Classroom Instruction in One-2-One

Early on in my one-2-0ne teaching days I was excited about my students typing their notes and adding maps and writing and coloring on those maps and printing news articles and highlighting on those articles and...and...and. Most of my instruction was lecture based with a short activity at the end of class. I would pride myself on being an activity based teacher but that was not the reality. I would lecture for 30 minutes and then the students would surf the internet for 20 minutes (hopefully where I told them to go) and I just assumed this was the best way to get the information into my student's brains. After a year or two of this I decided to change. I view that time of one-2-one teaching as my 1.0 days.

I like to think that I have evolved since that time. I am still fighting my natural inclination to stand and spout. Some of our subjects lend themselves more to the lecture format (I teach Human Geography, Western Civ., and AP Government) which constantly provoke us to stand there and talk at our students. This cannot be the main form of instruction in the one-2-one. Lecture has its place at times but it must be complimented on a regular basis with an interactive activity.

As I get closer to becoming the 2.0 version that I wish to be I am constantly trying to find ways to engage my students without lecturing. The article linked below has been helpful in getting me to think beyond the lecture.

https://edocs.uis.edu/boakl1/www/FiftyAlternativesToLecture.html