To Lecture or not to Lecture - PART 4
FINAL Part on How to Use Lecture Method Meaningfully !
Before you read below, I want you to do something.
What can you do in 27 mins?
Take a notebook out, and write down about the things you could do or complete in 27 mins.
Some of the random things that popped in my mind are:
I can prepare breakfast (coffee and scrambled eggs), and gulp them down in 27 mins.
Prepare the content/structure for a two hour class
Run 4.5 to 5 kilometers. Ok, 4 kms for sure.
Watch this live version of Echos by Pink Floyd and feel ecstatic.
Take a long nap :)
Alright, we’ll back to this in a while. For now, read on.
So, we’ve talked about
Part 1: WHAT the lecture method is,
Part 2: WHY it sucks but
Part 3: WHY it is necessary.
Now, let’s talk about HOW teachers can use this so called traditional yet misunderstood method in a way that makes teaching and learning more effective.
CONTEXT: Tools are amoral
Let me iterate this one more time: tools are just tools. In Nepali, we have an interesting proverb: नाच्न नजान्ने आँगन टेंडो. Literal translation would be something like - the one who does not know how to dance properly, blames the floor for being skewed.
Similarly, only a terrible carpenter will blame his tools. However, a better carpenter will first build a toolbox full of different tools, master each tool, and then use them consciously to finish the task at hand.
Best not to fall in love with a tool. Or, hate a tool for that matter. It makes no sense in saying, “I hate the hammers but I love the wrenches.”
One more thing I want to clarify.
In this post, I am not going to give you a usual list of tips and tricks on how to use lecture method. You can find that anywhere in the internet.
What I’m going to do is break down three of my favorite lecture videos, and share with you some of the key ideas you could implement in your teaching. If you watch the videos, it would make 10 times more sense.
Video 1: Lecture like Michael Sandel
What Sandel does so craftily is keep the students/participants thinking, processing, and engaging. His voice is loud and clear enough, speed of deliver is relaxed, and pacing/stopping on the stage is gentle and purposeful.
What others do is bring in a bunch of powerpoint slides, present the same content as a report, and then leave the stage. Sandel is different.
Here’s how he does it, in 7 steps:
Frame it as a discussion, not a lecture (smart move).
Set the context and a problem. Add examples to clarify the problem or context.
Engage students through a simple “Raise hands if you agree/disagree” poll, and ask students to share why/what do they agree and disagree. Use their names while doing it (so many benefits of doing this).
Probe them through deeper questions, challenge their opinions, positions and beliefs.
Summarize or clarify their argument or opinion time and again.
Then, reveal another layer of complexity through another case, example, personal anecdotes, and questions.
Add his own input along the way and conclude emphatically with an open question.
Next: Watch this lecture series too where Sandel teaches a class of almost 1000 students: Justice - What’s the right thing to do? The moral side of murder.
Super recommended.
Video 2: Lecture like Robert Sapolsky
Let me confess. This is one of the best lectures I’ve watched on youtube. And, I have an urge to grow beard like Sapolsky.
Total length: 57 minutes.
Total time Sapolsky spends talking: around 90%
Total time he stands in front of the class: almost 100% of 57 minutes.
So, we can easily conclude that Sapolsky’s method is one-way and heavily teacher-centered. He is the infamous Teacher as the Sage, delivering knowledge into the heads of the students. The banking model/ the khutruke model.
BUT, this is still one of the best lectures you will find among the millions of youtube videos.
Here’s how he does it, in 7 steps:
Unusual opening: Starts with a bizarre scenario of a person whose one gene is “out of whack”.
Check assumptions: Fires away a series of questions to check what the students think or believe.
Build context: Shares four more examples and connects them to the main theme of the session. (This is brilliant, because he doesn’t directly talk about the learning objectives, but because he does this by making students receptive, curious, and even nervous.)
Explains, instructs, demonstrates - how to think and not to think in his course. (This is my favorite part.)
House keeping: Gives the general structure of the course, the prerequisites, and the logistic details.
Interaction: Does the QnA session to clarify students’ questions and confusions
Set Clear Expectations: Constantly shares his expectations about how difficult, complex and chaotic the course is going to be. (Interesting move.)
In addition, Sapolsky has a great sense of humor. Sometimes even dark. Like here, quite early in the session around 6:30.
“Tonight when you’ve settled back down and you’re ready to go to sleep and you’re nice and relaxed, and you’re heart is beating nice and slow, think the following thought. You know, that heart isn’t going to beat forever.”
The whole class laughs, though nervously.
He can get the students laugh out loud again and again. That’s a huge win in any lecture session.
Also, gives away bagels with cream cheese to a student for the correct answer.
Finally, he’s got an awesome pacing and cadence in his vocal delivery, without any irritating fillers. Like a professional storyteller. This skill is an asset for any teacher.
