This week’s chapters show that to have a successful lesson, it behooves the instructor to have intentional advanced preparation regarding whatever strategy s/he plans to use for the lesson’s delivery. Planning ahead is something that teachers should consider in whatever activity they embark upon in their teaching career because without prior planning, they are likely to stumble in the implementation of what they have purposed to do. Below are the ideas I pulled out from the reading:
· Selection of a textbook for a course must be done carefully to promote its purpose.
· Students must be taught the strategy for reading to make them active readers to enhance their learning.
· Active learning is about when attention is given to relevant information in the text, coherently organizing it into mental representations and then integrating it with other knowledge or experiences.
· Instructors’ strategies and class activities can serve as a good means of getting students to read the assigned reading before class.
· “Effective lecturers combine the talents of scholar, writer, producer, entertainer, and teacher in ways that contribute to student learning” (p. 58)
· Discussion method of teaching needs adequate advanced preparation for it to be effective. For discussion strategy to be effective, the three stages (before, during and after) must be handled skillfully.
· The lecture method of teaching can be effective way of enhancing student learning if instructors engage in advanced preparation and be skillful in its usage. For the lecture method to be effective, the stages in its usage must be carefully and skillfully be implemented.
· Learner’s mastery of concepts or content is more important than grading.
· Every assessment must have focus , purpose(s)/objective(s)
· Assessment goes beyond end of course testing /examination
· Assessment should be balanced to cater for coverage and differences/diversity.
· Authentic assessment is equally valuable in undergraduate program.
· Instructors need to be strategic regarding the time and weight assign to tests/grading
· Instructors need to use strategies that help reduce test pressure/anxiety in students as well as helping them become test-wise so that it will in turn reduce students’ frustration and aggression after testing. It also helps minimize cheating.
· Providing useful feedback in time is more important than giving just the grades.
· Instructors need to be intentional/purposeful about giving feedback. Comment must be comprehensible, specific, and useful to the students. It should be tailored to student’s needs and feed forward into action as well as not being judgmental. Instructor can use peer feedback and self-assessments to supplement theirs to enhance student’s learning.
· Grading must be taken seriously because it goes beyond the instructor and the student. It has future implications on the student’s well being.
· Grading should tailored towards mastery/learning than just the grade/performance.
In a nutshell, Part 2 of the book walks readers through the appropriate strategies adult instructors can adopt to assist adult learners comprehend the content or concepts taught. It deals with the effective strategies for delivery through appropriate assessment to giving of effective and useful feedback to students. I see this part of the book as the “How to” to effective teaching that promote mastery learning on the part of students and mastery teaching on the part of the teacher.
Reflection
I like how the authors captioned the Part 2. “Basic skills for facilitating student learning” instead of the traditional “Teaching methods/strategies”. To me, it makes me feel that the former focuses more on the students/learners. That is, the caption subtly compel the teacher to have in mind that whatever strategy s/he puts in place should have the students comprehension as the focus unlike the later that centers mainly on what the teacher feels will work for him/her in his/her delivery.
Reflecting on this part made me recollect my own experiences of the courses I have read in the past and the strategies my instructors used and also what I have been using in my teaching. Regarding the use of discussion, I realized that I need to do some unpacking to improve its usage in my teaching. As I was reading, I saw that my discussions do not come out as expected because I miss a “nutrients” like preparing the students for discussion, effective beginning that will hook the students, putting attractive steps in place to sustain their interest throughout the period. The authors assertions that you cannot predict the outcome of using discussion method because you never know what is going to happen is true though, I think following the strategies they discussed in chapter 5, the probability of achieving success will be high.
For the use of lecture method, I have conceived the notion that it is the worse strategy to use in teaching and I think it was as the result of my own experience. I had a lecturer at the initial stages of my undergraduate course who “abused” the lecture method so much that I began to hate it. He would come to class talk to himself and rarely allow for questions and his slogan was, “I am a lecturer, my duty is to give you what I have and you do your own learning because university is not for children” But reading the chapter 6 has given me a positive picture of the use of the lecture method, that it’s not worse as I had seen it after all. I have learned that, I can make use of the lecture method effectively if I prepare adequately and be skillful in its usage to facilitate student learning as do the other effective methods. On the issue of giving lecture notes to students prior to class, I support the view that prefer giving them guiding questions to guide them to shift the main ideas from the text so that they will make their own meaning out of what they read. Also, some students will not read the text and just rely on the lecturer’s lecture notes so I think giving them the lecture note after class will help them be responsible for their own learning.
For Chapter 7, which deals with assessment, testing and evaluation, I must confess, I felt guilty reading some of the things there. Personally, I do not like testing due to the experience I had during my basic school (elementary education) where at the end of each term, the results of the tests were ranked. The first five students were given prizes and the last five were caned or given any type of corporal punishment and they were hooted at as they walked home. Though, I did not go through it myself but I associated embarassment with testing. So I have never liked testing in any form even in my adult life. Even in my teaching career, I prefer giving students a lot of assignments to cushion them if they are to write test for grade or promotion. In situation where I had the power to decide, I eliminated testing and relied on assignments and projects. From the reading I noted that my preference is not adequate as it mostly relied on just an aspect of assessment to the neglect of the other forms. One form of assessment I would like to try out with my students is the “Peer Assessment”. Though I have been using it in Ghana (my home country), I did not have the useful intention discussed by the authors, I was doing it to lessen my burden of grading due to the large class size. One take away I had concerning testing large class is to sometimes adopt the Team-based testing strategy.
The authors criteria for giving feedback are very insightful. I have a lot of unpacking to do regarding the knowledge I acquired from this part of the book.
