Melissa Hauck

Use of entire classroom/moving around the room

I like the idea of using charts and other instructional tools to draw the students attention to another part of the room. However, I have a colleague who is known to have multiple technological things going on in the classroom at the same time. It is common for powerpoint slides to be shown on one wall, an overhead going on another wall, the whiteboard being used with notes all at the same time. It is good to use different areas of the classroom, but it is not good to try to use them all at the same time. The feedback I often get from students about this instructor is that they have no idea where they should be focusing their attention at any given moment. It causes them to miss information, become confused, and feel frustration. I think you need to use various parts of the classroom as "action zones". I just caution the simultaneous use of them.