Get Your Students Hired
Earnest,
I believe that the wish to have more class time, is commonly shared by all instructors. This is why time management is a primary concern, when it comes to creating lesson plans for a course.
Tremayne Simpson
Robin,
I agree. It is important that instructors provide time in their lesson plans for student feedback and discussion. General discussion with students, serves as an excellent assessment to gage their perceptions about the course and their thoughts about their future career.
Tremayne Simpson
I always have stories from my personal experiences to relate to course time. I use these as fillers if I run out of material that I have planned to teach. My problem is that I wish I had more time (not less) to teach.
Earnest J. Kendall,MSN, RN-BC
Classes I teach last three or four hours so time management is extremely important. I like to mix my lecture, hands-on activities and individual/group work within each class period.
I agree with creating additional work just in case I get through the material that I have planned for that particular week. These in-class assignments are in addition to class and most times I don't need them. I can think of a few instances where the discussion and class participation was weak. That is where my group or individual assignment came in handy.
My day is broken up into six 50-minute segments. My strategy is to have six chunks of material for each segment, with an assessment in either the 5th or 6th (last) hour of the day. I keep word search puzzles that I created using key terms from the text as well as internet search exercises that also relate to the lesson plans. If I notice students have completed individual assignments in a short amount of time, I extend that time by then pairing them up or putting them into small work groups to discuss their assignments before I begin the overall class review or discussion.
I have always found that speaking about the lesson for the day to be fun and ever changing with the input of personal experiences and examples from myself and getting the students to be interactive with their own experiences. It not only gets the students involved in the discussion but it gives prime examples of what to expect, even the unexpected. I am always open to new ideas and ways to keep the students involved in each aspect of their training. THANK YOU!!
Lisa,
I agree with diversifying the lesson plan and avoiding the usage of only "lecture-based" instruction. This provides the students with positive enthusiasm and can assist with their retention of learned information.
Tremayne Simpson
weekly and daily learning goals as well as breaks or break out activities for students to work together, rather than just me lecturing.
Paul,
I also try to provide "constructive criticism" for incorrect answers. It is more important to direct a student towards the "correct" answer, instead of openly informing them that it is "incorrect". Their confidence in participation, may be limited if they feel that they are providing the "wrong" answers, during a discussion.
Tremayne Simpson
Richard,
Student interaction always makes the difference when it comes to "timing" for an assignment. When you have a highly interactive class, a "canned" lecture can go far beyond the alotted time.
Tremayne Simpson
I do the same thing in my classes to help with time management. I like to start the class with a recap of the previous class and a summary of what we are going to cover in that day's class. At the end of the class, I recap what we covered that day and give a summary of homework/assignments and what we will cover in the next class. This book-end approach seems to work well for the students and myself.
It can be difficult to manage time when you have inquisitive students in a particular module. I try to encourage all questions and to relate even the wrong answers in the direction of the correct one. When the questions begin to take up a lot of time, I will remind the group of the daily tasks and then make the class portal open for continued discussion of the topics in question.
It is more difficult when teaching a class for the first time. Even though I may think my "canned" module may take a certain amount of time, I'm sometimes surprised at how long it actually takes. Or how quickly I get through it. Experience is a good thing!
Mary ,
Finding prep time for innovative activities, is a common issue for all instructors. Once you have taught the class once, you will now have a lesson plan template for future courses.
Tremayne Simpson
olga,
As a suggestion, it may be a good idea to periodically answer questions (after each topic), to ensure that the student are comprehending the class content. They may forget some of the lecture content, after four hours of class.
Tremayne Simpson
I am a new instructor and my classes are 3 hours long. I have been trying to break the class into three 50 min segments with a 10 min break in between each one. I try to combine lecture with some sort of game, activity, "pair/share" presentations, or video/online resource. The class meets twice weekly. My biggest challenge seems to be finding the time to prep for this.
I always plan my lectures to have a few minutes the end, extra to review or answer questions at the end, I would rather to have extra time that to run short of time and not cover all the material> I 'm starting a new class with 4 hours of lecture and I am a little worried about making a class interesting having to be that long.
Gregory,
Fitting large amounts of content into a small amount of time is difficult for all instructors. In order to make sure that I am effectively using classtime, I try to combine related topics and discuss them simultaneously, instead of presenting both concepts separately. Once students are able to understand the theoretical relationships, it generally produces a higher-level of information retention and it saves time. Of course this works because I typically teach Communications and many of the theories and processes are inter-related.
Tremayne Simpson
I teach a eight day course for approximately 5 hours per day. I use a daily outline to keep on track. I also use films, quizes, and work sheets that I have the students complete in class, along with homework assignments given at the end of each class. I have my outline structured where I have specific topics that I cover each day. I always make sure thaqt I have enough extra materials like the quizes, worksheets and items mentioned above so that if I finish early I can use this material to finish the day. My course is about 50% lecture and 50% practical applications so I can always have the students do a practical assignment in class. I constantly revidew and revise my outlines and lecture notes to make it a better learning enviroment for the students.
This has been one of my biggest challenges because I generally have more material than the time allows. This causes me to rush at the end and possibly not hit the last points effectively or skip review time. What has helped most is to establish clear objectives and narrow down what the key points are. Probably no more than 3 key points. Have these clearly in mind. Don't lose track of time; include student questions in your time planning. Keep track of how long it takes to get through your average set of teacher notes. Include recap or review at end of session. Still sometimes find myself pushed, so am open to suggestions.