Lecturing

=**LEARNING ABOUT LECTURING**=


 * Direct instruction** refers to any kind of instruction that the teacher leads. Sometimes this is called "teacher-centered instruction" and is used in opposition of "student-centered" instruction (commonly used to describe group work, working in the library, projects, etc.) ProTip from Mark: don't worry about using "teacher-centered" and "student-centered." The term preferred now by school leaders is "learning-centered instruction" because it dissolves the false binary between student and teacher.

For example, lecturing is learning-centered because one cannot lecture without having students present and attuned to what is going on. If a teacher is talking, but the students are not listening, then it's just "teacher talk" - the mindful droning we see here:

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 * Lecturing** is "an instructional strategy with which the teacher presents a specified set of information to students" (Larson and Keiper, p. 114). It may or may not involve questioning strategies or scaffolding strategies; media clips or hand-outs. Lecturing is not a "dirty word", but gets a bad reputation because a lot of teacher lecturing is not mindful of student needs nor is most lecturing well planned out ahead of time. Indicating on one's lesson plan that one is going to "lecture about concentration camps during World War II" is not specific and not conducive to a well-thought-out and "followable" lesson plan. Teachers often hope (and honestly do think) that their direct instruction will happen just like this:

media type="youtube" key="NRwxjUyueaw" height="315" width="420" align="center" Lecturing should require student engagement. Think/Pair/Share is one strategy. Give them one minute to think of a response to a prompt (not necessarily a question), turn to a partner (a good phrase to learn is "knees to knees and eyes to eyes") and have them share with their partner. You can ask for volunteers to share with the class or end the Think/Pair/Share at the level of a quick two-minute sharing between partners. Be sure to read closely the pros/cons of lecturing on pages 114 and 115 in the Larson and Keiper //Instructional Strategies// book (T/P/S is discussed in more details on page 127). It's important to be familiar with the framework of direct instruction, particularly the "little d.i." explained on pages 116 and 117. When Mark taught in Phoenix, this approach was mandatory and was taught during a two-week (paid!) workshop for all teachers new to the district before school began in August. The expectation was that all teachers would use this in all courses. It works somewhat well in math, science, world languages, English (if you're focusing on grammar/composition), and, oddly, even P.E. But Mark found it to be really UNHELPFUL for social studies (what's there to "practice" and "correct" when it comes to social studies content? That's a question for us to debate and think about -- reading maps, analyzing primary sources, interpreting political cartoons - but rarely are social studies units arranged by SKILL. Most are arranged by TOPIC. This is different than an algebra class!) Sometimes, but not always, when people speak of "scripted teaching" or "teaching by the numbers", they are referring to direct instruction as outlined on page 116. Larson and Keiper identify five key steps for lecturing: 1. planning the topic outline (this is what you're doing for a history lesson involving Halloween) 2. planning the lecture 3. student note-taking skills and preparing the audiovisuals 4. delivering the lecture 5. concluding the lecture They also provide these suggestions: 1. Fit the lecture to your audience (you can't lecture the same way to 6th graders as you would to 12th graders) 2. Focus your topic - remember Ben: "Less is more!" 3. Organize your points for clarity 4. Select appropriate examples or illustrations (Google Image Search!) 5. Present more than one side of an issue 6. Notice feedback (learn to read body language cues) //__**Focus also on Figure 5.1 on page 120 and Table 5.1 on page 122.**__// Links to browse: Here is a sample (not well written and kind of vague) - try to think in your mind what this lecture will look like with 8th graders: http://www.csun.edu/sped/pdf/sampleeighthgr.pdf

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/interactive/why.html

http://www.good.is/post/if-professors-stop-lecturing-will-students-stop-checking-facebook/ (applicable to secondary schools, too)

http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/instant_mentor/weir3 (again, for a college audience, but applicable to secondary schools)

http://historyaddict.com/aphist.html (this teacher records his lectures and makes them available on his website!)