I have learned that it is easier to call on those who seek to be the center of attention but include all students in the discussions and activities.
I really like the group concept, and will be trying this next class.
I learned that I need to know the personalities of my students and do a little bit of "crowd control" so that all of my students are involved equally and in a way that is beneficial to them.
I appreciated the idea of the 5 colored cards in class.
Use their energy for the class
This was very helpful and applicable with the challenging students. I have experienced several of these situations/students and this information is going to be really helpful to implement.
The idea of center stage students and strategies to manage them was very interesting to me. Allowing them the opportunity to be observers is a great strategy that keeps them engaged but allows others to speak.
I think utilizing the tools of the "observer" and the "use it wisely cards" will help make the class flow smoothly and involve more of the students.
I find the center stage students often excel as mentors to the less talkative students. Center stage students often flourish as peer tutors.
Really helpful, great tips.
As I former elementary school teacher I liked how the need to encourage your students who may be struggling, inattentive, and disengaged can go a long way in building a relationship.
Comment on Shelley Freshman's post: When students are using their electronic devices in class if makes it seem as if their not paying attention to instruction. I often say that I can't get started until I have your full attention. It is a good stadegy to use when you ask the most inattentive students what they learned or to summarize the discussion. Now they will know they need to pay attention.
I've learned how to manage different types of students in terms of their behavior.
Good ideas to practice for improve my future.
I especially took notice to the technique of moving your position int the room, judging from my personal experiences with military training and post secondary education. The podium instructor tends to bore the class making it hard to retain information. After reading this i realized that the instructors that moved around the room forced the attention to move with the instructor. So case in point as you are talking then a slide change happens it forces the class to readjust and change focus, inadvertently engaging the brain to pay attention. Its also a good tool to neutralized a disruption or distraction as I've experienced personally .
Having inattentive and students with short attention spans is a real thing. I know the course mentions how some of this might be because the student does not see relevancy in the information but I do think it’s a bigger issue. I try to do as much active learning in my class as possible because after 5-10 minutes I lose half the class. I will try some of the techniques outline to see if it helps.
I have learned different ways to handle student behaviors.
There's different ways to keep the students engage, by asking them to give presentations, or calling on them to answer questions, and even moving the students from the back of the class to the front of the class.
I learned the why behind some student behaviors and reasons students may be falling behind.
Being consistent/following up on assignments, including all students in discussions, and helping students own the responsibility for completing assignments.
