How to keep students focused during a four hour class time
I teach a lab class in a four hour block of time and meeting twice weekly. We have clinical and demonstration items to cover as well as extensive knowledge based materials (approximately 1 to 2 hours of leture type material per block of class). Are there any suggestions how to balance the class appropriately to avoid boredom?
Rebecca,
I think you are going to like the results you get with mini-lectures. I know you are going to have a higher level of engagement by using them because you are going to keep your students' interest for a longer period of time.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Like several of you I teach an evening class 5 hours long. I really like the idea of mini-lectures. Now to see how I can put it into practice!
Karen,
Great to hear of the value you are getting from this chapter. I wish you much success as you use the three concepts model.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This chapter gave some great ideas! I try to always have a power point with every class, and also try to have some interactive (WIFFM) activity to make it personal!
I liked the Harvard lecture that spoke to the 3 ways we learn via the LEARNING PROCESS... Take in new content, Push students to rething their assumptions, and make it personnal by helping them learn something about themselves. Going foreward, I plan to use these three concepts as I create daily learning plans because I think it will help keep students better engaged and interactive.
Shawn,
This is a good idea because of the reasons you list. Movement and thought coordinated together such as writing on the board helps them to learn how to explain and use their newly acquired knowledge.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Have them come to the board and write something... anything. Ha!
But seriously. I tend to think this technique is nice. They get out of their seats and get their blood flowing, plus they know you are paying attention to their ideas.
Stephen,
You are welcome. I know you are going to like the results you get with mini-lectures because you have already experienced them and their effectiveness.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I'm am definitely going to try the mini lectures. They make all the sense in the world to me. I had a high school teacher that would come in and teach for exactly 20 mins no longer. He demanded your attention for 20 mins. but after that we would do projects ect. I believe I learned more from him than any instructor I had. Thanks for the tip.
Anthony,
I teach in a six hour block from 4 until 10 pm so I can appreciate your challenge of keeping students engaged for the duration of your class each day. With mini-lectures I present a key bit of knowledge or concept and then we apply it, then have another information sharing mini-lecture and then application. By doing my students get the content they need while being involved in the application phase throughout each class. At times we go longer in the application area because they need to the practice to get the applications down and the skills developed.
I taught construction technology for a number of years so I can appreciate your efforts. There is a lot of material to cover and skills to develop in a rather short period of time. The more application they can make the more relevance they see.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
My program is six hours five days a week and is based on construction and building maint. With this course a mini lecture is very difficult as it is both theory and practice, but I have found that making the students be interactive works.
Tiffany,
You make a very good point about looking at the classroom and our instructional delivery through the eyes of our students. By doing so we can make and changes that are needed to keep our students engaged for the duration of each class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
To your point Mr. Meers, mini lectures are indeed the key to keeping students interested in classes that span for more than an hour. I as a 37 year old adult would get very antsy listening to someone speak for a large amount of time. I think as educators we need to put ourselves in the place of the students and we would fair much better in our lectures.
Christine,
I would develop a mini-lecture of 15-20 minutes and then do an activity. Once the activity is completed I would deliver another mini-lecture. Learners like variety and change of pace and this method meets both of their learning needs. The activities can be case studies, role playing, Q&A, learning group etc.. Anything that lets them make application of the content just covered and helps them to reset their brains.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
