Week 3 - Engaging Students

This past week I saw an improvement in my classes and how I felt after teaching. I had three ideas I implemented: notes to help me remember student names, developing a goal for the day, and using problem-posting to gain feedback from students.

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!

Week 2

Here we are wrapping up week two! My students are freshman. I’m a grad student… and an instructor? It was the typical first day feelings: fear, butterflies, excitement, anxiety, rapid heart beats, and your mind racing as you walk down the sidewalk. Fortunately, I had a lot of noise from the building construction, transit busses and other students to drown my thoughts. Based off of the wide-eyed stares I received from my students, I think they were more terrified of me than I of them. The first class was a little ruff. By the second, I think I had found my former theater performer and began to get excited about this new teaching venture.

I’m finding the reading very helpful. Some of the areas being covered have been taken care of by the Communication department such as writing a syllabus, defining goals/objectives and choosing a text. However, it is still helpful for me to understand how the course is laid out, how goals and objectives fit together and influence content, and the importance of a well written, explicit syllabus.

I know the syllabus is an important piece and that students often do not read it. I did go over certain parts in class, but on day two I gave a quiz over the material. They were a little confused when I told them a syllabus quiz would be their first assignment. I’m happy to report that, with the exception of a few, everyone knew the syllabus. I think I will probably continue this approach to get students to read the syllabus.

Other points from the reading that have helped me are:
1. Creating a work/plan/personal time schedule. I created a schedule and it has helped remove the anxiety about how to get everything done and still feel sane.

2. The suggestion about making notes or a diagram to learn student names is helpful. That is one thing I am struggling with and was not sure how to approach. As a student, I like it when the instructor knows my name and feel I should provide the same respect to my students.

3. I liked that the authors put the teaching responsibility into the perspective that it doesn’t matter the teaching style, if the student is learning. It is only week two and I’m struggling with how to engage my 1:00 p.m. class. They are a very quiet group, and I struggle getting them to speak and interact. Taking a step back, I do believe they are learning. I think it will be important for me to realize that they may be a quieter group that prefers a more passive approach to learning.

4. The out of class learning information was intriguing for a couple of reasons. First, to think that the student is possibly learning more outside of the classroom than with a teacher is baffling. It helps relieve some of the pressure. Second, the suggestion to examine how much time an assignment will take a student will facilitate a higher quality of learning. Another concept for me to think about when I’m developing assignments.

One thing I plan to implement that came from the reading is asking myself what I want to accomplish for the day. I think this will help me prepare a better lesson plan and evaluate how the class is doing and if they are learning.

I also plan to implement the problem posting strategy. In my next few classes, I’m going to utilize a couple different teaching tools, such as small group work, videos, and group teaching, and ask the students to provide feedback at the end of class about what they learned and what they liked about class that day. Since I love sticky notes, I plan to pass out sticky notes and let the students post their response as they leave for the day.

Both books have supplied information in regards to professionalism and how to implement boundaries between students. I think it will be challenging to find a comfortable balance between letting my students know me as a person, but still maintaining credibility and authority with them.

A few links I would recommend:

http://www.cat.ilstu.edu/resources/teachTopics/active.php
http://www.cat.ilstu.edu/resources/teachTopics/tips/actEngage.php

These are great sites that provide links to colleges and other resources focused on implementing active learning. I have also found info about adding excitement to the classroom here!


http://www.garfield.com/comics/todayscomic.html
I need humor to get through the day, and comic of the day is usually funny!
September 1 comic is especially great!!