Pay attention to the class, have a backup plan in presenting the material. Consistently assess and adjust activities to maintain engagement.
From these module there have been several important aspects that I have learned and / or confirmed from my own experience as an instructor.
- A must to go through a complete and rigourous preparation of each course and its lessons
- Think and develop PACE plans: Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency, bearing in mind the learning objectives of each lesson
- Always adapt yourself to the students you finally get on the course and their way to progress on learning
- Flexibility is always a paramount for becoming an effective and good instructor.
Redirection when students get distracted or off-task is the most effective way to get them back on task and also acknowledges their dissatisfaction with the previous approach.
The idea of giving a pre-test to get to know your students right away and cater your teaching strategy yo what you learn about them is great.
have students fill out status assessments if you feel like they aren't responsive to your teaching.
I have learned how important it is to identify my students learning styles and create different activities that will keep each of them engaged in learning the material I am presenting to them.
I loved the idea of passing out the index cards to ask what student issues/difficulties are without their names. This is a great way to know what should be "tweaked" in a lesson plan in addition to the possibillity of adding on completely different materials to better match the various levels of students.
Pretesting students is a great way to understanding their current knowledge if any of their career field. This is also a great ice breaker method as well.
Sometimes, students do not do well with assignmets because of lack of a background in whatever they are studying, or lack of understanding of what is being asked of them. As instructors we should assess this and figure out gow to help them,.
Learn how students learn create different ways and presentations to present material.
Always have a Plan B, and always be ready to pivot as needed. I liked the suggestion to pause and study the room for 20 seconds, allowing yourself to get a read on the class and to view the learning activity at hand through the students' perspective.
It is helpful to know where the students are knowledge-wise for the class I will be instructing. Pay attention to the students to know if there should be a shift in material and delivery to gain back engagement. Be aware of material overload and have a plan B available.
This lesson is helpful to better understand your students background knowledge by either have them do a fun pretest exercise or game to see how they understand informaton. Also to better redirect your students attention if they get restless or lose attention in class.
It's a good idea to get the educational and skill background of each class to help make the delivery of the subject matter efficient.
Have a plan B in your pocket incase you need to use it.
it is important to redirect students if they get off task.
I have learned that having a plan b is good to have in place and also that watching the students body language can tell me if they are getting it or not.
feedback and class participation are key when managing a class
Always having different assignments ready to go so students can stay engaged.
