Alan,
Your discussion about the value of rapport is a good one since student rapport for me is one of the rewards of teaching. Knowing I am connecting with my student and that they are acquiring the knowledge and skills needed for career development is a real motivator for me.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
To develop a good and effective learning style that incooporates different types of learn styles. The different types of learning styles should hold the attention of the student and be informative.
Having a good rapport with your students in order to understand what they want to get out of the course/program, how they learn, what their aspirations are, etc. Developing this rapport at the beginning of the semester can foster the refinement and enhancement of instructional style.
Dawn,
Thank you for sharing your story with us as it will help other instructors that are trying to decide how to approach the delivery of their content. By reading students and getting to know their learning preferences you were able to provide targeted instruction in a relevant manner.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
David,
I wish you much success with this effort. You are going to like the results you get I am sure.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I discovered (by trial and error) that my current group of students learned best with a combined lecture/demo style, and my instructional style had to change to reflect that. I saw an immediate improvement in knowledge retention as a result.
This is a great idea.
I'm fairly new to formal instruction, and it has been difficult getting my students to engage.
I'm going to try this tomorrow!
Thank you!
I highly agree. Understanding the dynamics of your classroom is important.
To further develop, refine and enhance my instructional style, I could get to know the learning styles of my students to better meet their needs, as Nieva suggested. Based on initial assessments, I could see how well the students are engaged and ways they respond to challenges. Being inclusive can serve well.
I take as many courses provided by the institutions for which I work as possible. Each course teaches me something new, and I attempt to apply these new techniques in the lesson planning for the current courses and in the instructional plan for the next set of courses that I will be teaching.
Vanessa,
What are some ways you do these two activities with your students?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
encourage group work and oral participation.
moving more to visual aid, videos to re-enforce a point
Heather,
Sounds like you have a comprehensive picture of how you can use the technical resources available to you and your students. Also, you have a professional development plan that enables you to grow and expand your skill set as an educator. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Jean,
I have a no cellphone policy in my classes. They can put them on vibrate if they have a situation where they need to be contacted during class. By being consistent with my policy I don't have a major problem with them becoming an issue. I do reinforce that their using their cellphones during class is a form of disrespect and that I will not allow in my class. My younger students grumble but do comply and at the end of the course many of them tell me they appreciate the fact that I had such a policy as it helped them stay focused during the course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think keeping up with technology can help. I try to see what apps are available on smart phones that my class can use as tools. I also try to give assignments using such tools.
There are other times I use jepordy type online games to help them have fun with learning.
I also peer review other instructors classes to find out what they are doing in their classrooms and how it is working for them and the students. I also think taking these online development classes teaches us a lot too.
Usage of cell phone should be prohibited, even though sometimes it allows students to be technological to double check their viewpoints about a topic, it is a very rude move by students when they are trying to ignore an instructor!
Shawn,
Passion for one's field and enthusiasm for teaching about it goes a long way in engaging students in the learning process. You make a good point about the fact that we need to leave our own situations at the door of the classroom or lab and concentrate on providing support to our students as needed.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Tom,
I think this is a very fair and comprehensive way to get insight into how an instructor is delivering course content. Frequently evaluators depend on one snapshot to determine how an instructor is doing. As we all know classes change, tempo changes within a class and your method accounts for these shifts within class flow. Thank you for sharing it with us. I know it will be helpful to other professionals that do teacher observations.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Kurt, I think this is an excellent idea. The better our self awareness the better we can address areas needing improvement or affirm areas of strength. I once recorded all the conversations I had in a day and it was very akward and humbling. I learned and developed a lot from it. Use of a camcorder to record and evaluate my own lectures is something that I am going to implement immediately. Thanks for the post.
