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Teaching -- Awesome class, great week
Jan. 16th, 2008 11:55 pmHiya--
Well, tonight's class went very very well. I've kinda' got into a routine with my Weds night IT class. Now, unfortunately, we have lab first and lecture second-- which is a** backwards, but it was set-up that way and I can't do anything about it, so I just have to play the hand I'm dealt, y'know?
But anyways, I try to *quickly* review the previous week's lab, then intro the current's week's lab, then tell my students, "OK, take out your lab manuals and ..." giving them the chapter and lab assignments. I then pretty much let the students run loose, walking around helping students with questions, and keeping students on task. I also have a couple of assignments/activities ready at least in my head that they can do if they finish labs early -- usually like researching that week's topic online, or simply exploring customization options (Like today I had them changing icons, passwords, and password requirements for the user accts that they created). And I always have the students do screen shots of their labs so I have something to grade (which for labs is usually pass/fail, credit/no credit).
Then there's a school mandated break.
Then we go into lecture, and I do the "business" stuff first -- taking official attendance in our on-line system, handing back papers, having students hand in homework and labs, etc.
Next comes that week's powerpoint. And this week I even managed to remember to ask students questions, and it worked well -- I got a lot of discussion, which was good. And I've got better at moving around the room. Forgot the laser pointer though.
Then I do the case scenarios, which I now have the students do in small groups. Now, I only have 11 students, and tonight I had FOUR absences (which is awful!), with only one sending me an e-mail telling me what's going on (so tomorrow I have to go in at 11am and lookup contacts in our student system and send out e-mails and make calls; plus I have a failing student that I need to catch up with, and I had two students fail the quiz, so I have extra credit for them-- subject to my boss's approval).
Anyway, getting back to class -- after the case scenarios it's usually time for second break. Then the last hour of class, I go over hw questions, and MOAC (official Microsoft test-ish) questions with the students.
But, that's always really casual, and tends to even turn into like a small discussion forum. And I usually only have like four students for sure for that. The only problem is, I'd like (a) to have more material so it's worth the students time to stay, and (b) to actually have students stick around. But, OTOH, it's really FUN to sit around just being geeks and discussing computer stuff with the students. I genuinely enjoy it, and I think my guys do too! :-)
Ta' for now,
Olivia
Well, tonight's class went very very well. I've kinda' got into a routine with my Weds night IT class. Now, unfortunately, we have lab first and lecture second-- which is a** backwards, but it was set-up that way and I can't do anything about it, so I just have to play the hand I'm dealt, y'know?
But anyways, I try to *quickly* review the previous week's lab, then intro the current's week's lab, then tell my students, "OK, take out your lab manuals and ..." giving them the chapter and lab assignments. I then pretty much let the students run loose, walking around helping students with questions, and keeping students on task. I also have a couple of assignments/activities ready at least in my head that they can do if they finish labs early -- usually like researching that week's topic online, or simply exploring customization options (Like today I had them changing icons, passwords, and password requirements for the user accts that they created). And I always have the students do screen shots of their labs so I have something to grade (which for labs is usually pass/fail, credit/no credit).
Then there's a school mandated break.
Then we go into lecture, and I do the "business" stuff first -- taking official attendance in our on-line system, handing back papers, having students hand in homework and labs, etc.
Next comes that week's powerpoint. And this week I even managed to remember to ask students questions, and it worked well -- I got a lot of discussion, which was good. And I've got better at moving around the room. Forgot the laser pointer though.
Then I do the case scenarios, which I now have the students do in small groups. Now, I only have 11 students, and tonight I had FOUR absences (which is awful!), with only one sending me an e-mail telling me what's going on (so tomorrow I have to go in at 11am and lookup contacts in our student system and send out e-mails and make calls; plus I have a failing student that I need to catch up with, and I had two students fail the quiz, so I have extra credit for them-- subject to my boss's approval).
Anyway, getting back to class -- after the case scenarios it's usually time for second break. Then the last hour of class, I go over hw questions, and MOAC (official Microsoft test-ish) questions with the students.
But, that's always really casual, and tends to even turn into like a small discussion forum. And I usually only have like four students for sure for that. The only problem is, I'd like (a) to have more material so it's worth the students time to stay, and (b) to actually have students stick around. But, OTOH, it's really FUN to sit around just being geeks and discussing computer stuff with the students. I genuinely enjoy it, and I think my guys do too! :-)
Ta' for now,
Olivia