Reference
Svinicki, M., & McKeachie, W. J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies,
research, and theory for college and university teachers (14th ed.). Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth.
· Selection of a textbook for a course must be done carefully to promote its purpose.
· Students must be taught the strategy for reading to make them active readers to enhance their learning.
· Active learning is about when attention is given to relevant information in the text, coherently organizing it into mental representations and then integrating it with other knowledge or experiences.
· Instructors’ strategies and class activities can serve as a good means of getting students to read the assigned reading before class.
· “Effective lecturers combine the talents of scholar, writer, producer, entertainer, and teacher in ways that contribute to student learning” (p. 58)
· Discussion method of teaching needs adequate advanced preparation for it to be effective. For discussion strategy to be effective, the three stages (before, during and after) must be handled skillfully.
· The lecture method of teaching can be effective way of enhancing student learning if instructors engage in advanced preparation and be skillful in its usage. For the lecture method to be effective, the stages in its usage must be carefully and skillfully be implemented.
· Learner’s mastery of concepts or content is more important than grading.
· Every assessment must have focus , purpose(s)/objective(s)
· Assessment goes beyond end of course testing /examination
· Assessment should be balanced to cater for coverage and differences/diversity.
· Authentic assessment is equally valuable in undergraduate program.
· Instructors need to be strategic regarding the time and weight assign to tests/grading
· Instructors need to use strategies that help reduce test pressure/anxiety in students as well as helping them become test-wise so that it will in turn reduce students’ frustration and aggression after testing. It also helps minimize cheating.
· Providing useful feedback in time is more important than giving just the grades.
· Instructors need to be intentional/purposeful about giving feedback. Comment must be comprehensible, specific, and useful to the students. It should be tailored to student’s needs and feed forward into action as well as not being judgmental. Instructor can use peer feedback and self-assessments to supplement theirs to enhance student’s learning.
· Grading must be taken seriously because it goes beyond the instructor and the student. It has future implications on the student’s well being.
· Grading should tailored towards mastery/learning than just the grade/performance.
In a nutshell, Part 2 of the book walks readers through the appropriate strategies adult instructors can adopt to assist adult learners comprehend the content or concepts taught. It deals with the effective strategies for delivery through appropriate assessment to giving of effective and useful feedback to students. I see this part of the book as the “How to” to effective teaching that promote mastery learning on the part of students and mastery teaching on the part of the teacher.
Reflection
I like how the authors captioned the Part 2. “Basic skills for facilitating student learning” instead of the traditional “Teaching methods/strategies”. To me, it makes me feel that the former focuses more on the students/learners. That is, the caption subtly compel the teacher to have in mind that whatever strategy s/he puts in place should have the students comprehension as the focus unlike the later that centers mainly on what the teacher feels will work for him/her in his/her delivery.
Reflecting on this part made me recollect my own experiences of the courses I have read in the past and the strategies my instructors used and also what I have been using in my teaching. Regarding the use of discussion, I realized that I need to do some unpacking to improve its usage in my teaching. As I was reading, I saw that my discussions do not come out as expected because I miss a “nutrients” like preparing the students for discussion, effective beginning that will hook the students, putting attractive steps in place to sustain their interest throughout the period. The authors assertions that you cannot predict the outcome of using discussion method because you never know what is going to happen is true though, I think following the strategies they discussed in chapter 5, the probability of achieving success will be high.
For the use of lecture method, I have conceived the notion that it is the worse strategy to use in teaching and I think it was as the result of my own experience. I had a lecturer at the initial stages of my undergraduate course who “abused” the lecture method so much that I began to hate it. He would come to class talk to himself and rarely allow for questions and his slogan was, “I am a lecturer, my duty is to give you what I have and you do your own learning because university is not for children” But reading the chapter 6 has given me a positive picture of the use of the lecture method, that it’s not worse as I had seen it after all. I have learned that, I can make use of the lecture method effectively if I prepare adequately and be skillful in its usage to facilitate student learning as do the other effective methods. On the issue of giving lecture notes to students prior to class, I support the view that prefer giving them guiding questions to guide them to shift the main ideas from the text so that they will make their own meaning out of what they read. Also, some students will not read the text and just rely on the lecturer’s lecture notes so I think giving them the lecture note after class will help them be responsible for their own learning.
For Chapter 7, which deals with assessment, testing and evaluation, I must confess, I felt guilty reading some of the things there. Personally, I do not like testing due to the experience I had during my basic school (elementary education) where at the end of each term, the results of the tests were ranked. The first five students were given prizes and the last five were caned or given any type of corporal punishment and they were hooted at as they walked home. Though, I did not go through it myself but I associated embarassment with testing. So I have never liked testing in any form even in my adult life. Even in my teaching career, I prefer giving students a lot of assignments to cushion them if they are to write test for grade or promotion. In situation where I had the power to decide, I eliminated testing and relied on assignments and projects. From the reading I noted that my preference is not adequate as it mostly relied on just an aspect of assessment to the neglect of the other forms. One form of assessment I would like to try out with my students is the “Peer Assessment”. Though I have been using it in Ghana (my home country), I did not have the useful intention discussed by the authors, I was doing it to lessen my burden of grading due to the large class size. One take away I had concerning testing large class is to sometimes adopt the Team-based testing strategy.
The authors criteria for giving feedback are very insightful. I have a lot of unpacking to do regarding the knowledge I acquired from this part of the book.
Reference
Svinicki, M., & McKeachie, W. J. (2014). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies,
research, and theory for college and university teachers (14th ed.). Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth.