Classroom management in accelerated forums
I appreciate and understand many of the techniques presented for managing the classroom, students and curriculum, and utilize them whenever necessary or possible. However, in an accelerated program, where we are often fortunate to cover the required material on time, it is not always easy or practical to stop and take time from class instruction for these activities merely to focus one or two students who lack the ability to be intellectually present. While I get that the material may not be the most enjoyable, and strive to make it interesting, relevant and interactive, it still detracts from the remainder of the class to break because of one or two students when time is so precious.
Hi Demian,
It sounds like you are definitely there for your students. You allow your students to have various ways to contact you. I can tell you have your students best interest at heart. You really want them to learn the information and retain it so that they can be successful employees.
Patricia
Amy, Thank you for your positive feedback. I do incorporate a variety of modalities into my classroom, blending lecture, presentations as well as directed and independent group activites. As you so aptly note, by utilizing a collaborative approach for appropriate material, I have been able to empower those students who may otherwise feel lost in the morass of material.
I apologize that I drafted my initial post in such a way that you felt it appropriate to read into my statements and assume poor teaching technique resulting from "a waste of time".
I do not believe that any effort spent on a student is a waste of time, so long as they are also participating in their education. One concept that seems to be diminished from my youth is that of personal responsibility. I offer tutoring at my student's convenience in addition to my office hours. I am always available for questions via email, text or phone about anything my students may be having difficulty with. I continuously accomodate my student's needs by identifying issues and deficiencies in either their retention or absorption of the material. I also, as did another of our peers in a similar environment, have streamlined the material to be covered so that the critical elements and concepts are addressed, and laying a solid foundation of accessible knowledge from which my students can then build and internalize the deeper meaning of the class. Without that base level of understanding, the vast majority of the material will evaporate once the exams are over, so I teach so that they will internalize the concepts and proceed from that point.
Having said that, the point of my initial post was related to those rare students that, given a diverse and interactive classroom, multiple opportunities for extracurricular assistance, live or electronically, and individually focused direction, still fail to comform to appropriate classroom standards and make reasonable attempts to participate appropriately. While I do manage these and my other students effectively (or so their performance and assessments of my instruction indicate), my hope was that I might receive some constructive and productive feedback. I do appreciate your thoughts and time though.
I teach a short (9-day) class on a subject that can easily fill a semester. From the beginning, the sheer volume of material I want to cover has conflicted with the time I have. Obviously, the fastest way to cover the most information is to lecture, hitting key concepts in sequence. This is terrible for the students, who can't maintain attention for hours of my droning, even if they are interested in the subject. As I've evolved the class, I've been stripping down the number of concepts I address, finding the most relevant priorities, and that has allowed me to shift more of the learning onto them through group activities and discussions. While the amount of material covered is less now, student engagement is higher, and they are learning - owning - more as a result. Because they are contributing more, there is more engagement, less disruption, and less sleeping. Sadly, it's an evening class, so I haven't eliminated sleepy students who've been working since 5am yet, but the improvement is there.
Hi Amy,
Absolutely! It is the instructor's responsibility to teach all students. A true educator can vary their teaching style to reach all students. Students that are not as bright as others deserve the same learning opportunities as others.
Patricia
I do not agree. You do not have "to break" in an accelerated course. While I agree that time is valuable, all students deserve service. All learning styles and types of students, who pay the same tuition, deserve differentiated instruction that engages them in the learning. Simply by varying input, process or output means can involve and enrich every student. It is a failure to view it as a waste of time and unfortunately, that demonstrates poor teaching. For example, high achieving students often benefit from reenforcing their learning by peer teaching, thus serving a lower level student. Please investigate Differentiated Instruction or Learning Styles.
