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TIP OF THE MONTH
"Lecture" is not a Dirty Word
The Marshall Memo provides a terrific synopsis of Rick Wormeli's article on lectures.
According to Wormeli, lectures, if done right, can be powerful learning experiences.
He says the "best lecturers are storytellers at heart, and just as stories have plots, lectures have road maps and points of interest and enticements to keep the audience listening." Wormeli suggests many ways to make lectures effective:
 • Prime the pump – Prepare students for what’s coming and build interest.
• Use hooks – Pique curiosity at the beginning and periodically as you go.
• Preview outcomes, concepts, and details – Say up front what students should know and be able to do by the end of the lecture.
• Connect – Pepper lectures with key words, effective visuals to clarify and emphasize, and humor.
• Check in – Include lots of back-and-forth with students.
• Help students recode – Use analogies, metaphors, anecdotes, and asides to get students personalizing the information.
• Invite contrarianism – Challenge students to spot incorrect information and arguable ideas you’ve planted in the lecture.
• Use novelty – Props, popular music references, magic tricks, or having someone burst into the classroom with late-breaking news on a subject – all make lectures memorable.
• Limit and structure note-taking – Stop every 10-15 minutes and help learners process what they just experienced.
• Co-lecture – Have a student, parent, colleague, or expert join you.
• End powerfully – “Conclusions need to reveal a powerful punch, a provocative idea, or a closed loop,” says Wormeli.
“Saying ‘Yes’ to Lectures” by Rick Wormeli in Middle Ground, October 2010 (Vol. 14, #2, p. 43-44), for purchase at http://www.nmsa.org.
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