Jamey,
This sounds great, especially when students are not fully engaged. And I believe there is great merit is telling stories. In general, students like stories, and when the details contain information surrounding the work setting, past circumstances, situations or unusual occurrences, that makes makes the mental adventure just that more interesting. Students recall information when it is associated with stories and topics they are familiar with.
Barry Westling
I was trained to always have three different approaches/approaches to teach/reinforce the critical content in any given session - an auditory, visual, and tactile/hands on approach. Additionally, I have found that a "story" helps breakthrough the confusion. I will tell students to put pencils down, relax and let me tell them a story. I also promise that I will repeat any critical content but for now they are to relax and listen. Once the class is settled I tell them a story that reintroduces the key content/overall theme or that brings relevance and context to the material. At the end of the story I open it up to questions and try to lead for back and forth through the learning objectives. When I feel the class is back on track we pick up pencils and return to taking noes.
Ana,
Yes, different learning styles can make a diiference in our planned delivery. A good set of instructional back up plans targeted to reach out to different styles can end up making the difference between a student grasping all that is required and just marginally making it successfully. More hands on and student-led activities will almost always yield better student outcomes.
Barry Westling
Jill,
Sometimes a good back up plan can save the day. For instance, when all the computers are down (or the LCD projector). Technical things like the copiers out of whack, computers, overhead - anything electrical, that can create a minor emergency. But a good back up plan that doesn't rely on anything electrical that's low tech, easy to implemment, and related to the topic can fill the period and not waste students time. Maybe a review, a discussion, reading from the text, all simple but useful ways to assist when things go awry.
Barry Westling
When developing backup plans, I try to consider each of the learning styles so that I can a. appeal to each student's preferred learning style, and b. switch up the pace of the class. I'm definitely a talker, so I try not to lecture (as that is my preferred teaching style). I try to plan tactile activities and have found that adult learners often enjoy playing games just as much as younger students do. It relaxes them because for once the pressure is off. Often their competitive sides come out, and students have a little fun-while learning, of course! Conclusively, it is essential to vary instructional styles and have various types of activities to keep students engaged in the process of learning.
At this point, I have minimal back up plans. My lessons plans are pretty much on spot with the time and materal alloted. On the occassion where we appear to be running a bit short on time, I will reduce the number of questions to be completed during a class activity or I will read the information rather than having various students read material.
Mark,
Great. Lots of simple ideas in these forums that can aid instructors. I always find individuals writing about something, and sometimes they'll put a little different spin that had not yet been discussed.
Barry Westling
I am new at teaching and the different techniques of developing instructional back-up plans offered in your lesson plan will be instrumental when I formulate my teaching plans. I favor the model where the course content is broken down into smaller units that can be added or subtracted as time permits. The second tip was dividing the class into smaller groups which I feel will also be an invaluable teaching aid.
Eurico,
For me, a good back-up plan consists of providing important and needed material when my regular plan has been interrupted for whatever reason. Students know when their instructor is just filling time. I know I would not want to attend class and not increase my knowledge to some degree. So a good back up plan helps assure students will have meaningful material to leran and understand every day they attend school.
Barry Westling
Ken,
This sounds great. In some circles, this reviewing technique is called "chunking" and another is "checking for understanding". In all of these, the common link is the continuous review of key information before moving on to new material.
Barry Westling
Nelson ,
Good example. And I agree that our back-up plans should be as our regularly planned activities. For the unplanned interruptions for whatever reason, I find creating simpler activities that can be implemmented on short notice, with little preparation, that are low tech, and are related to the course of study work best, and to the student, they may not even know that some change from the plan has occurred.
Barry Westling
Developing instructional backup plans or Plan B you need to be updated to the industry you belong like reading, attending seminars and convention. Belonging to a organization or clubs. That way you can divert your lesson to a interesting topic of your thoughts, stories and experiences that you could share to your students and sure get them back their minds focus again.
After every ten minute break, I review the previous prebreak lesson information for about five to ten minutes. By defining words, asking to give systems descriptions etc., I hope to see if my previous lesson segment was understood by the students. If not, then I give a quick review coming from a different perspective angle and use different examples. I use the same method at each new day lesson period, reviewing the previous days lesson content or give a short mock test on lesson content to that point.
I find that doing a demonstartion and making the students participate gets them "back on track", I used this method when I see that the students may be getting tired from a long lecture for example. while it appears to the student to come out of nowhere, it allows me to "wake them up" and change the pace of the class. I learned to use this method after having a couple of classes where the pp presentation did'nt work and when for some reason my classroom was assigned to another person. Plan B should be something that you have as prepare as plan A.
Angela,
Yeah this is good (unless there's a power failure). I like my back-ups to be something I can pull off the shelf with little to no preparation and conduct a class that is meaningful and directly pertinent to the general topic. I don't like to hear student complaints that they are subjected to "time-filler" activities.
Barry Westling
I feel that having a short film for back up helps.
Juan,
Sounds like fun (of course if this occurred every day, all class, students would soon tire of it). As a back up plan, we want to plan for the worst and your idea was a success. Back up plans that are low tech, easy to implement, rely on little or no resources, and relate to the topic of the day are the best plans.
Barry Westling
The "Wing it" method for me was once relying on having enough technical expertise that when the power went out, no power point, dim lighting.. what to do? Found a soft football and played catch. When the ball was in the students hand, question time! If they got it right they had the opportunity try for a touchdown pass thru my arms....Split the class into two teams. One student commented on "The power should go out more often"!
Nichole,
Students can usually determine the relative value of an assignment, whether it's "filler" or truly meaningful material directly applicable to their course of study. Keeping material pertinent will result in better student outcomes.
Barry Westling
As a new instructor, when I was not prepared, I had the students work on their homework handouts in class when I ran out of time on the lecture. But I learned that having worksheets prepared ahead of time that enhance their understanding of the material that was presented is a better option.
