Next Steps

In summary, engaging lectures can be effective. The key is to make your lectures interactive. Using lecturing with questioning, student writing, pair sharing or small group discussions, and student feedback requires EACH student stay engaged and ready to respond. Find an assessment method that measures learning, like minute papers, and that gives students a voice in what is taught and how it is taught. Doing so shows students that your care about their success.

Now put this information into practice. Consider the following three assignments:

 

• Develop a plan to use minute papers in your classes. You might would like to use a few the first week of classes to question your students on their expectation of the class, their teacher, and the degree to which they feel responsible for their own success. You might also plan to use minute papers prior to test review days to help decide which are the most important topics you need to review.


• Consider a topic you plan to teach during the first week of class. Develop a writing assignment that requires the student to write about a procedure or major concept learned that week.


• Develop a plan or process that will require ALL or MOST students to respond to questions that will be asked during lectures. Either low or high-tech procedures can work.