To be prepared for the class. You don't want to enter a classroom without being prepared for the topics of the class or the direction of the class.
Hi Dana,
What are some successful planning strategies that you have used with in your courses?
Gary
be organ and prepared for class.
Planning is necessary for everything in life - let alone teaching. It is a good practice, however, to plan for unexpected things - meaning, leave some necessary room/time.
Hi Charles,
You make a good point about the need for course preparation but I would suggest that with your rich background and life experiences you have a lot of the planning already completed if you bring those experiences into the classroom. By connecting these life experiences with your course content you are going to be able to target the needs of your students and then you can concentrate on specific areas that need your preparation efforts.
Gary
This thread - and the whole module - exposes my deficiencies as an adjunct in great detail. I am not one to prepare thoroughly. It is fun to get new textbooks and scan the chapters and resources. But I do not go as far as to plan every single day. So these posts have been 'convicting' for lack of a better word.
My time in the Navy contained much structure in certain aspects of conduct. The operational tempo varied as situational circumstances changed. I like the motto I think came from the USMC: 'Adapt and overcome'. That, I admit, has been somewhat of my approach as I shuffle from entrepreneur, wind energy developer, husband/father of two, adjunct instructor, and active church member.
This forum demonstrates the need and benefits of preparation. I need to plan more thoroughly and, as Mr. Hansen stated, the more you teach, the more prepared you come into the next class just by experience. I need to prepare more before I teach the class.
Comprehensive preparation is key to maintaining an organized and well managed class room. I've learned first hand being over-prepared is far better that being under-prepared...
Hi Rennie,
Your comments outline what good preparation is all about. Using your method instructors will have their material, syllabus and handouts ready for the class. In addition, they will have a master plan of assessment that includes a grading rubric. This way the students can come into the course and be given a clear and concise picture of what is going to occur in the class and what the expectations are for them.
Gary
Hi Alan,
Great response to the forum question. You are one of those instructors that is reflective on how courses can be improved even after teaching them many times. Experience is a great teacher so we need to learn from "teacher experience" each time we teach a course. I have to say WOW to for your having taught 70 different courses. Talk about the need for both depth and breadth! Keep up the good work.
Gary
In order to lead a class successfully, the instructor must have a clear plan. This plan should be clearly outlined within the course syllabus. If a textbook is required, the instructor should find a way to use the textbook successfully. Whether or not the instructor agrees with the pedagogy of the author, a "good" instructor will still find a way to use it, even if it is used as a tool to demonstrate controversy in opinion. In such cases, the instructor should also take care to include supplemental materials while obeying copyright guidelines. Morever, all assignments should be outlined and rubrics included. If the instructor is able to roll out a rubric with the syllabus, clearly, thought has been given to the intention and goal of the assignment. Every assignment should be reviewed by the instructor and a clear grade break-down should be included. If the course type is such that additional assigments may be included during the semester/quarter, then a more "broad" category for that assignment "category" should be included. Finally, an instructor addendum should be included with the syllabus to include a short biography with a short letter to the student voicing hopeful expectations and achievements that may be realized by the end of the class as well as late assignment policy, office hours, email address, classroom conduct, etc.
Gary - Your break out into three segments reminds me of teaching night classes that ran 3.5 to 4 hours. I traditionally would break the night into "lecture" for 45 minutes to one hours (never more than an hour), group activity, often involving online research and summation, then a critical thinking activity that tried to synthesize the course objective for the evening. Good reminder, I've been teaching online for a long, long time now.
Nancy - Although I agree with the rest of your statement, your introduction reminds me of one ocassional problem I've seen, which is the over-prepared instructor. This is the instructor who continues to research and add to, but never take away from their course content. The result is an overwhelming mass of information that is a tsunami to the unsuspecting student. I don't think that is what you intended in your post, but it did bring it to mind.
I had to pause on this one. After 14 years of teaching, both as an adjunct and full-time faculty member, I've taught nearly 70 different courses, most many times. On several occasions I've had to pick up a course with minutes to prepare. I've tried never to let a student know how little prep time I had. So the dancing on my feet environment is quite familiar.
As I dug deeper I also realized that one of the reasons that courses get easier the longer I've taught them is that I'm much better prepared on subsequent visits to the same course. They become old friends and easy to navigate. I've been asked the tough questions by students many times before by the time I've taught a course 3 or 4 times. I've also thought on occasion, how much better that first time would have been if I'd had that answer I picked up in round three, in round one.
Bottom line, comprehensive planning is important because the student is better served when the instructor has that preparation in hand now, rather than sometime in the future.
You rely on a creative approach, but creativity within a structure is the best way for success.
Hi Kay,
Right you are about the difference between the two delivery methods but as you say planning is planning. By being precise in your planning you will be able to stay student focused in your instructional efforts.
Gary
Hi Susan,
You have a great plan for laying how you will do your planning and then implement that plan. This method will ensure that you are staying student focused in your efforts and are able to make any adjustments as they are needed.
Gary
I have taught both oncampus and online classes, there is certainly a difference but in either case good planning is essential.
With online classes we are given all the details of the class but it is still important to plan for the class. We have to add resource material, post to discussion questions, add annoucements and send emails welcoming students to class. We need to review the material to be able to effectively answer student questions. The first time through a class we also have to develop lecture materials. Each week we need to carefully review assignments so we can help the students successfully complete assignments. The classes I teach at one school have subjective assignments, so it is necessary to give detailed explanations of the assignments. I have found that without the detail review of assignments, students often do not meet assignment requirements.
I teach in the online environment at three institutions. With courses starting at different times for each school, I have learned how important planning ahead can be. Early planning allows for the teaching to better fulfill his or her role as an educator.
Students can tell the amount of planning that goes into a course. I've had students tell me about other instructors who can't answer questions about week 4. There are some negative stereotypes about career education and having something like this happen will just reinforce those unfounded stereotypes. Additionally, we have to spend a lot of time grading and making modifications throughout the course. If there is already an outline that we can follow, it will require much less time to grade and plan during the course.
