Here are some pedagogically thoughtful and sound recommendations for basic lesson or presentation preparation, considerations about the first three minutes of learning, and reflections of others. We all know why it's IMPORTANT for us to analyze and reflect upon what we do both as a teacher and learner before and after a lesson or presentation; for example, anatomy of an online lecture. The steps we take should be guided by SUCCES(s) as was the case with Tim Holt when he recalled the Harvard experiment of old and came across a book called “Made to Stick: Why some ideas survive and others die.” by Dan and Chip Heath.
Elliott Masie states that, "in the first 180 seconds, very key decisions and frameworks are established by and for the learner:
It cannot be emphasized enough that it is important to set the tone in the very beginning of a class, lesson, lecture or presentation. But, the question is WHAT we do and HOW we do it.
A teacher "decision-making" model for planning instruction was developed by Madeline Hunter to help scale the wall to being an effective teacher-learner. The model is pragmatic as the name implies since being a practitioner of a content area (discipline), knowing oneself and your audience makes for more effective outcomes. It is called ITIP (Instructional Theory into Practice). There are three categories which are considered basic to ITIP lesson design: Content, Learner Behaviors and Teacher Behaviors. In the 3 minute practice session we are allotted within a class, lesson, lecture or presentation, we need to motivate by focusing on the "big picture" and the learning task(s), the importance to real life scenarios and the prior knowledge and experience of the learners who can be quite diverse with respect to the later. Hence, the challenge of a good teacher or presenter is to be able to reach and leave something for everyone. The first moments are key to anticipatory set according to Madeline Hunter. In other words, what anticipations do learners arrive with to a class, lesson, lecture or presentation and how do they as a group and as an individual enter the learning process to achieve understanding with performance. Indeed, some of this is already shaped by any number of factors including various informal social and collaborative communications media. All this said, the first 3 minutes, be that face-to-face or online, still remains the top priority of a good teacher and presenter, i.e., to capture and maintain attention, imagination and creativity in order to sustain learning. Here's further food for thought about remix of lecture and technology, both pro and con.
Yes, learning does matter! To be reassurd of this (I can't imagine that you need to be), watch and listen carefully to this 23 minute captivating interview of Tony O'Driscoll's literal mind jam/dump with Elliott Masie on technology and learning: innovations, adoption, education, rapid learning, affordance, hype and much, much more!
So, the question comes down to this; what is the purpose of education? Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student through questioning. My ten years of formal Jesuit socratic education embeded in me this approach and the original Latin root of the word education (e-ducere), meaning to lead out. Consequently, I approach education, both as a teacher and learner, as a process that fosters the knowledge (inquiry), attribute (reflection) and character (problem solving) of a learner from K-Grey.
SUCCES is an acronym that can help us analyze and reflect on the WHAT and HOW we do IT in a classroom, lesson, lecture or presentation.
"Is my lesson sticky?" is a revealing self-analysis by Pat Hensley.
It's pedagogically important that if learning is to happen in our classrooms, be that face-to-face or virtual, that we ANALYZE and REFLECT daily on the above, not just for the first three minutes of learning; but, more importantly, we must focus on them as learners throughout life-long learning, in other words from K-GREY, not to be just KNOWLEDGEABLE but to be KNOWLEDGE-ABLE!
Levels of Innovative Teaching (LoTi) has developed a classroom walkthrough protocol with a simple acronym: HEAT. If the above is done 'right' then HEAT results which stands for
HEAT lends itself very well to shorthand phrases and assessment in a classroom, lesson, lecture or presentation. Very importantly it is measurable when the HEAT rubric matrix is applied! So, go and turn up the HEAT in your teaching-learning environments!
The next time you are developing a lesson, lecture, or presentation for your teaching-learning environment, make sure you consider the SUCCES and HEAT of IT. Is it Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and contain Story elements? Does it involve Higher Order Thinking Skills, Engaged Learners, Authentic Learning and Technology Use. If so, you'll have an effective 21st century classroom, lesson, lecture and/or presentation. If not, you may want to add what's missing.
All of this is really important to ponder and I hope this gives you something to think about as you start the preparation of your class, lesson, lecture or presentation. What do you do and how do you do it in order to accomplish these things?