Teaching material prepared by others
Previously I taught a nursing assistant program to where I selected the entire curriculum. I would change up the order I would teach subjects to keep myself from getting in to a rut. It was heaven! Now I am teaching totally different. I am having a hard time adjusting to presenting material that has to be taught on a schedule,(I must follow a daily schedule of what to teach each day), and using material that I would not choose to use. If I feel my students need less time on a subjsct and more on another, I don't have that option. Any ideas as to how to make this change easier? :-/
Hi Yolanda,
I don't have a real good solution to your situation. Without seeing the way the entire class is laid out and the demands that you have on your classes' progress it is hard to offer assistance. The one thing I would do as the instructor is to do an instructional analysis and see how and where I could develop alternative ways of getting the content delivered and stay on schedule.
I would be glad to talk with you more about this if you would want to.
Gary
I teach by a day-by-day plan also. We do have flexibility in deciding what works best and what to spend less time on. There are certain competencies that have to be covered.
I have a similar situation and I would like to know how to do an instructional analysis.
Hi Denise,
An instructional analysis is a method of where you take the content as it is presented via a standardized curriculum or textbook and look for places where you can insert personal experiences or examples that are relevant to your setting. For example if your curriculum has you introducing 20 vocabulary words, look for ways that you can introduce that will help your students learn, apply and retain the words. The standardized curriculum may give the words without ways of teaching them to the students. Your instructional analysis will help you to think about mnemonics that can be used by the students, or group activities that will get them involved. This process is being creative in approaches to learning. You can help the students to identify their learning preferences by surveying them about how they like to learn new material. Is it through reading, talking, pictures, activities? This will help you as you analyze how best to present the content.
Gary
Hi Yolanda.
A similar situation happens to me a few months ago. I taught Computerized Accounting Class with a Text Book that in some subject was clear but on others not, the students get confused, spend a lot of time to complete assignments and most of the assignments exercise was not consistent.
I decide to create my own mini text book with more exercises as well a create a powerpoint presentation with exercise solutions, and at the end I mixed with the School Text Book. Now my classroom is running smooth and I covering most of the subject on time.
Cardoza
I am about to start teacher training. This subject is very interesting!
Hi JoJo,
Welcome to the training session. I hope you enjoy your development as an educational professional. You will be adding a set of competencies that will help you expand from being a subject matter expert (SME) to an instructional delivery expert (IDE). We hope our courses will move you quickly along this developmental route to excellence in education.
Gary
