Get Your Students Hired
Jamie,
You've identified the core of a valuable idea for back-up plans: discussion. Discussion involves thought, evaluation, comparison, and if the assignment call for it, verbalization of ideas in the class. This doesn't take a lot of prep, and students usually are willing to participate in the activities.
Barry Westling
Last term I was teaching a new course, and had not realized the course was basically the same as other courses the students already had taken. My backup plan was to find current events in health care and have class discussions on those current events. This got the class to think outside the box and to start thinking about what is happening in the real world outside of what they are leaning in class.
Jamie Hoffman
Important to have a backup plan not only for last min class changes but for emergency situations when the instructor is called away from class.
I agree 100% with having a back up plan because students can become bored, restless, and sometimes lose interest altogether in the material being presented.
I agree that back up plan shows that an instructor is prepared for any unexpected circumstances during the class. For example,if the students showing no interest or bored about the lecture, then an instructor can use a different mode of teaching student such as group learning activities (case study, brainstorming, etc.) that will enhance their participation in the class and they wont feel bored.