General
Where to start
Planning is the key to success. All good tutors have a set of solid lesson plans beside them; they know exactly how they will chunk up the course to fit in the 16 weeks of study ( or whatever they may have); they will address the learning outcomes to the letter; and if they are sick or away for any reason someone else can step in and pick up the thread of the learning.
- Planning for a day, a week, a month, or a year....
TPP delivers learning in a variety of ways. Depending on the topic you teach you may be in a classroom on a daily basis, or teaching a cohort of workers out of industry over two weeks. In the emergency management area courses are often run over a weekend.
Whichever, you need to be organised and plan well ahead. Students can spot a disorganised, under-confident tutor at twenty paces!
You will learn to time your lectures and practical demonstrations with practise, but initially break your lesson plans into 10 minute chunks, or 20 minutes if students are being sent off to try out a task. There is an example of a lesson plan attached.
Once you have planned out your teaching over a number of days, take a look at it from a weekly basis, then out to a month and finally check to see that you have paced the learning you need to deliver evenly over a semester or a year if you have that long.
Have you mixed up the activities? Is there a chance for students to move around....talk....listen...and test their skills.
Do not forget to leave time for re-sits. Most students get a second chance at an assessment if they fail the first time. Some tutors do allow re-sits as the learning goes; others leave the re-sits until the end of the course – either way make sure your students know.
Attached to this section are examples of lesson plans and suggestions for a variety of activities.
It is good practice to tell your students what they are going to be tackling over the period of the lesson. Some people hand out a timetable of the hour’s/day’s activities, others write the timeline on the whiteboard, an example of this is attached. The whiteboard idea is a good one for new tutors - a quick glance at it keeps you on track.
It is important when you structure your lessons to allow 5-10 minutes at the start of each one to recap on the previous lesson.
How do we learn?
Some of us learn by reading a passage over and over again; others prefer to do a task repeatedly until it "sticks". Others prefer to look at pictures or diagrams; and some of the lucky ones just have to hear or see something once and it stays in their mind!
Think about how you learn, ask friends how they learn, this will give you an idea about how diverse the learning styles in your class are.
Here are the seven main learning styles:
- Visual (spatial):using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
- Aural (auditory-musical): using sound and music.
- Verbal (linguistic): using words, both in speech and writing.
- Physical (kinesthetic): using your body, hands and sense of touch.
- Logical (mathematical): using logic, reasoning and systems.
- Social (interpersonal): you prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
- Solitary (intrapersonal): you prefer to work alone and use self-study.
To give each student a fighting chance you should mix up your delivery to ensure everyone's needs are met to some extent.
Take a look at the resources on learning styles then try the quiz.....
What level should I teach at?
At Tai Poutini Polytechnic you will be teaching at levels 2-5. To put that in context, L2-3 are equal to higher level secondary school classes, L4 is just above, and L5 is first year university study.
Added to this section is a resource from NZQA on what words, terms, and levels of difficulty you should use for each level.
A little further on we will talk about ways in which you can check that your students are "getting it".
If they tell your delivery is over their heads break it down a bit, or include more repetition and checking back with questions and tasks.
Mixing it up!
Many people enrol at a polytechnic because they do not want to be lectured at!
Some lecturing is hard to avoid and indeed when you are passing on theoretical knowledge, be it the history of Google or the rules of kitchen hygiene you will have to talk to your students at some length - but never more than 10 minutes until you are good at it and can deliver for a little longer.
Hints and tips...
- Do not pace - students are not at a tennis match
- Some movement is fine but keep it under control
- Change the pace and pitch of your voice
- Make eye contact with students around the room
- Sweep the whole room/group with your gaze regularly
- Throw in the odd question - especially aimed at a student who appears to have drifted off
- Make it clear whether you will take questions during or after the lecture or talk
- At the end of a talk/lecture ask questions, reinforce the learning with activities, break the class into pairs and get the students to question each other on what they have learned, there are many techniques to keep everyone interested and involved.
- If you have a student who knows more than you on an aspect of a topic use them – let them share their knowledge and thank them for it.
How to present yourself - and consider like or respect?
This may sound a little picky but wearing professional clothes which neither detract from, nor accentuate, your appearance is a good idea.
Some tutors have a "uniform" they wear, easier for men than women, but a conservative tidy look which reinforces the topic you are teaching is good.
When you go in front of your class for the first time start as you mean to go on!
There is no point in trying to be everyone's friend. It does not work.
You are a professional employed to do a job, the students are paying significant $$ to learn from you and they tell us frequently in surveys that they want tutors who know their stuff, can put it across well and are firm but fair in the classroom.
Most of us remember best the teachers and tutors from our past who knew their topic, delivered it well, were helpful and approachable but did not take a lot of nonsense!
A video on Adult Learning (Androgogy)