7/29/2011

WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING (LECTURING)



Continuing self-reflection on more than a decade of Biology instruction at Bullard High School, I think about the time spent in lecture, delivering content. Again, this is an area of instruction that I tend to devote quite a bit of energy to, typically more than my colleagues. There are a lot of reasons for that, and some of them frankly have very little to do with instruction.


Before I was a high school biology teacher, I was a musician and a performer. For me, lecture is performance art, a mixture of low comedy, snippets of song, striking images, provocative questions (and imagery), hopefully wrapped into a narrative that conveys a story of sorts, not merely a recitation of key facts or concepts. The investment that I've brought into such presentations has made me a better teacher, but it also raises the question of how much energy such items take away from other aspects of instruction. I observe, for example, that the time spent lecturing could also be spent with students creating something of their own, doing labs, having experiences. Many of my colleagues are quite a bit more accomplished in these areas than myself, and I would like to see my students have more of these opportunities.


As with testing, the question becomes how much to reduce the amount of time and energy, or at least to the amount of same within the classroom setting. Consider the picture below, which shows a series of file folders. Each orange folder contains a Lecture Guide, which is a partly a 'fill-in-the-blank' recap of key items from the lecture, and partly a series of exercises with illustrations that challenge students to apply the items from the lecture to various problems. Each Lecture Guide also represents one or more Power Point-based lectures and (typically) 2-3 days of instruction.






As you can see from the picture above, that's a significant investment. The Lecture Guides were originally developed as a means to make lectures go faster...but what I discovered was that too many students simply filled in the blanks, didn't do the application exercises, and in general failed to engage with the material. So I abandoned using them this way, returned to conventional lecturing straight into their Composition Books, and used these assessments as means to assessing the completeness of their notes (and as a means for them to self-assess themselves). At the same time, I began the practice of making the class notes available for download from the class blog. Now, the downside of this is the amount of time taken which could've been used for other activities.



Now, I'm loth to abandon these materials that I've invested so much time and energy, and at any rate I have to lecture, because it is the most efficient way to ensure in-class coverage of all the material, and where Biology is concerned, there is much to cover: 50 mandatory standards, 20 additional 'optional' ones, all to be covered in the 140-odd days in the school year prior to the dreaded state tests. At best, you have slightly less than three days per standard!


So, here's the new plan: lecture, as before, but in a streamlined (and fast-paced) way. Expect students to complete their notes on their own time by comparing the outlines and headings of their comp books with the complete Power Points, downloaded as needed from on-campus computers or the class blog. Assess with the Lecture Guides prior to the test, and directly from their Composition Books on the day of the test. I plan to teach it to students with a flowchart that makes explicit the work they must do outside of class just to complete the material. In principle, looking at the number of Lecture Guides, I should be able to free up 20-25 days of instruction prior to state tests, for other activities to enrich the course and promote mastery of the standards.



Anyway...that's the plan.




1 comment:

梁爵 said...

2020.05.29酒店小姐的基本介紹跟工作內容酒店經紀梁曉尊教你保護自己比賺錢還重要
我在酒店上班的日子酒店上班安全最重要
酒店經紀梁小尊又要開講啦!許多來找我梁曉尊面試應徵工作的求職者,在詢問不敢來酒店上班-酒店打工的原因工作相關資訊時,常遺漏了最重要的事情,就是在酒店上班有那些是必須要注意的地方。相信有許多人在網路或報紙上求職時酒店上班-酒店兼職-兼差如何達成人生的第一桶金,常看到很多廣告內容都強調薪水有多少,卻忘了告訴想到酒店工作的各位,酒店這個環境有那些是要注意的,這裡我酒店經紀梁曉尊就提供一些相關安全資訊給大家。
酒店經紀教妳選擇酒店兼差不是一個複雜的工作環境?酒店工作內容與環境
就梁小尊長期觀察酒店這個環境,只要酒店內部裝潢明亮看起來乾淨整潔,這樣的酒店工作內容幾乎都是十分單純,穿著小禮服或是便服的方式坐檯,工作內容都是陪客人喝酒、唱歌、聊天以及做些桌面服務(整理桌面,保持清潔)這一方面的基本互動。很多玩的比較瘋的酒店內部裝潢普遍昏暗、陳舊及髒亂且常會飄有異味。如果您希望的工作內容相較單純些的話,可依照上述的方式做一個初步判斷。
酒店經紀梁曉尊教妳出場如何自保酒店小姐酒店上班到底都在做什麼?
在我們這裡工作的公關面對出場問題有絕對選擇權。但單純出場陪客人去續攤或是約個小會是在所難免的,畢竟在酒店上班是要營造出與客人有如戀愛的感覺。當然公關都要先觀察客人在包廂與自已的互動,以及觀察客人酒後的行為,做為是否要跟客人出場的判斷。當然客人在詢問公關要不要出場的時候,公關必須詢問客人出場要去的地點,以及有無其他同行友人,最後要再與幹部回報與確認,如此才能大幅降低出場的危險。但難免有些客人說要出場的地點跟實際去的地點不同。例如:客人說要去吃消夜結果車子開到汽車旅館或是住家(私人場所),如果遇到這種狀況,在客人把車停靠在汽車旅館入口的時候,請直接當櫃檯小姐的面前先行下車,並直接回報店家行政與幹部,同時店家行政也會立即連絡酒店經紀人回報狀況,其餘的事情都交由公司處理即可。