When teaching chemistry I find a combination of lecture and in-class active learning assignments helps keep the students motivated and interested in the material. I lecture 30-40 minutes and then give a quick 10-15 minute individual or group assignment based on the information that was just covered. It seems to work very well, the students appreciate the mental break and they tend to retain the inforamtion better in the long run. It also helps me identify which students easily grasp the information and which ones are struggling. A note of caution, it is easy to lose out on lecture time so it is important to keep the assignments short.
Could you describe a canned segment to me, and give me an example? If I run short in class, the students are allowed to answer questions from their study guide, which is meant to be a homework assignment.
I start by writing a "timeline" for the day on the board. This serves as a guideline and is not necessarily concrete. It is more important to make sure that my students are able to comprehend the material, rather than keep exactly on pace with the day's plan.
Thank You Tremayne,
Last year I became frustrated with the fact that I was tied to my desk when presenting a PowerPoint or video.
I purchased a remote clicker and gained my freedom to walk though the class room during a lecture. It made a great impact in the attention span of the students. I also get more exercise.
Steve
Ajani,
This is an effective method for time management. In addition, the "mini scenarios" will give the students an opportunity to apply learned information and concepts.
Tremayne Simpson
I choose extra activities that will relate to the topic that are not required. That way, if I have some extra time in class, the students will still be getting information.
I always have extra material prepared, sometimes it might be the next assignment; I carry a notebook of assignment to class with me and have copies of the next three handouts prepared for the students. Also when you have taught the class several times you can add more detail or relate it to future jobs, if you find you are running out of material.
When I began teaching I would document every little detail in minutes, like morning writing assignment 10 minutes down to break as 20 minutes. I don't do that so much now but it did help me begin to weed out correct increments for certain areas of my lesson plans. For example I learned that projects were taking longer than I had expected, so I either had to modify the project next time or allot more time. This is constantly changing so micro-managing every minute is helpful in order to get everything accomplished I need to. Also as a side note telling the student how much time we were spending on certain areas helped them stay focused during times they might not have been, such as lectures vs projects. If they knew lecture was really only 20 minutes then they could manage it more readily than not knowing when it would end.
Writing down all the incremented time also helped me slow down and prevent compression!
I use paired activities in the form of mini scenarios when I feel I have covered materials too quickly. Usually I can get the material back in line with the clock if a problem has arisen in these cases.
I like to keep a journal of my to do tasks in order of urgency to ensure the completions of work by the deadline. This enable me to build up to date lesson plans.
Adrienne,
Do you also provide supplemental reading materials, to add to the provided material?
Tremayne Simpson
Stephen,
This is an effective method for ensuring student engagement. In addition, "walking around" the classroom during lecture is a great way to make sure that all students are actively participating and paying attention.
Tremayne Simpson
Stephen,
This is an effective method for ensuring student engagement. In addition, "walking around" the classroom during lecture is a great way to make sure that all students are actively participating and paying attention.
Tremayne Simpson
Our course structure is very spaced out for some classes and very tight with others. When I'm teaching a 12 week class and I only ave 4 chapters to cover I make sure I research plenty of activities, projects, guest speakers etc that will make sure I fill up my entire class time for the whole quarter. It also helps the students to retain the information when they can relate it back to a specific activity.
Luckily enough for my class, if we get ahead of schedule, which we often do, we have lab hours that we need to fullfil also with our theory hours. So if we get ahead, then I can take my students to lab for a few days.
Most of my lectures are organized into PowerPoint presentations. I carry my clicker around the class room and change slides in pace with the discussion. I place questions within the presentation, which I can stop and ask the class to answer. Or answer the question myself and move on. Keeping the images moving on the screen seems to help the students engaged.
Peggy,
I agree. In addition, the "back pocket questions" can also be used in situations where the class discussions are "stalled". A few, well-placed questions can spark student interest and "ignite" a meaningful class discussion.
Tremayne Simpson
I always carry questions in my pockets. When discussion is going faster than expected or majority of students aren't paying attention, I pull out questions and ask individuals for the answers. It helps them get back on track and also is a good learning evaluation tool.
Scott,
I agree. In general, students can see when an instructor is not putting forth their best instructional effort. When they perceive that this is the case, they will repeat the behavior.
Tremayne Simpson
I do a checklist of the activities, assignments, lectures, presentations, and all others for each instructional unit.
