Reading about creative lecturing in The Student Teacher by Brookfield (2015) has shifted my thinking about lectures; about what they are and about how they can be used to support student learning. Brookfield (2015) give several suggestions for lecturing creatively. For me, embracing the idea that teachers can include all types of active learning components in their lectures gives me a more positive view of this teaching modality.
One of the suggestions from Brookfield is to use periods of silence between chunks of lecturing by including a one-minute paper to highlight an important point, or by asking a question and then giving students a minute to think about their answer. Using either of these ideas would help to identify students' learning, and give opportunity for more discussion about things that stood out for students. Another idea Brookfield talks about is using spatial aspects of a room to make a lecture more interesting. I can see how moving around the room or putting different ideas up on flip charts and presenting from different places in the room would increase student engagement. Finally, I love his suggestion that the teacher models critical thinking, attitudes, or behaviour in the lecture by grappling with his or her own assumptions and thoughts while lecturing on a topic.
In my work I give short presentations to new staff during in-person training and blended learning courses. I have never thought of these short presentations as lectures. However, looking at lecturing creatively as described by Brookfield (2015), I realize that much of our training involves short lectures interspersed with questions and hands on activities. I find this interesting, as it challenges my thinking about what a lecture in college might look like, and how it could be a very effective modality to support student learning.
In addition to the information in The Student Teacher, I found a video that models an engaging lecture and includes some general ideas for making a lecture more interesting. In this video, Hip Hughes talks about the following ideas for supporting student engagement in a lecture: concept over content, mixing modality engagement, and building bridges. Although he seems to be talking about lecturing to younger kids, I think his ideas for enhancing a lecture would apply to kids and adults of all ages. Following the references I have included a link to Hip Hughes video, The Art of the Lecture.
Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom
(3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Hughes, H. (2015, September 30). What makes a good lecture? Tips on engaging your audience.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuv3yT9XRAA
One of the suggestions from Brookfield is to use periods of silence between chunks of lecturing by including a one-minute paper to highlight an important point, or by asking a question and then giving students a minute to think about their answer. Using either of these ideas would help to identify students' learning, and give opportunity for more discussion about things that stood out for students. Another idea Brookfield talks about is using spatial aspects of a room to make a lecture more interesting. I can see how moving around the room or putting different ideas up on flip charts and presenting from different places in the room would increase student engagement. Finally, I love his suggestion that the teacher models critical thinking, attitudes, or behaviour in the lecture by grappling with his or her own assumptions and thoughts while lecturing on a topic.
In my work I give short presentations to new staff during in-person training and blended learning courses. I have never thought of these short presentations as lectures. However, looking at lecturing creatively as described by Brookfield (2015), I realize that much of our training involves short lectures interspersed with questions and hands on activities. I find this interesting, as it challenges my thinking about what a lecture in college might look like, and how it could be a very effective modality to support student learning.
In addition to the information in The Student Teacher, I found a video that models an engaging lecture and includes some general ideas for making a lecture more interesting. In this video, Hip Hughes talks about the following ideas for supporting student engagement in a lecture: concept over content, mixing modality engagement, and building bridges. Although he seems to be talking about lecturing to younger kids, I think his ideas for enhancing a lecture would apply to kids and adults of all ages. Following the references I have included a link to Hip Hughes video, The Art of the Lecture.
Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom
(3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Hughes, H. (2015, September 30). What makes a good lecture? Tips on engaging your audience.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuv3yT9XRAA
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