Loren,
For me, I would certainly call this back-up material; how you may decide to use or not use it is one consideration. But having materials and appropriate resources available will make it happen, as needed.
Barry Westling
Not as much of backup plans, but I always try to have alternate instructional materials that are not always incorporated, but which can be if it appears that I need additional resources to take up time or to expand upon a topic if a particular group of students need it.
Susanne,
Good plan. Especially in traditionally more difficult courses (i.e., sciences), I believe students learn better when instruction is delivered in smaller segments, and with a variety of methods in order to keep student interested. As suggested in another post, the benefit of an application is essential to help solidify a concept.
Barry Westling
Hello Barry,
I found your primary post interesting. In my classroom, I feel that content should be delivered to my students not more than 45 minutes then an application of what we learned, a break, and repeat each hour. The application of what we learned is conducted in a class activity. I teach five hour classes. This is the best way that I have found to teach new materials to students.
Susanne
Diana,
Right! I've discovered great exercises and activities I facilitated "on the fly" - many that were so successful they became integrated into my regular lesson plans. Reading from the text, students writing on the white board , stories, - these are some activities that work most every time.
Barry Westling
There is always something that comes up in the course term that throws off the instructional flow. Back up plans for variations of deleting and/or adding materials in any given session allows for flexibility when "life" gets in the way. As instructors we can never assume that it will always be perfect. If you use PPT -have handouts available just in case.
Allen,
I think handouts are a good resource to use, especially for times when most of the regularly planned resources are not available (i.e., computers are down). These help students feel their time in class is not being wasted.
Barry Westling
One of things that I like to have on hand are grammar and writing handouts. These usually serve two purposes: 1) they act as reviews for current and previous learning objectives; and 2) they assess current knowledge or the background of students.
Yvonne,
I always start out with a plan for the day, and I try to make sure the most important information will be covered first. Of course what is planned and what I have time to get to can be subject to change ups for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, if students have lots of questions,and provide review or more thorough answers, the schedule can get behind. So that's where good back up plans are invaluable.
Barry Westling
I teach theory in a Vocational Nursing program; I find it is important to have an instructional back up plan because often depending on the topic, I am not able to cover all of the topic in the allotted class time. I use the back up plan to help give the students alternative ways to learn the information. At the next class, I always start by doing a quick recap and question and answer period to make sure the students have a good grasp of the information before moving on. I also find when I do find myself running out of time, that it helps me to refine my teaching plan for the next time I teach this topic.
Joseph,
Good back up plans are much like what you do. They allow flexibility for the instructor, and in many cases, can provide a seamless transition from one activity to another (often without the students even being aware that wasn't the plan all along).
Barry Westling
I always try to over plan my time, so that if I go through material very quickly, I have extra things I can go over. I look at ways I can break up the class, with lecture, and group projects, and individual work time, so that I can get the students discussing more and understanding the subject matter more quickly by working together and using the class time wisely!
LaNeisha,
Sounds creative and interesting. Understanding that students cannot have just lecture material thrown at them continuously helps plan a variety of activities, where students are more likely to be engaged, interested, and benefit from the experiences.
Barry Westling
Some methods I use as instructional back up plans are sometimes i will turn a lecture into a hands on activity , group discussion , or game that way the students stay engage and they are more involed.
Mike,
More often then not, there are a host of resources an instructor has access to but chooses not to use, mostly because of time and higher priorities for learning the material. But in a pinch, these can serve as wonderful, useful, and instructional back-ups.
Barry Westling
With respect to the courses I am teaching, I am fortunate to have 3 or more versions of the material that I can access immediately. If a power-point isn't holding their attention I can switch to hand-outs and discuss the material, or I can play a video and discuss the material afterwards. At times I open the text books and wing it up on the white board. Keeping the students engaged has always been one of my top priorities.
What interested me about Mod 3 is the suggestion to pretest students in order to get a quick assessment of their knowledge as it relates to the course. I feel that would be of great benefit to me as the instructor and ultimately to my students. It would save wasted time and energy if I have a chance to tailor the content to accommodate the majority of the students.
Holli,
Timing and planning curricular segments is both an art and a science. We begin by estimating the expected time for various topics, but as you suggest, sometimes more (or less) time is needed. I rely on "need to know" and "nice to know" activities. In doing so, I nearly always have enough time for what students need to know, but if additional time available, I can go the supplementary activities that are useful and regarded as only filler time.
Barry Westling
I use power points that are individualized per day. If I run over or under for a day, I either move ahead or just pick up where I left off the day before. Oftentimes, I can cover all of the material throughout the course in this manner. Some of the material will naturally appeal to one class more than to another. When I run over to cover something of interest, I know I will end up going through another area more quickly somewhere else in the curriculum allowing me to catch up.
Lacy,
It's really an open ended question. Back-up plans can be used when things go crazy and we need pertinent material to make up for missed activity. Or it may be for when time is left at the end of a class. Or when we want or need to do a change up to keep students engaged. Or it may an alternate way of explaining a topic, an activity, or performing a task. I guess the trust of the question is "do we always have several good Plan'B's, Plan-C's, Plan-D's, etc."
Barry Westling
When you ask about some methods that I use as backup plans are you asking about the different way I explain how to do something to my students or my backup plans incase they do not understand what I am lecturing about that day.
