In the Defense of Lecture

Recently I had a friend send me a link to an interesting article about lectures, which spurred some deep thoughts and conversations about the lecture method.

While some would argue that lectures are coma inducing, painstaking, note-taking endeavors, lectures allow students to gain a foundation of knowledge and to accumulate a plethora of information before engaging with the facts in a constructive way. There have been numerous times when a student will try to use information before they have achieved mastery of the subject, leading the student to misuse and abuse what little they know. Lectures provide a foundation for students, and how well a student engages with the material depends upon the responsibility the student feels towards the learning process; this is what I would call true student-directed discovery. However, I cannot proceed without stating that teachers can do a lot to motivate students, so this responsibility does not fall on the student alone.

But all this led me to think: Why do lectures get such a bad rap? I honestly believe that unqualified teachers and uninterested students give lectures a terrible name, but why throw out the good with the bad? Lectures are not all bad, and they have a powerful purpose in the learning process. There is some knowledge that students need to be taught. One example that I can think of from my personal experience would be from my psychology and history courses. No one came into the course knowing the material, and if the teacher had not used lecture at the beginning of each unit, the students would not have been able to use that knowledge to inspire deeper thinking. The same can be said of many introductory courses in the secondary and post-secondary levels of education, in the humanities, sciences, and mathematics. At these points in the learning process, students need to be taught through the honest, tried and true transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the student.

I say all of this knowing that there is a time and a place for every method of instruction, so I am not cutting down any other method for the sole purpose of glorifying the lecture. But, I do agree that many experts who call this method outdated or overrated may need to consider that there is merit in the simple exchange of knowledge from teacher to student. Lecture cannot be the only method of teaching used because students benefit from teachers using multiple forms of instruction; but, there are times in which lecture benefits the student, and that cannot be overlooked.

Source Referenced: A Defense for the Benefits of Lecture
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/dont-give-up-on-the-lecture/281624/

On a Cloudy and Windy Day

The wind keeps blowing my shutter open and closed because the last construction man that moved it when they were working never secured it back to the building. This startles me, and I jump every time it slams against the windowsill or the wall. I lose track of where I was writing in my lesson plan, and readjust in my seat as I try to focus on the work at hand.

The clouds and the wind continue to dampen today's vibe, but it's for the best since I need to do two lessons for tomorrow, both of which are very intensive and somewhat challenging. One involved building fluency with multiplying and dividing fractions, and the other is about the jury system in Ancient Greece. Both of these lessons are engaging; I never could stand teachers who just read from worksheets and assign seat work. In fact, I even detest the word "worksheet" because it implies work and boredom. Why can't we call it a hand out instead? They should be visuals, not busy work anyways! They say a teacher is only as good as their lesson plan, and if a plan only entails worksheets and busy work, what does that say!? But I digress.

This week also marks the beginning of training for a run of some sort; I don't know what run, all I know is my running buddy Em and I are training, and we are doing 8 minute miles this week! So I am trying to revive my body to become more than a shadow of it's former glory, when I ran the mile in 7.30 in the 7th grade.My body is already responding well, I have been getting up early everyday, and really getting the most out of my time.

All this to conclude that today has been strange. I had a weird dream last night, and woke up feeling as though I am out of place here. Yet as I get to work, I know that what I am doing must be valuable; why else would I be called to do it? If nothing else, I am learning a lot, and that is what I am here to do!