Get Your Students Hired
When teaching certain topics, I have on more than one occasion had to make an abrupt change of the lesson plan. In a communications class, I realized that the students were getting bored of repetition, and I had to borrow some material from another lesson to make the topic of the day a little bit more interesting. This worked for me and I have since done it again.
Dale,
It is important that instructors focus on the learning objectives that need to be covered and not solely on the lesson plans. It is great to keep pace with a planned lesson, however if time does not permit, it is more important to deliver the content that adheres to the course objectives.
Tremayne Simpson
When I first started teaching, I encountered this problem often: I would make complex lesson plans, very detailed, put a lot of effort into them, and many times the class or the activity did not go according to plan, often it was a participation problem that was disrupting the plan or making it ineffective, I wasn't achieving by-in from the students for the plan. I had miss judged how students would respond to various parts of the lesson. I continue to construct lesson plans, but in teaching I am much more adaptive now, I do what I and the students need or want to do next, what would be most beneficial with our time within the confines of the schedule, and all the objective we have before us. I have heard from many teaching colleagues complain that plans they worked very hard on did not create great classroom experiences always. Being adaptive is very important, and knowing this when making a plan is very useful.
Jeannie,
I have also created similar assignments, that are used to give students an opportunity to fully review their writing. In addition, I have a similar activity for speech assignments, in that students critique their peers (in a practice session) and provide effective feedback for improving their presentations.
Tremayne Simpson
I also teach communications classes and every now and again I have to stop and teach a concept. My students do not use academic English because their communication is dominated by technology, specifically texting, and syntax has lost its inherent value. So, I pull sentences from their own papers and have the class practice editing and proofreading.
There was one occasion that happened the very first day of class. The bookstore failed to order the proper amount of books. Most of the class did not have the book. It was a class piano course where it was imperative to have the book, because this is what we played from on a daily basis. After blowing up at the bookstore personnel (which was probably unwise, but this was early on in my college teaching experience)I had to quickly assemble something for this days class, which was a 4.5 hour class I might add. I haven't had this happen again, but in the event it ever does, I feel more confident in being able to "punt" and do whatever I need to for that day.
Elizabeth,
That is interesting! This happens often when teaching healthcare classes. Many of the topics are very similar. I tend to present the information in a different manner when teaching some of the same information. However, repetition helps students retain the information.
Sylinda Brown, MBA