The Hair Instructor's Blog

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Creative way for Lecture by Funny Professor

This is a classic! A funny way to demonstrate a creative lecture.

Lectures

Lecturing Creatively, Stephen D. Brookfield The Skillful Teacher

I thoroughly enjoyed chapter six in Stephen D. Brookfield’s must read book The Skillful Teacher (2015). In the past, I have spent considerable time researching the future of lecturing. Is it dead or dying? Where is it headed? Research has told me somewhat of a mixed bag; some think lecturing is dead, while some of us think it is simply evolving. Personally, I think lecturing is heading into new territory, a thought echoed by Brookfield in his book. According to Brookfield (2015) there are five common reasons why lectures are considered valuable:

1) To establish the broad outline of a body of material.

2) To explain, with frequent examples, concepts that learners struggle to understand.

3) To introduce alternative perspectives and interpretations.

4) To model intellectual attitudes and behaviors you.

5) To encourage learner’s interest in a topic. (p.71-72).

I feel these five reasons are a good general outline of the importance of lecturing in the classroom. Some things simply cannot be communicated effectively without verbal communication. Today thanks to things like technology and educators with a great awareness of the diverse learners in their classrooms lectures are receiving a new look. More and more, we understand how to appeal to all types of learning styles. I personally find lecturing an excellent time to share stories and experiences from my 24 years in the field. Many of my students have told me they love hearing my experiences from the real world and they have enjoyed the scenarios of have acted out. I believe lectures can create the relevance of learning the course material. However it can easily create the reverse effect and bore today’s student. Lecture’s to today must be engaging, contain multiple modalities, and be very related to the outcomes of the course. I believe being creative and constantly changing up lecture content and delivery keeps it worthwhile for all. As an instructor I could not stand to do the same lecture the same way every time and I certainly feel my students would agree. My personal goal is to keep my lectures in a constant state of creative evolution so I can facilitate learning and keep my learners engaged. Wish me luck!

References

Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: on technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Sunday, 11 October 2015

Responding to Students’ Resistance to Learning, Stephen D. Brookfield

Chapter Seventeen in Review:

As I near the end of reading Stephen D. Brookfield’s The Skillful Teacher I find myself thinking about the resistance to learning that students so often present when learning new concepts. Firstly, I’m a big believer in creating what I call “buy-in” in the classroom. If students do not see any relevance to what course content is being presented in the classroom they tend to develop resistance to the material. Secondly, if multiple instructional methods are not used to present course material an instructor will fail to meet the needs of today’s diverse learners in the classroom.

In order to avoid creating resistance in students’ educators must be careful not to favor one particular teaching style, but rather offer various approaches to the delivery of instruction. According to Stephen D. Brookfield (2015),

“Teachers who work in ways that support only a limited range of learning preferences can pretty much guarantee for themselves a degree of resistance from those whose learning habits differ. So one Clear principle of effective college teaching is to strive to use a variety of different instructional approaches.”(p-231).

In my time as an instructor I have found that multiple strategies were essential in the classroom. When I present course content in multiple modalities I see many more ‘light bulb” and “aha” moments from the students. This moments are the moments in which resistance goes down and the importance of learning is realized.

Another key concept Brookfield focuses on in chapter seventeen is the importance of creating the motivation that students require to learn. Educators need to demonstrate to students why then need to learn course material and how it will be useful in the “real world”. Brookfield (2015) maintain

“As teachers we see clearly the value of learning and we all to easily assume

students can see this too. The reason that certain understandings or skills

are important is so obvious to us that we may feel they need minimal

justification. Nothing could be further from the truth. You should never be

too proud to say why in your view it’s important to learn something”. (p-234).

I couldn’t agree with this statement more, I have spend a great deal of time during my lessons stressing the importance of learning specific key concepts. It is integral that students “buy into” the importance of material that instructors deem to be critical. As instructors we must not only relate the important material to real world application but also demonstrate or model the essential material/skill. As I’ve said before Brookfield’s The Skillful Teacher is an essential read for all educators.

References

Brookfield, S. (2015). The skillful teacher: on technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers