First, I created a chart and made notes about each student next to their name. The chart helped me call on them by name during class, and I am surprised at how quickly I was able to learn their names. There are only a few students’ names that I still struggle with.
Having a goal for each class helped me be more focused, develop better discussion questions and gauge if they were grasping the concepts. I concentrated on the five components (cannons) of a speech for one period and by the end of the class, I think almost all students had the concept.
The third item I implemented was the problem-posting tool. In both classes I utilized a brief lecture, small group activity, and a speech analysis of Regean's Challenger speech followed by class discussion. Overall, the classes went really well. I asked them to post what they liked best about that class session and what they learned. I received a combination of the three, but learned that 75 percent like video analysis followed by discussion. I will continue to use the concept of problem-posting in the future. I’m glad I was able to discover something that engages my 1:00 p.m. class. I take comfort knowing they are active and will not be implementing any of these ideas, especially number five. What to do during a boring class
This week’s reading is full of ideas and suggestions I want to implement. This week the students are giving their first speech, which gives me time to write next week’s lesson plans and make a game plan for implementing the new ideas.
The most useful part of the reading was the examples given after each idea or concept. These examples showed me how I should and should not word my thoughts when speaking to my class. As I was reading, I knew instantly that I had done several of the “don’t” examples.
The ideas that I want to implement into week four are:
1. I will continue to think about my goal for each class session and list the specific points we will be covering. I will also try to be better about my lecture format so students may be more organized when taking notes. I will try to do this by either using power point or saying the number of items in each concept. I will also continue to use a variety of methods and activities for class to reach all students.
2. I will think about what role I should play in class discussion, decide if I want them to prepare to discuss in the next class and inform them of the expectation for the next session. I think this will help the students be better prepared to share when they come to class.
3. I will use pair activities prior to class discussion so they can share answers/thoughts with each other before speaking in front of the class. I’m hoping this will help them feel more comfortable and encourage them to express their ideas.
4. I really like the idea of asking students to think about counterpoints for their thought. I’m not sure if this speaking course lends itself to implementing, but I plan to look for a way.
5. I will try to state how activities and assignments relate and accomplish the course goals to help the students understand my rational for the assignment.
The text suggested thinking and writing out discussion questions prior to class and having a conclusion section. I currently do both of these and find that they work well. I really like the conclusion part because it is one last opportunity for me to restate the class sessions concepts.
The brief section on class control and handling situations when students attempt to leave class early gave me confidence in how I have handled these situations in my 2:00 section. It helped me feel more confident in my role to ask them to remain seated.
On a side note, I think everyone will agree that coffee is a staple while in school!
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