using the whole class room
I often am unable to move around the whold classroom, but certainly try to. Sometimes you find your selve behind the class and this requires the students to shift to view you. It does let me know who is interested in the material or the lecture in a given moment which I use to plan future improvements.
William,
this is a great point as it can help you gauge their interest & engagement with the material.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I find it useful to change positions while lecturing in my classroom, because it makes students turn towards the teacher in order to focus with eyes, ears, and body. This increases learning and helps cross the mid-line, as brain research has shown with Gardner's Learning Styles research.
This makes the ENTIRE student...body and mind...get ready to participate in paying DEEPER attention to what is said and is then absorbed LONG-TERM for learning retention.
Sean T. Taeschner, M.Ed.
IADT-Seattle
ENGLISH 101 & 102
Adjunct Instructor
Moving about the classroom during my lecture is like performing in Theatre in the Round; it allows the audience to use their hearing more effectively and maintains interest.
First of all, I arrange the classroom seating so that it is easy for me to move in, out of groups, to go to classroom sides and to the back. Once students know how the seats mights be re-arranged when they enter our classroom and, perhaps find them arranged differently, they will take the initiative to make "our" arrangement because they have found how much all of their attentions shift to certain class members, too, as I shift. Class members often want to make comments and it is interesting for other class members to see others' as interested and then to see and to hear them, too, as they make good comments.
Sean,
yes, this is a great reason to try to move around the classroom & engage the learners with the content & what is happening in the room.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Jacqueline,
yes, it is important to arrange rooms to facilitate our movement as well as to facilitate discussions between students.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
for me moving around the classroom helps me keep all students involved
