On Talk talk talking

I am a talker.  I talk all the time until I get tired and then I stop.  Everyday in class I am yodeling for about 7 hours a day and I must say it feels real nice to be the center of attention.  One of the draws of being a teacher is definitely the attention of the students.  Is that bad that I like that?

I spoke with a student the other day, actually a pair of students who were glazing over in class nearly every day.  I pulled them aside and spoke with them about my concerns of their retention of the information and ability to learn in the more challenging classes that they will be moving on to.  I also sat long and hard last night thinking about what I can do that will help those students who are less audio (see lecture) challenged.  How to make the class more interactive is a definite question I need to address.  Although in my defense my lecture style is “fun and fantastic” to quote a co-worker who sat in one day.  Yep pretty sad that that makes me feel very very good.

So during the class I am incorporating more teamwork and outside activities.  The students really seemed to like the textbook that they received today and a few of them seem really pumped up about learning some more intricate ideas and terminologies.  I really sold the book well as I think it is a fantastic book with plenty of exercises, examples and a CD-ROM and exclusive access to a website. 

What other ways can a class that is exclusively planned around lecture (not my curriculum it was handed to me) incorporate more activities?