(This is a cross-post. Original blog URL is http://familysimpson.postach.io/the-lecture-trap)
One of the downsides of creating new resources for a brand new course (National 4/5 Computing Science) is that I tend to get fixated on making sure that my students have covered everything in the notes. This can lead to very 19th century lessons.
Today I spoke about three types of backing storage media: magnetic, optical and solid state. The discussion during “the lecture” helped about 9% of the class develop their understanding more deeply than was required. Some others were interested but did not join in the discussion (30%?) and the rest, I’m sure, had read the notes in 10 minutes and were ready for a more active task. I wished I had a more active task to give them, but to be honest I hadn’t the time to make one because I’m… well… you know… making notes and assessments for the rest of this course and the other new one that is coming along in a minute!
It’s just so silly to desperately want the whole class to understand a concept that you explain it in a way that less than half (I’m being generous) the class engage with. I wanted to share this virtual slap around the head to myself, just in case you are guilty of falling into this trap too.
