LEARN Reflection Marissa Rose-Morris NURS2020 Susan Fairs 13.04.

2014

Look Back During the past few weeks, my partner and I have been giving presentations to the grade 7 and 8 classes at Kenner Intermediate. During these presentations many of the students continued to talk even after asked them to stay quiet, and that the presentation would only last 15 minutes. Elaborate At the beginning of the presentation we told the students that the presentation would only last around 15 minutes and that we would appreciate if they would stay quiet . We also told them that the presentation was not for our benefit, as we already know the information. The students would stay quiet until we would ask them a question and they would then get sidetracked by and continue off on a tangent . At times the students would be easy to get back on track and others, we needed to have the teacher intervene or raise our voices so as to be heard above the chatter. This happened through most of the presentations, and if they didnt talk then they would sit and not answer the questions or have anything to say about the presentation. This got really annoying and when they were not involved it made us feel rather discouraged. If the opposite happened, meaning the class was actively engaged, it made us extremely motivated to continue on with the presentations.

Analyze I think that the key issue in this situation is keeping the students engaged and interested in presentations. I think that the best way to learn how to keep the students engaged is to talk to the teachers and other people to learn how they keep them involved . There may also be research that gives better ways to keep students involved . Yoder and Hochevar (2005) conducted a study questioning whether or not active learning is more effective in test scores over lectures, readings, and videos alone . They found that the material that was taught using active learning had better performance by the students. From this I conclude that instead of just having our PowerPoint presentation, with a few questions, it may be more effective to include more active learning activities such as discussions, and critical thinking questions. John Biggs (1999), discussed ways of teaching that were more focused on having the students involved based on their own characteristics. He discusses problem-based learning, which focuses the teaching around issues that the students already have, this way the students are interested because it pertains to their lives. This style would be useful in our presentation as we would be teaching them techniques of dealing with stress that pertain to their everyday lives. Both of these articles give new and established ideas of how to deal with teaching students in the elementary grades.

Revise Based on my analysis I think that our main presentation is ok, and can be kept as it gives the basic knowledge on the subject. Our presentation also managed to keep most of the students attentions. I also believe that the questions being asked in our presentation were helpful in keeping the students attention and involving them in active learning . Our presence during the breakfast program seemed to have helped the students know who we are, which made them a little more likely to listen. Despite the fact that I believe our main presentation is effective, it would be more effective if we added to it. If we had sent out questionnaires before the presentation asking the students what stresses them out, we would have been able to make our presentation more focused for that group. I also believe that we could have had more manipulatives for the students to use during the presentation, such as stress balls, that would have made them slightly more interested in what we had to say. New approach If I were to be put into a similar situation in the future, I would make sure to send out a survey or questionnaire beforehand to make the presentation more focused . I would also bring example items for the students to see and use (stress balls, journal, business cards, etc). I would also talk to the teachers before to discuss what they find works to keep the class on track so I may use that technique if all else fails.

References: Yoder, J. D., & Hochevar, C. M. (2005). Encouraging Active Learning Can Improve Students' Performance on Examinations. Teaching of Psychology, 32(2), 91-95. doi:10.1207/s15328023top3202_2

Biggs, J. (1999). What the Student Does: teaching for enhanced learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 18(1), 57-75. doi:10.1080/0729436990180105