Night Classes
I find it difficult to keep adult learners engaged for four - five hours in a night class after working all day. No matter what I have tried they lose steam by the last hour of class. Any ideas?
I had the same problum. I would find out what the activity the classed likeed the most and save it to the end.
Hi!
I teach a 3 1/2 hour advanced cooking class that is suppose to end at midnight (yikes).
At this time of the night- it seems as the rest of the world has been cut off- and they are in their own time zone. Maybe it's just this particular group- but their time management skills are horrible- maybe because there is no incentive to get out on time/ early????
It's very frustrating.
Jennifer
Hi Ione,
Since I teach from 4 until 10:00 pm I use games in my instruction as well. It helps to fire up the students toward the late evening plus we have a lot of fun using the games to review. It helps to get the blood flowing.
Gary
I work as an assistant director of nursing and I have witness some of our instructors have developed jeopary games, crosswords etc. to help stimulate learning and is often used as one type of review materials, usually I have witnessed this at the end of the 4 hour class when students are tired and want to go home. It makes the last hour go by faster, and they do become competitive!
Hi Phyllis
I have taught almost exclusively 4 or 5 hour night classes for the last ten years, so I know exactly where you are coming from. There are a lot of good suggestions in this thread, with variety being one of the best. Not only does a variety of activities help to "break up" the day, but it also helps to ensure that you are reaching out (at least some of the time) to the students who thrive on different learning methods.
Here's one tip that I've learn, though. When the students come into class, they see on the white board that I have markered in an outline of that day's class. How does this help with the long classes? It establishes the goals up front. Students see the logical progression in advance, and--if you do as I do, erasing topics as you go--students can see the end of class ever approaching. It's such a simple thing, but there's something about seeing how much (or little) is left, that keeps them going just a little bit longer.
Hi Scott,
You are correct about the student perception of the need to be entertained at all times. We have a good time in my classes, we play games, do activities and produce good work. The students know when they are to focus and get to work whether it be lecture or projects. Learning is hard work and they need to expend the effort needed to acquire the needed knowledge.
Gary
Dr. Meers,
Thank you for your response and clarification. I appreciate your position that an instructor should play to his/her strengths in the classroom. It is also my belief that we can engage students without necessarily entertaining them. I'm not opposed to entertainment. However, I worry sometimes that some students expect entertainment in every class; and this isn't always possible.
Scott
Hi Scott,
The instructor is to be a manager of the educational environment. If it is within their personality to be entertainers then they should use that talent. If it isn't then the management part means planning activities and projects that will keep the students engaged in the learning process. When you run a 5 hour class you need to have a number of different activities that will let you change the pace of the class and give the students different opportunities to have input into the class. By doing this you will being a good instructor without having to "entertain" the students the entire time.
Gary
Many good suggestions are offered here. Please allow me to offer a response which some may disagree with.
Some students seem to expect us to be entertainers. Some instructors, no doubt, are effective entertainers and educators. This can help alleviate the tedium of a 5-hour night class, but this also places a high demand on the instructor.
I try to resist becoming an entertainer. It's not my style, and I don't know that this is in my students' best interests. Any thoughts on the role of instructor as entertainer?
I usually do the lecture part of my class session and finish the evening with lab work to keep them engaged and busy.
sometimes it is nice to let them have the last section of class for some "paperwork time" which is giving them time to start working on their home work. As many students that are going to class in the evenings work a 9-5 job as well.
Hi Faith,
Good ideas. Thanks for sharing them with us. I know they are going to be helpful.
Gary
I also teach long night classes. I have done activities such as pictionary with the terms from the chapter or unit we are covering which makes for some very competitive class times. I have also had my students play Scrabble with the terminology we have learned thus far in the course. Hope this helps.
Faith
Hi Shellie,
And I thought teaching from 4 until 10 was tough. I like your ideas about getting the blood flowing and the students moving about. I do the same thing plus I have activities that I do throughout the evening so I can get the student to mentally take a bit of a break and then focus back on their work and the class. As you know we have to do a variety of things to help our students to stay engaged because they are tired and the hour is late.
Gary
I make sure we have fun in my class. We start at 6pm and go until 11pm. I like to set a timer and every hour we jump up and run in place or do something physically silly like that. I teach AutoCad so the students get to involved and forget to move their bodies so this is a great boost. It wakes them up and makes us laugh. We also take time to walk around, have a quick snack and visit. 15 minutes or so is enough to get them ready to go back to work.
Hi Melissa,
I use a lot of graphics in my classes. I know you use them with yours as well because graphics really help the students to retain the material. I also break the students up into groups and have the draw on poster sheets and put them up in the class. With the drawings which always generate laughs they really fix the material in their minds. I would also suggest the use of guided notes so they can see what the key points are and how they all fit together to make up a system within the body. Guided notes help the student to stay focused and greatly reduce the pressure of trying to get every word down.
Hope these ideas are of help. Any questions let me know and I will try and help you out.
Gary
Dr. Meyers,
Thanks for your great suggestions. I teach an anatomy and physiology class at night for students that have worked all day. I have found that this group of anatomy and physiology students gets so overwhelmed with the amount of material covered in one session vs. my class that meets twice a week for two hours. Do you have any suggestions that I can give to the students for ways that they can manage their stress during class or anything that they can do to help them retain the information in addition to the other things that you have proposed
Hi Phyllis,
I agree that it is very difficult to keep students engaged during night classes. It's very important that we ask our students what motivates them or ask them what types of activities that would like to participate in (field trips). This has worked in my classes.
Hi Anthony,
All kinds. I use different games using the course content for the questions. I put the students into teams and they have competitions off and on throughout the course phase. Good way to review content prior to a quiz.
I also have contests where student teams do different projects and then the class judges them or I have people from the field judge them.
All of the competitions are fun and generate a lot of excitement.
Gary
What kind of competions do you use for your classes?
