There is always room to learn more, so being a lifelong learner is important. One of the ways that I evaluate teaching techniques is to ask students what they enjoyed/liked about a particular activity as well as what they think could be done to improve it. Involving students by getting their feedback builds trust within the group.
I value the "planning backwards" method when I approach a class. By this I mean that I ask myself what I want the students to learn by the end of the class. Perhaps these learning objectives will require that I learn more information about a topic. While I am learning about the topic, I am asking myself how my students would best learn this information.
I really believe that if we take care of the students' needs, their efficacy and efficiency increases resulting in them learning the material deeply. I hear often a concern about running out of time and this often causes teachers to rush through material. I firmly believe that if we approach the teaching with quality in mind, it speeds up the learning thereby allowing us to get through more material in a shorter time frame. It's hard to trust this when we feel the time crunch.
I will attend trade shows and continuing education events in order to learn new techniques in my industry and observe different learning facilitator styles. It keeps me on my toes and always motivated to go back in the classroom and pass on my new information.
I use downtime more to develop my skill set by reading. My more direct time is focused on how to better teach.
Every so often introducing new information or activities helps to bring something new into the class and allow the instructor the opportunity to learn something new and bring new information to the students. Doing something new in the class can be risky but it’s a good way for both students and instructors to grow.
I read a lot all the time. I subscribe to trade magazines and from that I take new concepts into the classroom. I always try new things in my classes to improve the experience.
I focus on technique and flow first. I find it very important to sequence topics correctively for effective results. Once I am comfortable with sequence I will research for new ideas and resources.
One thing that I like to do is when I find new and exciting information, I try to include it quickly into my lessons if it fits at the time. I find that if I am excited about the new information that this will rub off on the students. This way when I get new information I try to put it into my lectures no matter how small. When I do this I find that it really does not eat away at class time that much.
I have found in my teaching that incorporating subject manner that I research is helpful to introduce to the class. It helps prepare the student for the changes that so frequently takes place in the field of allied healthcare.
its always good to change things from time to time try somthis new and make changes until we get good results
My students have high expectations of me...I am expected to be an expert, to know and live out what I teach, and be completely on top of current trends.
While I do not present myself as "all-knowing", I am constantly learning through reading, professional events, connecting with our local industry, etc. I share all of my exciting new findings with my students, which makes them excited about learning as well. My own learning and my "teaching" go hand in hand.
Hi Sonny!
What are some of the strategies that you use in the classroom for facilitating learning from you students?
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
HI Raul!
There are so many opportunities for instructions to learn something new everyday through technology, through colleagues, inservices, reading AND I really like that you are learning from your students.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
I have been teaching many years and find that every class is different with different types of diverse learners. Your job is to be able to share, discuss, and learn with the students as well. If you take full advantage of these excellent qualities in teaching you will demonstrate what an expert teacher does in their classroom. If you are willing to experiment as you learn and teach the students you will be more of a proficient master teacher.
The good thing about my class is a small group of students so, I have plenty time to prepare the class and learn more about the subject in my spare time.
Also, I make the students to research online and discuses it in class as group activity. The way I learned from each one of them as well supporting my theory.
What I try to do every day is to learn something new about the subjects I teach and share these matters with each of my students. I make every attempt to show how the covered materials relate to their individual programs.I instruct every student to inform me if there is something that they don't understand about the material and get the other students to respond with their intrpertations and then I try to bring a focus to the understanding...Paul T.Rougemont
Wow, that's a good question! And a bit complicated, balancing three aspects of instruction. First off, I'm always excited about learning more about the English language (my subject matter) and am always pursuing words and etymologies to make my discussions more interesting. I also attend the annual MLA (Modern Language Association) convention. I do these two things religiously, and it is easy to do because they are not enormously time-consuming.
I guess both one and two above go hand-in-hand, at least insofar as how I pursue them. For example, the pursuit of a new word even online will render both more info for me and can suggest ways to deliver the material. For example, if a word was coined during ancient Roman times I might start off with a brief anecdote (everyone loves a good story!) regarding an interesting aspect of the culture from which the word originated.--So I guess these two, topic and method, are one in the same,usually, in this kind of online journey of which I speak.
Now, the third aspect: classroom time. I always have enough flexibility with those items/objectives that must be taught and miscellaneous sidebars that might create a greater interest and fruitful direction than the planned lesson. Also, I can usually direct the sidebar headlong into the objective with not much effort--thus is the power of the tool of language, whether a story or simple humor!
I find it difficult to balance researching the current topics in class and staying up on new teaching techniques. I find taking these classes definitely help to balance. After I take these classes, I use the techniques in my class that week. This helps to learn the information, not only by reading it but also putting into real life. I find myself doing research in the field I teach all the time, whether it is reading a magazine or going to a conference. I always want to learn more about find field and find it easy to do so.
Jane, The way our courses arescheduled, it leaves windows of opportunity for "expansion" in those areas. As far a training goes, at our organization, we work in groups. If there is a training class coming up and another person is available we will have that person " cover" the course while we are at training. Other times we go to training classes on Saturdays when we are not at school. Sometimes are more difficult but as a unit we all work together to get it done.
One of the ways I grow as a learning facilitator is taking a continuing education courses throughout the year. This allows me to gather more knowledge about a given subject and learn new ways of teaching the material. I also try to read up as much as I can on various subjects. The technical college I teach at always has at least 1 faculty training on teaching methods per year.
