This is a good way to "know your students" better, not personaly, but how they are as a student. With the majority of the students you can grasp how they are going to learn just by this simple exersize. i have noticed that there are some students who will expand a little bit more about theirselves and their goals, while others are too timid to talk much. This, i feel is a good way to start teaching them how they will learn.
Hi Patricia,
This is a great way to set the stage for student success. You are showing them what is going to come, what they need to know and then assessing if they know it. This leads to greater retention of content.
Gary
Hello James,
I like your student approach.
An example that works for me when teaching a stand alone topic example bloodborne pathogen, I like to first provide a pre-test assessment for the students. After completing the lecture, group discussion and training DVD, students are given a post test that differs slightly from the pre-test. Students are more attentive during the lesson as they recognize from the pre-test that they need to learn this valuable information.
I try to get to know the class the first day by asking each person to share their background with the class. this way i get to know if they were in any way involved with what we will be learning in class, then i can judge what my instructual goals will be and how to approch them.
I recall discussing this type of assessment in another course. On the first day of class I go around the room and ask the students to tell us about themselves. I ask them why they chose our school, and what outcome they hope to achieve. During this exercise (ice breaker) I am able to discover many helpful hints about the type of person they are and the way they learn
Hi James,
Good strategies. Each of these methods really help you to target the learning needs of your students and then adjust your instructional delivery. The use of student interactions and discussions is a really good way to get students invested into the course content.
Gary
I typically assess a new class by first laying out my ground rules orallly. Then I ask the students questions to see if they understand the rules. If they are oral learners I'm fine. If not, I revert to writing on the board, and then ask them to write down what it was I wanted from the class as rules.
Generalizing is best in classes of adult learners as they bring so much to the table that it would be impossible to assess them individually from the get-go. I try to give a quiz early so as to be able to evaluate whether or not my approach is reaching the majority of the students.
My classes don't allow for "hands on" learning but do allow for group projects and group interactions. Monitoring these activities help me assess individuals.
Hi Robert,
You can use different learning preference assessments to find out the way your students prefer to learn. Once you get the baseline of your students you then can develop different delivery activities that will offer the content in the different preferences. Some of the content will be activity based, other will be written word, and some through lecture. This way each student will have his/her individual preference(s) targeted at sometime during the course.
Gary
