However, some students don't understand that part of the learning process and think you side tracking.
Hi Patricia:
Very simple yet effective approach to presenting and delivery to your class. Not all students respond the same way but the environment for learning willbe there.
Regards, Barry
Hi Mary:
Personality makes a difference!
Teachers that are natural and approachable make being in their class more enjoyable because questions or concerns can be asked by students without feeling intimidated or put down. Being artificial or some unnatural version of orselves will not be recieved well by students.
Teachers with passion and enthusiam create a better learning environment. That includes serious and levity (but not too much), tolerance and patience, and a willingness to let student personality be expressed while maintaining standards for behavior.
Regards, Barry
I strongly believe that putting myself on the position of the students really helps. Making the lecture into a conversation (discussion); they really enjoy that, me too. So, why not enjoy the learning process as well and make it enjoyable for everyone involved.
If I'm excited and positive then the students are excited and positive towards the material.
If one approaches people, especially students with enthusiam and an upbeat attitude, they will respond in kind. I have found that if you come to class prepared and then present the information with humor and caring, even the most challenging subjects can be taught successfully.
Students love it when they sense that you have a real appreciation for the information that they need to learn.
The key is to be prepared. You must have a real understanding of the material in order to advance your goal of student understanding.
One's personality can make even the dullest of subjects pallatable.
Hi Marivic:
Good points. Being a natural me, even if not perfect, is much better than being an artificial version someone else.
Natural, honest and sincere, passionate and enthusiastic, patient and tolerant, supportive and encouraging, competent and confident, approachable and kind, objective and open to opposing views - these traits along with the natural version of ourselves opught to create an interesting class, especially if most of these attributes were sustained throughout the course.
Regards, Barry
Hi Dale:
You've got a good point and perhaps a principle.
I think when we tell stories to illustrate a point or share a past experience in the work setting, students like these and relate to some of the facts, therefore more likely to remember.
In memory training, they teach to associate something already known with something you want to know. In it's own way, stories, case studies, or past work examples are kind of like that too.
Regards, Barry
Hi Bob:
Ref PPT: Right, the mixing of PPT along with other media provides variety and more interesting class sessions.
Also when students participate, they latently take on ownership of the class material and are more likely to cointinue to share their feelings, put thought into their work, and generally do better in class.
Regards, Barry
I use Powerpoint for every class but also use the whiteboard. I agree that using the whiteboard and other media can be extremely helpful in keeping the class involved. Like the one instructor in the Harvard series I like to put up comments from class members and then connect them together and to the concepts we are discussing. This give those making comments a feeling that their contriution has some value. This in turn encourages them to participate.