Bonus:
At around 48:00: He shares an amazing analogy/explanation on why you can’t fix behavior like you would fix a clock by breaking the components down.
”Behavior is not like a clock. Behavior is like a cloud. And you don’t understand rainfall by breaking a cloud down into its component pieces and gluing back together.”
Video 3: Lecture like Nancy Kanwisher
Similarly, here’s a video from MIT Lecture series on The Human Brain, in which Professor Nancy Kanwisher is taking the first introductory class. The whole video is 1 hour 20 mins long.
What is quite interesting is that in this whole 80 mins, she is speaking almost 95% of the time. Talk about being the sage on the stage!
And, the most fun part of her lecture is during the time between 1.05 to 28.30, for almost 27 mins, she sits on the front desk and shares a really long story. Sitting like in the image below.
27 mins. Remember, on the top of this post, I had asked you about what things you could do or finish in 27 mins? Well, she just sat on the desk for the whole time :)
But, not a single dull minute.
Here’s how she does it, in 7 steps:
Starts the class right on time. (For me, this is a strong start already. No ल्यांग ल्यांग, no excuses, no rambling.)
Informs the agenda (plan or structure). Some teachers do this every day. Some teachers do it occasionally. My rule of thumb is: share this on the first day, especially the Why, What, How of the subject.
Tells an interesting story that foreshadows a lot of themes of the course.
Clarifies: what the course is about and what it is not about. (For me, this was the highlight of the entire lecture. She also shares how one of her previous students had a wrong expectation of the course. And how she wants to be super clear about it in this class. This is around 49:10 of the video. You must watch that part.)
Breaks all the so called “body language” rules but still own the room.
Uses visuals to support her lecture, especially to share examples. (Although, the slides could have better design.)
Towards the end, teaches the class on how to read and understand academic papers and gives a demonstration. Similar to what Sapolsky did.
Take-aways for your Class:
Based on the three examples/videos above, let me share some general ideas on how to make your lectures effective.
a. Start strong, end Stronger
Many teachers make the mistake of loitering away the precious opening moments of the class. Plan for the start. Plan for the end. Practice it before the class.
Sometimes, I start the class with an opening slide that contains certain pre-suppositions. Like, “Today’s class is going to be challenging”.
b. Structure your Lecture
Frame - Context - Problem - Discussion/Debate - Probe - Input - Summarize
Something similar to this. You can use the Hero’s Journey as a template too.
c. Create moments for Interaction
Like Michael Sandel, you can always create an opportunity of polling (Agree/Disagree scenario) in any subject and then engage students in discussion, even in Maths or Science or Social Studies. Or like Robert Sapolsky, you can fire away a series of quick-checks.
Plan to pause.
Plan to embed interactions/activities.
Plan to check for understanding.
d. Challenge your students
Make them think. BUT make sure that they have “enough” prior knowledge and conceptual understandings. If you just ask questions after questions to students with very few relevant knowledge, they won’t be able to think or respond.
In addition to making them think, also instruct or demonstrate what “thinking” looks like in the particular subject. That is, give them tools and strategies for thinking.
e. Learn the Art of Speaking
One of the common things that you will find in Michael Sandel, Robert Sapolsky and Nancy Kanwisher is that they are all master communicators.
They have these both:
a) substance: depth of content knowledge
b) style: the way to deliver their knowledge
Meaning, they know how to “speak” well. The calm voice. The pace, pitch, and pause. The movements. The non-verbals. The eye contacts. The confidence. The command. The humor. And the charisma.
These all contribute to the overall effectiveness of their lecture method.
To develop these skills, it might take years. But teachers have a unique advantage. Since they go to the class every day, they can consciously start practicing and improving the delivery part of the lecture. They already have a platform and an audience to sharpen the skills.
In Conclusion:
Remember, the Japanese samurai master Miyamoto Musashi once said, “Fixation is the way to death, fluidity is the way to life.” Don’t be to fixated on the idea that some tools/teaching methods is inherently good or bad. A tool is not your philosophy.
Many teachers abuse the lecture as a method, while some teachers use it like a pro.
You could be an unwavering progressivist or an unfaltering constructivist. You’ll certainly see anti-traditionalists rely on lecture method to impart their information/knowledge, the good old method of transferring knowledge from one head to many heads.
Check out all the previous posts on the Lecture method:
To Lecture or not to Lecture - PART 1
Two Prevailing Connotations of Lecture: 1. Lecture as a moral finger-wagging: I find it quite interesting how the word “lecture” has two intriguing connotations. The first connotation being a mix of moral + negative/superiority signaling Like, when your p…
To Lecture or not to Lecture - PART 3
The Case FOR lecture: So the main arguments against lecture method are that it promotes passive learning (because the teacher speaks, students listen), makes students disengaged, and propagates the image of a teacher as the sage on the stage. Meaning, the lecture method prevents students from learning actively, while it gives the teacher all the control (…