How paticipatory should teaching be?

Question

I teach writing at the college level. What is the balance between teacher-talk and student talk during group activities and classwork? How over-rated is the ideal of the "student-centered" classroom? Is it simply a teaching fad that will pass, or is there something fundamentally substantive in its theory?

Answer 1

there is something fundamentally substansive in the theory. i do it, it works, i like it, the kids like it. i teach in "mini lessons" about 15 minutes of teaching, with 30 min. of student centered activities.

now, in k-12 we are equiping students with basline knowledge that's essential for life. you at the college level...well, it's not the same. in my opinion, people attend college for career specific training, and (thank God) the core curriculum as well. at the collegiate level, i don't think it's inappropriate at all to give a lecture class. however....if it works well for kids, it's bound to work on college students as well...the student centered thing. why not try it? you did say you are a writing teacher? don't they need to practice some writing?? what about writing workshops? editing workshops? reading workshops?

if you aren't good at it, and students don't do well, by all means go back to what you were doing. they are adults. if they can't listen to a 50 minute lecture, i'm not sure how they'll get through life.

Answer 2

In my classes (I'm getting a M.Ed.), the suggestion was 8 minutes of talk time and then 2 minutes of student participation. I would say that how you run your classroom is up to you. Do you feel that the material you're presenting is best done in lecture form? If so, is there something you can do to "jazz" it up? For example, use a PowerPoint presentation to make the lecture more interesting and visually stimulating. I've attended classes by successful teachers that used both methods. You have to find your style. Work from your strengths. The other thing to do is put yourself in the student's place. Is this lesson something that interests you? Are you presenting the material in the best format to aid understanding? At the end of the day, no matter what format you use, you want the students to leave with more knowledge than they came in with. Good Luck to you....and always remember, the future of this country is in your hands, treat them well.

Answer 3

Where I work, i've found that students enjoy my lectures but I try not to use it exclusively. Group work, individual work, as well as teacher centered and controlled discussion is essential to the process. As children don't always know what is best for them, it is the teacher's role to direct the class. I usually try to keep lecture to under 20-25 minutes and then allow them to do some problem solving with the material we encountered during the lecture. Probably 2-3 days a week involve this kind of lecture. The other days are spent working individually or in groups preparing or working on projects, research for class discussion and debates or analyzing primary sources and formulating thesis for discussion.

have a nice day.

Answer 4

I am going to have the opposite opinion. I teach at the high school level sophomore English and I have discovered, in my regular English classes, that they cannot handle being given responsibility.

However, I also remember my college classes and can firmly say that a fair amount of it was student centered. Doesn't mean I liked it or that was great at it, especially in classrooms that were not that structured. It depends on how structured the class is. If you keep it very structured I am sure that they will do fine. However; if it is laissez-faire then I would rethink doing it.

Answer 5

a) It should be in the concept of the Chapter studied.
b) It should have the moderator for the Chapter studied which is you, the teacher.
c) It's not, it is book centered study which the student could bolster as long as they want under your watchful tutorship.
d) Well, 30% of the students failed means you're a bad teacher and all passed means you'll have to wait for the feedback's on its next prerequisite subjects.
e) Anyway, your evaluation is much more important than the system.

Answer 6

Students learn better in an environment where there is more than a 'right or wrong' answer. Working in a group helps students to open their minds to more possibilities and makes them more employable after graduation.
Many employers will hire 'problem solvers' before they will an opinioniated employee.
Therefore, there most certainely is susbstance to the theory.

Answer 7

participatory teaching is better method. the student(s) have to learn the material in order to part of the class discussions, giving the students the obligation to learn, rather then making them try to learn makes them want to be part of the class and demonstrate the material they have mastered, and correct that which they have not. when the teacher leads the discussion, but puts the burden of teaching the rest of the class how much they have learned on the students themselves, the students will work to master as much as they can. additionally, taking the pressure of a grade to be earned away, will increase the student's desire to want to get as much from the class as he/she can regardless of the material.

Answer 8

the true fire of man is somewhere between himself and positive implemented group activity ~ the collective mind is the goal of higher education so that the input of where this happened in their lives guides them once it is gone, they have learned this concept and will maKE IT A PART OF THEIR LIFE OR THEY WILL NOT NEED IT BUT WHEN THIS IS LEARNED IT CAN'T BE UNLEARNED AND IT HAS BETTER VANTAGE POINT IN CONCEPTIVE THEORY THEN THE INDIVIDUAL COLD ONE ON ONE THEORIES DO, THE GENERATION NEXT AND THE GENER-X-ATION ARE CLOSE TO NEEDING THIS AS BOOKS DROPPED HUMAN SKILLS IN FAVOR OF BEHAVIOR CONTROL