It's great to see students excited that they know the answer and want to blurt it out. What I thought was really effective in my PS1 placement was the teacher wanting to see raised hands before giving an answer, especially if a specific student was asked, so that another student's learning wasn't being stolen.
One interesting technique that I tried, and it seemed to work well especially for more challenging questions, was to ask students to think for a few seconds before trying to answer. It seems at times students can be to eager to raise their hand in order to be called upon to answer a question, that they aren't even sure of the answer. Providing for some thoughts to be gathered makes more better answers, and also allows the more thoughtful students opportunities to be called upon in class. I also noticed at times, that it was easier to just call upon the students who were quick to raise their hands and at the same time you knew that they had the answer. This winds up being unfair to those students who require some extra time to formulate a response before they will raise a hand. This will be something I will need to watch for in my teaching.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great speakers have always had the power to captivate and hold an audience. Whether in the form of the great comedians telling jokes, to leaders of all stripes, speaking has been one of oldest forms of communication and literacy. Great speech has been the subject of research, looking to find the parts and pieces that make them stand out.
For the past three years I have had the privilege of attending the World Domination Summit (http://www.worlddominationsummit.com) in Portland, Oregon. One of the headline speakers in 2013 was Nancy Duarte, a writer and graphic designer, whose presentation identified the key components common in great speeches. A copy of her presentation at a TEDx event can be found here: http://vimeo.com/20618288 or here: http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks.
One interesting technique that I tried, and it seemed to work well especially for more challenging questions, was to ask students to think for a few seconds before trying to answer. It seems at times students can be to eager to raise their hand in order to be called upon to answer a question, that they aren't even sure of the answer. Providing for some thoughts to be gathered makes more better answers, and also allows the more thoughtful students opportunities to be called upon in class. I also noticed at times, that it was easier to just call upon the students who were quick to raise their hands and at the same time you knew that they had the answer. This winds up being unfair to those students who require some extra time to formulate a response before they will raise a hand. This will be something I will need to watch for in my teaching.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great speakers have always had the power to captivate and hold an audience. Whether in the form of the great comedians telling jokes, to leaders of all stripes, speaking has been one of oldest forms of communication and literacy. Great speech has been the subject of research, looking to find the parts and pieces that make them stand out.
For the past three years I have had the privilege of attending the World Domination Summit (http://www.worlddominationsummit.com) in Portland, Oregon. One of the headline speakers in 2013 was Nancy Duarte, a writer and graphic designer, whose presentation identified the key components common in great speeches. A copy of her presentation at a TEDx event can be found here: http://vimeo.com/20618288 or here: http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks.