Lecturing
The course I teach lends itself to lecture. What are some unique ways to create new interest while lecturing?
Dennis,
One of the ways you can enhance student retention of content is to create connections between the content and examples. The more real world examples or stories they hear the more effective they will be in their ability to remember and apply the content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
These are some very good suggestions for keeping the lectures from getting boring. That is one of the comments that I have had in post class surveys. I am boring. I would have to agree, I am an introvert by nature. My class has a lot of technical lectures to it, and I know the field very well. I am outside of my comfort zone in the class room. I am getting better with it, but it is still difficult.
We have a lot of content to cover in a short period of time. I feel like I cram it down their throats and the retention isn't there. How can I cover more information and get the students to remember it?
AMANDA,
Students like a change of pace and variety in their instructional delivery. So the more of both you offer the greater their engagement is going to be.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
It is very important that you do not stand up and lecture for hours. You need to ask question so the students get involved in the lecture.
Jennifer,
That can be one source of questions. At times I will give my students 3X5 cards and have them write down questions about our field or the topic that was discussed. Then I put the questions into topical groups. This way should the students not ask questions when we are in open discussion I can go to the questions and bring them up to the class. This makes sure we have plenty of questions to cover and I make sure that if a question is not asked about an important topic I can bring it up from my pool of questions and get it covered. I keep a file of the questions from course to course and as a result I have built a library of questions for the entire course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I sometimes have a hard time with my lecture. I feel like I am boring them. The Q&A is a great idea.I will implement this. Do you just ask questions reviewing the lecture?
i try to make it interactive. ask questions. ask for their experiences. ask what would you do get them to engage and stir critical thinking.
Brad,
Great to hear of your success and how your are getting your students engaged as you cover some less than exciting content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
My med term lecture can get very dry. I just started doing something very similar. Eventhough I was opposed to games, I now do one every fifteen minutes or so to break up the monotony.
Robert,
I use a lot of different activities in my lectures. I lecture for 15-20 minutes then have a Q&A, discussion or case study session to reinforce what has just been covered. The students like the change of pace and variety plus they get to apply the information they have just covered via the different activities.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
