Focus on the students. Know why they are enrolled in the course. Adult learners have an attention span of 10-15 minutes. Make lessons engaging by altering lecture and activities.
I really liked the idea of storytelling and the crisis event to break up the content and also allow for a glimpse of the real world while keeping the students engaged. Self-check points for both the instructor and the student (mid-way assessments) allow for the opportunity to improve or triage. This was a great module!
The most important part I learned is the rapport we as instructors must create with our students. It is important that the student sees us as someone who they trust, who they can talk to.
Reply to Jacob Pope's post: Same. It seems like a good tool for the mid semester shlump.
The midterm slump is a very real problem. There are strategies to check the pulse of the class and refocus them on the materials at hand. Determine where students are at, show them how far they have come, and shake up the lecture style to assist students in remembering their original enthusiasm for the class.
This is a good remonder that you can refocus the students by having them realize their growth in order to motivate them in the later parts of the course.
I need to rejuvinate my lesson plan in order to peak the student's interest again.
As instructors, we have the responsibiloity of developing relationships with students and the responsibility of staying engaged and excited about learning throughout the course.
Adding variety to the instructional environment is important and at times, challenging but rewarding. Students need variety to keep them involved and interested in a course, but they also should be there for their own learning at the same time. Not every day can be an exciting and amazing lesson!
mid term assesments help the students stay engaged and can help boost their confidence when they start listing off and recognizing what has been learned up to this point. Recharging sounds like an excellent idea and boost for confidence
I learn different way to keep the students focus and draw them into the class interaction.
motivation is important, creating a mid course eval is a good tool to show students what they have learned
As a teachier you need to be engaing with your strudent, I like the idea of using story telling
This module stressed about using different strategies to keep the student engaged.
I know realize that I have had some pretty good teachers. The techniques about engaging quiet students and how to deal with the ones who talk too much is something I have definitely seen in action. Not something I thought I would have to learn but non the less a very important set of tools to make sure my course goes smooth. More importantly to make sure everyone gets there fair share of knowledge. Very interesting stuff for sure.
I usually turn my nose up at acronyms, I usually find them contrived and corny. REFOCUS, however, is very helpful to me. Its an operating procedure to keep my motivation in check. I liked that part.
I like the list of verbal cues that I can refer to:
Verbal Cues
During the course you can promote an atmosphere of trust and rapport by offering some of the following
questions or comments:
- Can you think of a situation in which this _____ (notion, formula, strategy) might apply? Might not apply?
- That's an interesting idea, tell me more.
- I don't know either, but that's a very interesting question. Can anyone help us try and find an answer to this question?
- I'm not sure I understand. Can you clarify your question or can you give me an example of what you are asking?
- Feels to me like we've strayed from the point. Have we?
- Let's not forget the basic problem we are trying to solve.
- What's the first step?
A teacher cannot forget herself/himself in the crowd of teaching, the material, the delivery and the class content must be evolving and rearraged often to keep the momentum going. The attention of the student must be kept continuously and their input taken into consideration as the semester must continue as it started with the midn and spirit of everyone involved to the end.
Feedback, motivation, creativity are all so crucial in effective classroom instruction. Rapport is the building block of it all!
