Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Tracy,
First don't feel alone we have all been there. It is common for new teachers to have problems with transitions. I would suggest that you have an activity planned for when you finish the topic. You would present content, the application through activity. The activity could be a learning game, like Jeparody, small group work, case studies, etc. Anything to get the students talking among themselves and focusing on an activity. This will give you a chance to "take a deep breath" and reload. Adults need redirection in their learning. So by pausing and having them do an activity you are also helping them to "catch their breath".
I would suggest that you develop 3 or 4 activities for each topic area. This way you will always have a plan B to fall back on to fill in the dead air.
Hope these suggestions will be of help. If you have more questions please let me know.
Gary

LEE PETERSEN

Tracy,

Man does it feel good to hear someone else say that. As a new instructor myself. I sometimes feel like I'm the deer in headlights or stuck on an island. I always wonder myself did I get through to the students.

Barbara Mead

Rest assured, you are not alone. After a few very long class periods with several minutes left over, I decided to research topics on my own and come up with additional information that may be of interest to the students. I have been an instructor for over 3 years, teaching dental assisting and I have not run out of topics yet. Also, the students continually come up with questions I don't have answers for and it gives us a chance to research new topics together.Good luck!

Barbara

Harinder Boparai

Try making shorter notes like flash cards on each topic with just a few ques to go on - subtitles.

Also, write the topic on the board with some bullete points underneath that would cover some of the subheadings. And then discuss one by one.

Compliment your lectures with the PP slides, if need be.

All these tricks will take you away from scrambling for your notes. Moreover, it doesn't matter how much you have covered or whether you have gone over each & every line in the text, but whatever little you say, say with confidence and ask them to fill in the details by reading on their own. Try to tell them & make them realize that they have as much responsibility to learn as much you have to give information & teach. It is a fifty/fifty game. They will realize the difficulty of discharging their own responsibility, and hence, appreciate yours, too. It will keep them off your back, too. With experience, you'll automatically learn not to lunge for your notes at the drop of a hat.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Harinder,
Spoken like a true educator. Plan, prepare, present. This will prevent many teaching disasters. Also, good point about getting buy in from the students. Sometimes they forget that you have already graduated and are the teacher. You have knowledge and experience so you have something to offer. They in turn can benefit from what you know and will share but they must work to acquire that needed set of skills and knowledge.
Gary

ward cooley

Have you considered opening the floor for discussions on your topic for questions and concerns and what other topics are of interest. When getting the students involved you would be suprise on how the students feel apart of your discussion and you would not draw a blank the students would cover the dead air. Ward

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Ward,
Thank you for the suggestion. Instructors need to try a variety of ways of getting students involved and this is a good way of getting the discussion started.
Gary

Ron Atallian CHEP

I know the feeling also. When you are finished with a topic and there are no questions , you think they all understand. With math as the subject and giving them some problems to work out do you see that they understand and you can see which way to go.