New Book and Content
I have been given new book a week before class is too start. It's all new format from what I'm use too. What is the best way to transfer material and prep?
Tracee,
I would go through and pull out from the new text the essential elements and concepts the students need to learn. Then I would develop supporting one page handouts in the form of guided notes. This way the students can follow along as you lecture as well as know where to locate the information in the new text. As you move through the course you will be able to get more comfortable to the new text and feel like you can pull out the critical content in a way that gets the students involved and focused on their learning progress.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have been given a new text at the last moment on more than one occasion. I end up with materials spread all over the dining room table, comparing the old text to the new text to the old outline. I am trying to discover what of the new I need to present and what of the old I can profitably retain and how this fits into the outline presented vs the one that I had used. What does the time allowed permit me to cover and how can I make it relevant?
Loren,
Been there and done that. It is tough but once you get the cross walk of content and application identified then you are ready to go. Hopefully you don't get too many next texts thrown at you at the last minute. Makes for some late nights for sure.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I too have had this challenge with the additional encounter of the sequence of courses changing from what had been offered and taught previously.
For example, the course objectives include the students to learn to build a Content Management System (CMS). This requires the students to have an advanced knowledge of PHP and MySQL database experience but they've not had even an introductory knowledge to PHP and MySQL and the required textbook only covers advanced PHP & Object Oriented Programming and did not include any supplemental teaching materials.
In addition, while I suspected such a situation, there was no way for me to know until the first day of class to what degree the students were deficient in their knowledge of these needed subject areas (PHP & MySQL). And subsequently, due to time constraints I've been scrabbling to complete weekly lesson plans before being able to put together a well prepared applicable syllabus.
The additional challenge is that with some student's abilities we'll be lucky to get the basics of PHP & MySQL down before being able to tackle the intricacies of building a CMS in the time allotted for the course.
Fortunately, I do have a good knowledge of being able to research material on the Web but still feel I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be until I'm able to catch up with finalizing a syllabus and getting ahead on my lesson plans
Is there any advice you might be able to offer other than what I'm doing and that is winging it as best as possible while spending lots of late night hours researching and compiling content to teach the course?
Steven,
Would like to give you a formula or recipe for your situation but I don't have one. You are doing all of the right things as you strive to keep ahead of your students and flesh out your instructional delivery. Once you have been through this several times it will get easier but I know this is little comfort right now as you are pushing so hard to keep your current classes on target.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I too am teaching out of a new book & only have 1 week to prepare. been organizing consumable resources & preparing for another class to be offered soon. I like the advice of scanning & pulling out the critical content to achieve the objectives.
Glenda,
I wish you success as you get ready for your course. You are on the right track with your efforts and I know you will be ready on the first day of class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This has happened to me on numerous occasions and while it is a difficult situation and a ton of work if you know the subject well you can succeed. I usually use the book and take out the most important aspects to use along with as much supplemental material as I can put together. I do agree that it takes more effort to start with a new book on short notice.
As a side note a lot of the newer text have websites with some good material to jump start your lesson plans, but I use them as a guide only, as they are written in someone else’s style of teaching.
Acie,
Thank you for sharing this coping strategy with the participants in this forum. I know this information will be of great help to them and they go through situations like this.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
