Thank you Dr. Meers. I actually have the opportunity to work with a veteran instructor in a co-presentation so I will ask him to take note and give me feedback.
I have a tendancy to get lost during my lecture especially when student response is directing the discussion. Having a baseline of mainpoints would be a good strategy for addressing this weakness.
Miriam,
You are absolutely right on the importance of this skill. I would encourage you, if you can, to ask a veteran instructor who is a good presenter to observe you a couple of times & give you some feedback. I've found this to be very helpful.
Dr. Ryan Meers
I need to improve my public speaking skills...I know a main skill as an instructor. I feel I improve as I get more comfortable with the material so I am hoping as I gain more experience and continue to receive feedback I will improve. A confident public speaker is one that their audience can trust and is comfortable with which is very important between an instructor and student.
Maria,
Great self-awareness & asking students to repeat back what they think I said is a great tactic. I like to use the simple question of: What did you just hear me say & how are you feeling about that?
Dr. Ryan Meers
I need to work on making sure my instructions are clear...maybe I need to ask students what to repeat back to me what I just asked for to make sure the understood.
Jesse,
Great self-awareness & definitely a challenge. One suggestion would be to think about a brief story or illustration for every other ppt slide, so the students catch a breather & it will help them make better sense of the material.
Dr. Ryan Meers
I really need to work on my pacing. Particularly when I am using Powerpoint for lecture, it can get easy to "speed through" the lecture which can both overwhelm students and leave me in a lurch at the end of the lecture. I am working on slowing myself down, and pausing for effect and questions.
Vickie,
I like to intersperse my lecture & power point with thought provoking questions for discussion. I'll even put the questions on the power point slides so the class can see them.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Vickie,
Good question. I've found that planning some good thought provoking questions is a good way to get the students involved .
Dr. Ryan Meers
We are suppose to use our Power point as well and found myself reading from it and not as effective even with interjection of other information. The younger students had a tendency to wander off and start talking amongst themselves. So how do you make it more interesting or as interesting as a regular lecture where it is more interactive?
We are suppose to use our Power point as well and found myself reading from it and not as effective even with interjection of other information. The younger students had a tendency to wander off and start talking amongst themselves. So how do you make it more interesting or as interesting as a regular lecture where it is more interactive?
Scott,
You are right, vocal variety is a very important aspect of gaining & maintaining our students' attention. I teach public speaking & it really is amazing how the change in tone, pitch, etc can regain lost attention.
Dr. Ryan Meers
One thing i have found in regards to my voice is if i just simply change the inflection iam using they will instantly perk up and start to respond positively.
Regina,
It is so easy to get pulled into our notes & lesson plans. We do need to make sure that we are pulling our heads up & focusing on our students.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Kami,
This is hard for students to sometimes understand. However, I've found that just being fully honest & telling them that I don't have a story or example for every situation helps. I will preface with, "I've not seen this one, but here's how I think it would be..."
Dr. Ryan Meers
William,
I applaud your self-awareness. And I agree that looking for those opportunities for small breaks is a great idea, it really does help us keep attention.
Dr. Ryan Meers
My eye contact with each student. Many times I get so involved with the lesson plan that I know I haven't made that personal contact each day.
I would like to understand how to effectively deliver this information in a manner where my students are able to relate to "real world" expirences. As a nursing instructor, I have had many opportunities to see a lot of the principles I teach applied in practice, but have not had all applied. It is hard to get the students to understand this concept... that I do not have a story of application to all the information taught.
Probably my tone of voice. About half way into a presentation I tend to drag. This is sometimes a good clue that it's time for a break. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. When I realize that I'm dragging I usually try to engage a student with a question that sparks discussion. This wakes up the whole class and gives me a jolt too.
