Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the sixteenth day of the month is "Instruction."
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I like a good lecture. I like Experts to Tell Me Things They Know Lots About. I am an Elitist and I want to learn from people who have spent time learning things.
But my students like "active learning." They like to do the things - move around, cut things out of paper, talk, and collaborate. They are not interested in lectures or reading or doing the things that I like to do.
I have a teaching demonstration on Friday. Eight to ten minutes on a topic that I have now spent approximately ten hours immersing myself in the questionably rigorous literature on. I am a questionable expert on the topic, but I will spend 2-3 minutes doing an intro, 2-3 minutes doing an active learning exercise (turn to your neighbor and Discuss This), 2-3 minutes coming together as a class to discuss the outcomes of the exercise, and 2-3 minutes in conclusion. What exactly they will be able to evaluate from my 8-10 minutes of a teaching demonstration is up for debate.
They will learn that I am comfortable in front of the classroom.
They will learn that I like college students and am enthusiastic about what they have to teach me.
They will learn that I do my research.
They will learn that I know how to organize the flow of a classroom discussion.
They will learn that I am knowledgeable about active learning and will implement it into the classroom.
And hopefully that will be enough.
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| Hannah definitely does not care about lectures. Here she is actively trying not to eat her snacks. |
If NaBloPoMo was a competition you would be winning - nobody/nothing can top Hannah. She is magnificent.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the "lecture"...(I just finished Think Again by Adam Grant and your thought process above reminds me of his book!)
Hannah would win NaBloPoMo, that's for sure!
DeleteThis sounds like an excellent demonstration. You are going to kill it!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed!
DeleteGood luck this Friday!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteOh, you're a graduate student working to become a teacher! My husband is a PhD and his first love was teaching, but it didn't work out for him. He also loves a good lecture and is good at it. Anyway, I think your students will learn just what you said. And you will learn from them as well. Rock it!
ReplyDeleteHa ha! I haven't been a grad student for years. My husband has his PhD, as well, and does teach. I'm interviewing for a position at his university that involves a teaching component, which is why I'm doing a teaching demo. I have decades of teaching experience and this shouldn't feel like as big of a deal as I'm making it, but there you have it!
DeleteGood luck! You have put a lot of work into this so I bet it will go great! I just read "Think Again" by Adam Grant and in one section he talks about how students learn in classrooms and how important active learning is. The theme of the book is learning to question thoughts you previously had/changing. and it turns out that if you are being lectured to, you are kind of absorbing things but not questioning anything. But if you have a more active role in the learning process, you are more likely to question things/think for yourself/etc. I thought that was interesting.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have a lot of issues with active learning because a lot of time students are actually learning wrong/bad things from the non-experts. BUT. It's all the rage and it CAN be done well, so I'm going to focus on that aspect of things. (Also, I just really can't get behind someone working for a decade on a PhD and then thinking the Bob, the guy who sits next to me, has more important things to say on the topic than the expert in front of the classroom, but I am an intellectual SNOB and wouldn't have wanted to hear from Bob when I was an undergrad.)
DeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteI hope the demonstration goes well! This is one of the things I would not be good at/would be terrified off. You have my admiration.
ReplyDeletePublic speaking is not really a worry of mine, so I'm hoping it goes well! I know it's not everyone's jam, but it doesn't really worry me nearly as much as the 1-on-1 interviews. Ugh. Eye contact!
DeleteFor the most part, I liked good lectures back in uni.
ReplyDeleteWhat's not to like? (Ha. I understand not everyone is like us.)
DeleteI like lectures and reading to learn but I also enjoyed having small classes where the lecturer would stop for questions or discussion.
ReplyDeleteDiscussion just seems like a pooling of ignorance to me, but the research does show that peer-to-peer learning is crucial, so I do a lot of activities in which students discuss in small groups.
DeleteThe best teacher is a teacher that a) knows their stuff, b) is enthusiastic about their stuff, and c) gets the student's excited about their stuff. ;) Sounds like you're going to crush the demo!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Fingers crossed!
DeleteI'm more of a tactile than an auditory learner so lectures weren't really my thing, but I do like how you have structured this instruction. Fingers crossed everything went well. (I am so, so behind on NaBlo blog reading, lol.)
ReplyDeleteI prefer doing more of a lecture... particularly to my undergrads, and for my genomics guest lectures. That said, I have to lead discussions in my doctoral seminar, and that works for me, although some years it's like pulling teeth. Hope that the demonstration went well (I suppose I could just jump forward in time to find out...)
ReplyDelete