Chapter 5: How do the best teachers conduct class?

In our methods class, we explored and discussion various methods of teaching and learning. And lecture kept coming up as a tried and true and yet more recently misaligned method of instructor.  The premise of this book is that it is not WHAT method is used (lecture, case study, discussion, assignments, etc.) that are the key to success. Any method can work or any method can fail. In Chapter 5 Bain identifies (as he does through the book) the underlying principles which are the keys to know for success:

1. Create a natural critical learning environment - be in through lecture or activities, the students should be faced with the material in a way that they find interesting and arouses their curiosity and also critically, in that they learn to reason and examine in the process, not to just accept. He says the best teachers "tend to embed the discipline's issues in broader concerns, often taking a multidisciplinary approach to problems." (p. 101) an example given relates chemistry to history, poetry and human stories.
?? How does what I teach interrelate with the world at large and how can I make those connections for my students??


The way NOT to lecture is to "answer a question that no one has raised." (p. 107)
One challenge is instead of lecturing for 50 minutes, create a written presentation of the lecture material that the students can read in 20 minutes and use the remaining time to discuss in groups, then address misconceptions, answer questions, etc.

2. Get their attention and keep it. What comes to mind here is that physics professor whose lectures were the top watched on iTunesU because of how he presented the material so creatively.

3. Start with the students rather than the discipline. Here he references the Socratic dialogue approach. Start with what the students think they know and go from there.

4. Seek commitments. This principle seems unusually easy to apply. Layout the course and explain what the instructor is committed to doing for the course and the obligations expected of the students in participating.

5. Help students learn out of class. This ties in with the concept of preparing the class... the activities chosen should all fit together for a purpose in helping students reach the end objective of the course.

6. Engage students in disciplinary thinking. The instructor sharing their thought processes with the students (modeling) is a way that I think helps me the most. Understanding what is involved in the thinking processes, what was considered and why, would help me as a student to learn to think that same way.

7. Create diverse learning experiences. Variety! the spice of life! sequentially, globally, written, auditory, images, discussion. Diversify, diversify.