What to Do When You have Too Much Material to Cover
I've been struggling with course management and trying to keep learning delivery varied and interesting. I know students learn better if you can make it hands on, but too frequently I've found that it takes there's so much material I MUST get in front of them and found myself having to lecture and PowerPoint than I'd like.
Any suggestions?
Hi Gerard,
Good question and a topic I deal with all the time since I teach classes that run 6 hours from 4 until 10 pm. Yes, length of class times impacts lesson plans. You need to plan for lectures that run 15-20 minutes and then have some kind of activity. The activity can be a discussion, small group, game, case study or any other way of helping the students to apply the content that has just been covered. Then you can go back to the lecture then activity. This will keep the students engaged throughout the evening.
With all good teaching the key is variety of delivery so the more activities you can introduce the more effective the learning will be.
Gary
Dr. Meers,
We have classes in our school which run from 1.5 hours to 2 hours, even 4 hours (at night) for part-time students. Should time also be a consideration in planning out one's lesson plan? Cold there be others factors as well?
Gerard
Ms. Janseen, I think this is an excellent idea and use it often myself. We were on a modular system at my school and if I know content will be coming up within that module that will be two much for me to cover I will break my class into groups at the beginning of the module and have them research specific objectives within their assigned topics. They will then present the material to the rest of the class later during the module, and I hold a Q&A session afterwards to clarify any information that was not fully understood.
Jeanan
Hi Mary Ann,
Wow, you have learned a tremendous amount in a short time. I commend you for the strategies you are using. You have an excellent approach to the lecture format. The use of the printed PP slides with a place to have the students put their notes is a great way to keep them engaged in what you are doing. This way they are putting their personal information or perspectives along side the slides rather than trying to write the contents of the slide down as well as their own notes.
"Reading" the students is a good way to stay on top of what is going on in terms of the social/emotional aspects of learning. You know how your students are responding to your presentations and the course content.
Keep doing what you are doing because you are being an effective and efficient instructor and your students are going to benefit greatly from your approach.
Gary
As a new instructor, I have struggled with some of this and look to my own past instructors. I have implemented a couple of strategies, though I know I have far to improve.
First, I use powerpoint to help keep me on track since I'm easily distracted and powerpoint uses their visual learning. I also make a copy of the powerpoints with a place for them to write notes on the side when I'm explaining a difficult topic. It helps them feel more confident that they aren't missing important material while trying to write the most important of it down. It also enables me to move on at a smoother pace knowing this as well, and then I can concentrate on making sure they are understanding me and not just asking me to repeat so they can write it down because I was going too fast for them.
I keep an eye on my students to read their body language on how I'm doing. I point out specifically what they need to know and what is helpful to know. The helpful to know part is what you can skip if you are getting behind. I also give them a quiz very frequently to ensure that they are coming to class prepared. The quiz usually involves terms in the chapter to be discussed. This also will help the lecture/demonstration move more smoothly, especially if they know the terms I'm using.
My biggest thing....being flexible and willing to change your plans when things out of your control puts you behind. Sometimes, you just have to restructure your entire class period and reevaluate how important it is for you to cover everything you want to.
That is what I have learned thus far.
Mary Ann
Hi Mary,
Thanks for sharing your use of the "discovery" method of learning. It is a great motivator because the students learned the material themselves with you serving as their "path finder" plus they will remember it much longer since they had to work so hard to learn it.
Gary
I have had similar issues with certain levels of teaching, especially the early classes where I feel that there is so much for them to learn in order to get to a real understanding of an issue.
I have found that if I engage them in the discovery of the information, they are more vested in the understanding. An example of this could be that you would outline the topic and assign the students to explore what the topic might entail. They may not be able to supplement your lecture of the material and information but it does help form a basis of their understanding with minimal instruction. The students then can see how your info clears up their limited view of the issue.
I have learned in my teaching career how to condense and sometimes I will copy my powerpoint so they don't have to write every single thing I say.
I try to keep lecture to about 1/3 the the over all class time and give a concise outline to study off of and use the lab to get across what id normally teach in the class. This seems to work when attention spans are running low.
Sometimes I have a similar problem, and time runs out.My materials to cover is mostly hands on.So I try to keep the lecture/ power point shorter.That way the student attention is achieved.I concentrate much more on demonstration{hands on}and during that time I go over the materials again and again. repetition is also a way to remember lessons. I have better results this way.
I agree, I think that perhaps splitting it up, the powerpoint presentation, with some activity or demo could help.
Hi Juli,
This puts some pressure on the students to have read the textbook since you are using the questions from it plus it shows you value the content of the textbook. This way students can see that you are using the textbook to further their knowledge base rather than just assigning chapters for them to read. This is an important connection that needs to be made and you are doing it.
Gary
I've started working textbook questions in place of covering certain material, course, this goes on the premise that your students have already read the text and are just waiting for you to clarify.
Juli O.
Hi John,
Can you introduce more Q&A sessions between mini-lecture sessions? Present course content for 15-20 minutes and then do five minutes of Q&A. This way you have offered a change of pace, the students get to interact but you have not broken the flow of the class. You can do this for an hour, take a break and then have the students do hands on or go back to the course content. The brain needs a break of some kind frequently so something as simple as a few questions or discussion is enough to let the students recycle their thinking and get ready for the next content segment.
Can you use guided notes or structured outlines to help the students to move quicker through the content? These strategies help to keep the students focused in on the key points and they don't have to do as much writing in the process.
Gary
