Public
Activity Feed Discussions Blogs Bookmarks Files

Center Stage Students

As a technology instructor I get a lot of "center stage students" who are excited about the industry. I like the "observer" strategy, but I am concerned that the student might be insulted by this kind of singling-out.

One thing that has helped me from time to time is having a brief 'current events' discussion at the beginning of class. Not only does this give late students a chance to arrive in time to receive the entire lecture (no dodging my lessons!), it also gives me a chance to work the excitement down a notch so we can focus on some detail work. The only drawback of this approach is that it can sometimes be difficult to stop a discussion that runs too long, but experience has yielded a number of tricks here, such as bringing up the discussion again after class is over, giving them a chance to stay after and discuss it some more of they wish.

I like that idea. I give short daily quizzes first thing, which are only giving during the 1st 15 minutes of class. This encourages on-time atendence, and helps support WHY the student should read the homework chapter.

Also for my center stagers, I have a soft Nerf ball which I gently toss to students (and then back to me) to get them to engage and share. If my center stager is raising a hand and saying, "Me..Me"" they just slump back down when the ball is handed to another.

Sign In to comment