The Alternative Adult
I am a teacher in an alternative school wherein lots of my Biology students are technically adults. This is why I was drawn to this course. At the same time, I am an instructor of adults at a local career college. My highschoolers and certificate seekers have a lot in common. Many are of age, but have not developed the learning skills that would be expected of them at their particular stages of life. I have found that keeping the learning environment active gives them ownership of their educations. They are required to make frequent, small impromptu presentations. They are given materials to manipulate, writing assignments, and illustrations to do. These things challenge them and make the information really stick. They become the teacher in smatterings.
I absolutely love having an active learning environment. I really had no idea that what I was doing was any different until a gentleman from the Pearson company sat in on one of my classes and was blown away by the activities and management I was employing. I am actually a trained lab scientist turned chiropractor who is a teacher at heart. Lots of the technical jargon is lost on me. I learn my audience and play to my audience. If they are bored, so am I. Activities brighten up any learning day and I am very excited to use what I have learned here to sharpen my activating skills.
I teach at a career college and have students similar to yours, Mariska. I find they are very open to active learning, but the intense 5-week course length limits the amount of active learning I can include. My students are expected to "digest" an entire College Algebra course just 5 weeks. The best one can hope for is superficial learning of the vast topic list. Is anyone dealing with a similar situation?
Mary Jo Hughes
Hi Shannon,
Nice response! The instructor sets the tone for the entire classroom. Excitement starts at the top with the instructor. Students tend to be excited when the instructor is excited.
Patricia Scales
Hello Mariska,
I absolutely agree that as teachers we play to our audience, but it also works the other way around. It sounds like you enjoy teaching and creating new and fun activities for your students and that is half the battle. Your passion for what you do must be very apparent and motivates your students. In some classrooms if a teacher is not interested in what they are doing then the students will not want to be there and participate at all.
Thanks for the response! I will keep that in mind.
Hi Lindsey,
Shy students tend to be more open in a smaller setting. They are not as intimidating in a smaller setting.
Patricia Scales
Would you say that the small group discussions tend to make the shy students more prepared to participate in the all-class game?
I have tried to enrich my medical terminology class by presenting a short intorduction to the system of the body we are studying, then have the students decide which words they don't know by small group discussion. Then we try to decide what the terms mean that are not understood. First, we try to decipher the medical terms, and then try to form new words from what is known to what is unknown. As a culmunating activity, I devide the group into teams, and play a game using the new words, sort of "family fued" style contest. It enlivens the experience, and seems to help in retaining the material.
Hi Mariska,
Thanks for sharing all these great ideas! I teach at a career college and also like to incorporate active learning lessons into my day. Have you had any issues with getting the shy students who are less likely to speak up in class to participate in your activities? I am especially interested in hearing about how you get them comfortable with giving impromptu presentations.
I find that shy students do well in discussions and activities in small groups, but haven't had a lot of success drawing them in to all-class activities and discussions. Any ideas?
