It has been a while that I have been unsatisfied with the way I got to know my students. Yes, of course, we did our get-to-know round in the first session, but somehow I was not really happy about that. Little chats in breaks and before and after class only provide random pieces of information. I tried asking them to send me their cv. Not all of them did, but it was already quite interesting to know a bit more about them. Actually, some of their cv’s were quite impressive : internships abroad, NGO work, sophisticated hobbies. But I wanted more ! That is why I came up with the « warm-up question of the day » So far, I have tried the following questions and I learned some amazing things about my students. In order to encourage them, I always answered these question for myself first :
Second, it is interesting to see what these young people do as a hobby, what kind of work they have already done, what their interests and aspirations are. This makes it easier for me to link the things we learn in class with their life and this is important for learning. When I know e.g. that one of them works as an intern in commodity trading, I can tap into her experience when we discuss ethical problems in global supply chains. When you know that a student’s favorite movie is “The Godfather” you can explain manipulative negotiation techniques with scenes form this movie. Finally, these questions create a very different kind of relationship. When I see a student who is always late and not very active in class, I might interpret her behavior as laziness or lack of interest. If I know that she just started her own business or is super busy as a referee for the national basketball team, I see her behavior differently and can motivate her better to make an effort. I highly recommend the magic question set for teaching, workshops openers or just conversation starters with almost anyone. It is so much fun and it expands your horizons.
0 Comments
Just before kicking off my semester with my big bachelor class I was wondering how to make them talk and interact in class. When I had given this class before it was sometimes really painful and draining to motivate these young and shy students to participate in a discussion: Often it were always the same three people who would speak, I had to stand there like a fool waiting for somebody to work up their courage to speak, I had to virtually stand in front of a row and declare that I will not go away before they would say something.
Not much fun!! And so draining. There were moments during this class where I had the feeling that the passivity of the group was sucking all energy out of me. I had sudden flashes of fatigue. It was so bad I just wanted to lay down on the floor and go to sleep. Not very inspiring... So the day before the start of class my husband came up with a brilliant idea: Take a soft ball to class and throw it into the group. The person who catches the ball needs to say something and will be the one who passes on the ball to somebody else. Pure genius! I was instantly enthusiatic. So put my blue Pilates ball (it is really soft so nobody can get hurt) in my backback and took it to class with me. And it worked wonders. The students had fun. I did not have to suffer to make them talk. The little blue ball kept everybody awake. Suddenly, students said something who would not have spoken up otherwise. A brilliant exemple of teaching with fun and purpose. Just a bit of theory: Why is it important to have students participate? Why can't you just give your lecture and let them listen? In a way it would be easier to just talk to the students, especially if they are 240 like in my class that day... Here the science of pedagogy tells us: Even if we have the best intentions to listen to a lecture, even if the lecturer is a brilliant and captivating speaker, after 10 minutes into a frontal lecture with no interaction our attention drops, we all phase out and think about other stuff like: "What will I eat for lunch?", "I need to call my mom..." and other daydreaming thoughts. This makes us loose focus and studies show that we will not even regain our full attention intensity until the very end of the lecture. Only if we are stimulated to think for ourselves and e.g. answer a question or ask a question our attention stays strong. Furthermore, we learn better and remember more if we make a link between a concept, fact or theory we have just heard about and our previous knowledge or our own life experience. The only down side in this very large group was that I could not understand students who were all the day at the back of the room. But here technology has a solution for us: the Catchbox. This is a cube that you can through and there is a microphone built into it: www.getcatchbox.ch/ I absolutly need this. I will keep you posted how it works. |
Bettina Palazzo
Tool, tips and tricks that work for me when teaching. ArchivesCategories |