Get Your Students Hired
attention span is only 15-18 minutes. is it best to keep the classroom setting fast paced or slowed down?
Tony,
This is the human factor in teaching. You with this method are getting information that you can use to customize you instruction to your current group of students. The more you know the more you can relate.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
As adult students you get to learn about about them with your warm talk to see how receptive they are going to be with your method of teaching, if need be adjust your presentation to meet their needs
Hi Dawanna:
I find keeping the lecture portion of my class brief without cutting anything out. I understand that the lab portion of class is what is most relevant to the student, but we still have the obligation of teaching the theory portion of the courses.
It's difficult sometimes to keep them interested in body systems and boring old disease states, when what they really want to do is go do things with their hands.
Sometimes fast paced is good, but sometimes when the lecture is complex, it needs to be a bit slower.
You will probably have to adjust your pace once in a while depending on your topic/students/etc.
I also ask the question about the information making sense. Many times you can relay the information and it not get through. Ask if everyone understands and up to half may not have comprehended the information. I feel that this is a failure on my part of not relaying it properly rather than the students failing to understand. I back up and regroup and use a different approach and often times this works quite well. Not everyone learns by the same method. Usually the second time I go over it, using a change of tone or more of a visual representation on the board, a vast majority of the class is ready to move on because they now understand what I was trying to convey. Then for the last 1 or 2 students, if needed, I approach for more of a 1 on 1 technique.
Marsha, I agree while lecturing it is a good idea to scan the room and observe body language and from there you can determine how to proceed with the delivery of the lesson.
It depends on the information. I read faces and body language. I also scan the room for notes and notetakers. A good question to ask is "Does that make sense?" It leave it open for everyone to ask questions so you can judge where your Lecture Timing is.