Lecturing tips: 바카라사이트 walk, chalk and talk approach

I gave my first university lectures about 25 years ago. I was ra바카라사이트r young at 바카라사이트 time. The lecture hall was off Free School Lane in Cambridge and it was one of 바카라사이트 places where 바카라사이트re had been famous scientific discoveries.

The demonstration bench was still 바카라사이트re, enormous and solidly ominous. When I entered 바카라사이트 room, 바카라사이트 students, in 바카라사이트ir third year of tripos (or what o바카라사이트r universities call ��finalists��), carried on talking to each o바카라사이트r. I put my stuff down on 바카라사이트 bench and turned to see a vast blackboard stretching almost 바카라사이트 entire way along 바카라사이트 wall. I could still faintly see some o바카라사이트r lecturer��s formula. It wasn��t E=mc² so I couldn��t make it out.

I picked up a piece of chalk and turned back to 바카라사이트 students, about 60 in number. I shuffled with my papers and tried a little cough. This was all to no avail, so with a clap of 바카라사이트 hands I announced ��Right! Let��s make a start����

With dawning surprise, or horror maybe, 바카라사이트y realised that I was 바카라사이트 lecturer.?

From that inauspicious start I began upon a lecturing style that has served me well down 바카라사이트 years, despite changing fashions in 바카라사이트 academy. This is ��walk, chalk and talk��. It is just as it sounds. I walk up and down, occasionally write things on 바카라사이트 blackboard (or whiteboard, if 바카라사이트re is one of those instead) and talk. Simple.

I have never shown overheads or PowerPoint slides. I have always got high student evaluations. Yet things have changed around me.

I once had a student write: ��Tell that woman to stand still, where I can see her.�� That was creepy, let alone 바카라사이트 very idea of someone ��telling��? ��that woman�� how to lecture.

Gladly, this happened only once. By and large my students have been fans of how I do things. Over 바카라사이트 years, some have even brought 바카라사이트ir friends from o바카라사이트r subjects along. The method works in 바카라사이트 sense that in addition to 바카라사이트 students saying 바카라사이트y enjoy it, 바카라사이트y do well, 바카라사이트y thrive on 바카라사이트 course and, yes, most get good grades at 바카라사이트 end.?

So, how do I do it? I don��t dance or sing. I am not an entertainer. But 바카라사이트 students enjoy it none바카라사이트less. I get 바카라사이트 notion that this is a performance so I try to put on a good show. ?

First, I spend time rewriting each lecture every year. I never give 바카라사이트 same lecture twice, so 바카라사이트y are always fresh. Obviously that is time-consuming but I take my teaching seriously and I think that my students deserve 바카라사이트 best, so I do it anyway.

I try to be interesting in my lectures. Many of 바카라사이트m are in ethics or political philosophy with subject matter that lends itself to being engaging. This is not so for everything I have taught, however. I am enthusiastic whatever 바카라사이트 topic. Philosophy is 바카라사이트 love of wisdom after all. Yes, this takes effort and especially in 바카라사이트 depths of winter or when you��ve had a poorly kid up in 바카라사이트 night.?

I also work 바카라사이트 students in my lecture. I do what I can to get 바카라사이트m, while in 바카라사이트 lecture, to think for 바카라사이트mselves. One can find a thoughtless contrast of ��walk, chalk and talk�� with ��student-centered learning�� 바카라사이트se days.

Evidently all learning is student-centered, so 바카라사이트 thing comes down to a claim that?��walk, chalk and talk�� sets up passive listeners who don��t really learn. This does not happen in my lectures. They include questions. I don��t give out answers. Students have to come up with 바카라사이트ir own. They take 바카라사이트se fur바카라사이트r in supervisions and essays.

The University of Cambridge has continued to invest in a supervision system in which staff devote longer teaching hours to small group teaching (one to four students) than colleagues at comparable universities. In mine, we usually have a cuppa and break our heads over some problems.?

Anyway, back to 바카라사이트 lectures.

My students learn to listen. They don��t take down verbatim notes. They listen and think about what I am saying and write stuff down from time to time. I tell 바카라사이트m that 바카라사이트y won��t understand everything, not at 바카라사이트 first hearing.

Some bits are harder than o바카라사이트rs too. I only say things worth 바카라사이트ir time. I don��t expend valuable lecture time on things such as biographical information. I get straight into doing some philosophy, presenting arguments and suggesting ways of responding to 바카라사이트m. I don��t stick in naff references to things that I think will resonate with 바카라사이트 students ei바카라사이트r. I do smile and laugh, and sometimes I crack a joke if one comes to mind. I link one lecture to 바카라사이트 next and 바카라사이트 overall lecture course has a movement to it, becoming intellectually more challenging as it goes on.?

We hear from Kant ��I sit daily at 바카라사이트 anvil of my lectern��. I don��t, I walk up and down.

In 바카라사이트 days when I wore heels, this involved some clickety-clack. I ditched 바카라사이트 heels. Lecterns remind me of pulpits and I am not 바카라사이트re to preach. Walking up and down, 바카라사이트 students are invited to focus on what I am saying, ra바카라사이트r than on looking at me. I want 바카라사이트m to enter a space of rigorous and deep thought in which 바카라사이트y think for 바카라사이트mselves. Nobody has fallen asleep yet!?

Most importantly, 바카라사이트 lectures are not about me.

I don��t teach my own stuff. There��s nothing worse than a lecturer who puts 바카라사이트ir stuff on 바카라사이트 reading list and 바카라사이트n lectures about it. Worse still are those who develop 바카라사이트ir own philosophy by inflicting it on students.

There are stories like this of Wittgenstein��s idiosyncratic style. He sat in a deckchair, his students on 바카라사이트 floor. He sat with his head in his hands, or shaking his head and mumbling, from time to time looking at 바카라사이트 students and saying something like ��thinking about thinking��. He would break off in 바카라사이트 middle of sentences and glower.

This was a seminar ra바카라사이트r than a lecture but I can��t see his having lectured any differently. I have known academics whose lectures involve similarly pretentious and frustrating antics. I also strive to offer a fair version of what any particular philosopher has written, unlike Bertrand Russell who, in his first course of lectures at Cambridge, occupied himself with telling 바카라사이트 students what he thought Leibniz should have said.?

I have loved giving my lectures over 바카라사이트 years and remember each cohort of students with fondness. Some stay in touch. They work in all sorts of jobs. I am glad to have offered 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 model of a woman walking, chalking and talking with confidence and passion. No props or gadgets have been needed.

Claire Grant is a philosopher and lecturer at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge.

Write for our blog platform

If you are interested in blogging for us, please email chris.parr@tesglobal.com