The idea of center stage students and strategies to manage them was very interesting to me. Allowing them the opportunity to be observers is a great strategy that keeps them engaged but allows others to speak.
I think utilizing the tools of the "observer" and the "use it wisely cards" will help make the class flow smoothly and involve more of the students.
I find the center stage students often excel as mentors to the less talkative students. Center stage students often flourish as peer tutors.
Really helpful, great tips.
As I former elementary school teacher I liked how the need to encourage your students who may be struggling, inattentive, and disengaged can go a long way in building a relationship.
Comment on Shelley Freshman's post: When students are using their electronic devices in class if makes it seem as if their not paying attention to instruction. I often say that I can't get started until I have your full attention. It is a good stadegy to use when you ask the most inattentive students what they learned or to summarize the discussion. Now they will know they need to pay attention.
I've learned how to manage different types of students in terms of their behavior.
Good ideas to practice for improve my future.
I especially took notice to the technique of moving your position int the room, judging from my personal experiences with military training and post secondary education. The podium instructor tends to bore the class making it hard to retain information. After reading this i realized that the instructors that moved around the room forced the attention to move with the instructor. So case in point as you are talking then a slide change happens it forces the class to readjust and change focus, inadvertently engaging the brain to pay attention. Its also a good tool to neutralized a disruption or distraction as I've experienced personally .
Having inattentive and students with short attention spans is a real thing. I know the course mentions how some of this might be because the student does not see relevancy in the information but I do think it’s a bigger issue. I try to do as much active learning in my class as possible because after 5-10 minutes I lose half the class. I will try some of the techniques outline to see if it helps.
I have learned different ways to handle student behaviors.
There's different ways to keep the students engage, by asking them to give presentations, or calling on them to answer questions, and even moving the students from the back of the class to the front of the class.
I learned the why behind some student behaviors and reasons students may be falling behind.
Being consistent/following up on assignments, including all students in discussions, and helping students own the responsibility for completing assignments.
I have had a few students try to bully the class, but instead of accepting their behavior I would talk to them with assistance from counselors. Talked to them as a group, and then separated the group into having individuals be part of other teams and problem went away. Sometimes dealing with PTSD service personnel can be a bit exhausting, but after having similar techniques of sitting with a counselor, discussing methods to the problem, then working in separate teams the student becomes more involved and does not feel excluded or like an outsider.
Learnt how to manage a class . Dealing with inattentive students and different strategies to get all the students participate in the classroom discussions and activities.
I really appreciate the comments about uninterested and potential drop out risk students. This is helping me currently as I have a student that falls into this category. I love the bring in a guest speaker idea and am currently brainstorming on doing just that.
Getting to know your students can give an instructor insight into why they are displaying challenging behavior. Instructors must be firm and fair and create strategies that enforce respect for the students time and contributions as well as requiring respect for the instructors time.
Very good insight I have each of these students in my class. I like the stratgegies to address theses behaviors as well
It is challenging to work with these students but you have to keep them active and accountable for.
