Enhancing Your Lesson for Student Engagement
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Post 261
Laureate Faculty courses for those of us working as faculty members for
one of the Laureate Family’s universities are always thought-provoking.
Definitely their idea is to make us teaching professionals consider student
engagement from various angles. And here we have a scenario for us to consider.
No doubt this situation can be happening across this planet, no matter where
one is teaching or in what culture learning is taking place.
An instructor is teaching
a lesson on a specific topic that the instructor knows is very important for
the students to learn. At one point in the lesson, a student asks, “Why do we
have to learn this topic?” The instructor is surprised by the question
because the instructor believes the answer is obvious. The instructor
responds, “Because it is very important,” but does not provide any additional
explanation or detail.
|
On my Post 256 I came
to identify a lesson I was teaching that did not seem to engage students. It was
rather possible that one of the reasons learners were not engaged was linked to
the fact that they were unaware of or unclear about the relevance or importance
of the lesson for the course, the program they were studying, or the kind of
competence that was needed to have developed as part of their exit profile.
Focusing on the same lesson I explained on my Post 256 I am
now proposing some strategies that could be used to help students understand
the relevance or importance of the lesson. As mentioned before, my
Introduction to Drama class is a bit sidetracked and students are not getting
at a very realistic deep learning of the concepts being studied in the course:
from Classical Greek Theater to Contemporary Theater. So to help them see the
importance of this knowledge, I am making some changes to my initial proposal.
Lessons to focus on
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Summarizing the evolution
of theater
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Learning goal
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After providing Ss with
the tools to produce their presentations, Drama Ss will produce a graphic
summary for the class with good visuals and design.
|
Additional Element based
on Kolb’s Model
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Class
time inhibits students at times. Consequently, it is necessary to provide
them with some room for them to become thinkers and then feelers, or vice
versa. The same applies for doers or watchers.
|
Lack of engagement
|
Ss are a bit down in
terms of energy at this point of the term and they need to be reenergized
somehow and this could be the chance
|
Additional Element based
on Kolb’s Model
|
The
reenergizing needed by students at this point of the term may also be
provided by electronic means, like in this case. Some learners who do not
feel confident while speaking to class can regain their voice doing an
alternative kind of work.
|
Reasons for lack of engagement
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Length of the course and
amount of critical reviews they have to produce
|
Additional
Element based on Kolb’s Model
|
Most
of the time, critical reviews are done in writing or by giving a
presentation. The question is, why can’t we include a virtual element to help
students achieve their learning goals? And the answer is that there is no
reason that impedes this.
|
Additional strategies
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Have them work on http://www.powtoons.com
to produce more engaging critical reviews that they can eventually use in
their courses
|
Stages of learning
|
1.
Students enrolled in this class with pre-reflective
thinking skills, and that needs to be modified.
|
2.
Students start moving into
quasi-reflecting thinking skills by understanding how this class connects to
the overall ELT program and how they will use this knowledge in their future
or current teaching.
|
|
3.
Students towards the end of the
course become reflective thinkers when they have learned the basics and start
creating their own arguments and building their long-lasting knowledge.
|
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Additional Element based
on Kolb’s Model
|
The proposed changes are just ways of
dealing with this specific scenario of mine. They may or may not work, and only
time will tell me whether they were appropriate or not.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
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