Keeping students interest
I have noticed that as a new instructor, the hardest thing for me to do is keep everyone interested. I think part of this is the age range of the students, but as a new instructor I know that there are ways I can improve. Any suggestions?
Dezarae,
By offering a variety of activities and change of pace in delivering the content you will be able to keep them engaged and focused on the topics for the duration of the class session.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have the same problem. I have a hard time keeping them engaged at times.
Brenda,
Great to hear that the mini-lecture format is working for you. This is a great way to bring variety and change of pace into the class while keeping the interest of the students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think that 15-20 minutes mini-lectures work good for my class, since we have competency check offs that have to be completed.
Sherry,
Good example of how to engage all students at different points throughout a class session.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Some of my students made it clear the first day not to call on them in class not interested. So the way I pull those students into class is during hands on time. Thats when the shell comes off and they become very interested in class.
Robert,
Good instructional plan. You are ticking off all of the right buttons in terms of getting students engaged and moving forward in the course, while directing their own knowledge and skill acquisition.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach at technical college; my courses teach students how to use various video editing applications. I keep my students' attention by giving micro lectures then guiding the class through hands-on-software demonstrations. I make the demonstration interactive, allowing student input to guide the example. If a suggestion leads to an error, the class works together to figure out a solution. I step in only when they're completely stumped, and acknowledge and reinforce the learning objective when they are correct.
Bernadette,
Good rotation and change of pace. This is important as you know to keep the students engaged and focused on the content.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I definitely make sure to keep students engaged through the use of various teaching methods. I rotate between short lectures, notes, examples, websites that reinforce content, power point presentations, individual practice, and group exercises. It's also effective to insert humor and/or a short story to break up the monotany!
I find that if the students know they will be called on during lecture it will keep their interest.
Kimberly,
Great to hear about how the course helped you with ideas. I use guided notes that follow the lecture and PP as well for the reasons you stated. This method helps to focus the students on the key concepts that they need to know.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Mini lectures are good. Give short breaks often, change it up with a Q&A...I like to ask a question then call on a student, I pull a stick with a name on it-so it's random, and that everyone is already thinking about the answer, Not knowing if there name is being pulled.
When the material that you have to cover is "heavy" I find that printing out an outline of the ppt does help to keep the students focused as they have something to do as well as listen. I tell them make sure you know this and underline this etc.... I found this last section of the course helped me come up with other things to hold that adult students attention span.
Kimberly,
You make want to reinforce the PPT presentation with guided notes so the students will see what the critical points that they need to focus on. Because it is easy for them to tune out as you mention because they don't see the connection between the PPT slide and what they need to learn.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I use the same methods but sometimes I find the students are disengaged at times when they have a ppt presentation. The students think all of the answers are on the ppt rather than it being just an outline of the information being presented.
Steven,
Variety and change of pace helps to keep students engaged and focused. Your instructional model has all the components to keep the students on target.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I like to keep students guessing, to some extent, which helps to keep them awake. Some days I may lecture, then other days I may lecture and have them explain what they read the night before, along with the slides. I often hear comments about me that include "you better read before you go to his class," or "you never know when he will call on you."
Also, moving around the classroom is a great way of keeping them awake.
I use Power Point and handouts in my lecture. I vary that by stopping for questions after key points. I occasionally use the whiteboard to illustrate a concept, such as sampling a sine wave.
