Lectures:
Lectures have a time and place in every classroom. The hard
part for the teacher is making sure the lecture is effective. Anyone can get up
in front of a room and throw information at the students. It is harder to give
a great lecture than just spilling out all the facts. In many situations it is
hard cover all the information in a class without quite a bit of lecturing. So the
challenge to myself as a teacher is making sure the lectures I give have an
impact. The best lecture occurs in small increments of no more than 10- 18
minutes and then the students need a break. One of the best classes I have had
as a college student was set up very similar to this. The professor would
lecture and go through the information and give the students a guide to take notes
on. These pieces of lecture would only last for a short period of time. Then it
would be time to break up in groups and use or expand on the lecture. This classes
is three hours long on a Friday morning but the class never seems that long because
the professor splits or chunks up the time so effectively. I feel I have
learned the most from this class than I have any other classes in my college
career. When I get out in my field this is what I need to remember. Look back
on the days I was a student and figure out what I found most effective. Now I
know my students will not react the same as I did to certain activities so something
will need to be adapted but overall it is a matter of helping the students. If
they respond better to lecture, group work, individual assignment, etc. than
that is what I will do.
I do not want to be this teacher:
I agree that our Friday morning class is a really effective and does contain lecture. I really like how this teacher has us move around in class, work with different people, complete worksheets, and listen to lectures. I find that this class flies by and although I wasn't too excited about having my first Friday class in college for three hours in the early morning, I've learned it's really not that bad. This class and Dr. H's lesson on lecturing has taught me that it is very important to give students breaks when they have to listen to a lecture. There are times when I have left a lecture and have 5 pages of notes but I still feel like I don't know anything because I spent the whole class writing words and not understanding the information. The key here is to slow down and stop. Class is pointless if students don't understand what is taught. I think both our classes (this and Friday morning) are good for having part lectures at times and activities as well.
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