James,
Good strategy because the more they can connect their lives experiences with the content the greater the retention of content is going to be. In addition they start to see applications of the content through these life connections.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I frequently use examples of how our brains work and remembers. How to be more effective with study, more effective with multi-tasking.
The focus in the classroom should be on the students, not on the instructor. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of the students and hopefully, ALL of the students, it is important to tailor the instruction to a wide variety of learning styles. The more strategies I incorporate into my class, the higher the percentage of students that will learn. If I know that I am going to present a lecture, I will provide visual slides and notetakers for the students to allow for multiple learning styles.
Realizing that students learn in different ways means integrating different methods to engage students. Varying the delivery modality as well as the class activities can give auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners opportunities to participate in the classroom learning experience.
Dr Faulk
Having enhanced my understanding of the basics of learning, I see many new strategies /methods I can start to implement during lecture/demo phase of course. One way I am favoring is having students try and use positive episodic memories to relate to processing and retaining new information and technique learned during course.
Dawn,
For many content areas this approach works very effectively. I would give this approach a try and see how your students react to it and how engaged they become. I think you will really like the results you get.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Clearly, this course demonstrates there is a process to unlocking the mind and finding the right combination is the reason teaching is an art. I might start teaching class backwards, i.e. doing an activity before explaining the theory and asking students what they learned from the experience and if they could think of a situation in their life that related to it, THEN explain why it works the way it does (theory).
If you understand learning and the way the brain works and understands concepts, then it will help you as an instructor becuase you will know how to get information into the brains of your students.
Carol,
Tactile learners constitute a large majority of learners so we need to make sure we incorporate opportunities for such learning to occur.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Many students learn using hands on methods, so varying the lesson plans can help.
Know how the brain works to store information assist me in knowing how to addapt my lessons to increase learning.
Ron,
Thank you for these good comments about how to engage and support adult learners. They are taking a major step in their lives by returning to school and the more we can encourage them and facilitate their success the more confident they are going to become as students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Understaning basic leanring can help with the delivery of material in so that students learn best. If one knows that his/her population of students are returning to school after 15 years then it is logical to make the assumption that that learners may 1- not know how to study or prepare for lecture course work, 2- know how to distinguish lecture infinroatio which a re pertinent or not. This is one area which I beleive I would change, becuase of the fact that a great majority of my students are adult learners.
Kelly,
There is so much to be learned by viewing the learning environment and content through student eyes. This effort pays off in more targeted instructional delivery and a higher level of student engagement.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
By learning about how students learn, it changes your approach to the classroom environment.
James,
I agree. As a long time teacher I am always learning new and better ways to teach. These new strategies help to keep me engaged in the learning process and that in turn translates into more enthusiasm on my part as I deliver content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Richard,
I would try using objects that relate to their career fields as you move through them through the math concepts. If they are in the medical field use medical examples and manipulative objects. If construction use construction. The big difference between children and adults is that adults are taller. This means that you can use objects and involve them in a tactile way by using items that are seen as being age appropriate but still get the key math concepts across. I use a lot of games and rewards in my classes and my adult students really respond to earning rewards such as candy kisses for performing a function, task or procedure. Have fun with your thinking and your creativity will kick in. Go to websites that offer activities for teaching elementary math and you will see a host of things that you can make age appropriate and can use in your classroom. Some of my best received activities originated in the elementary classroom.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
You never stop learning to be a better teacher. I've been doing this for over 25 years and I still find new ways to motivate students and make the material more meaninful to them.
My wife has suggested that I bring tactile sensations into my math class. This would certainly be helpful for students who are more concrete in using their physical senses than "feel" abstract numbers in a mental sense. I am not quite sure how to do this; with children I could use building blocks, with adults it is not so easy--they would be insulted. I've tried to have more visual approaches with graphing programs, but that is not quite the same. So I have attempted ways of making the work more relevant to their lives, although that is still a learning process for me.
It is important to know your students and know thwre learning style
