When students start to chat to each other during the class, they are either surprised by something (e.g. announcement a heavy homework assignment) or they are losing interests in the lecture.
The latter happened to me on the first class of this semester. I forgot to eat lunch before the lecture, so my mojo was fading halfway through. And the students sensed this.
I did ask them to quiet down because other students complained about the disturbance. But later on I realized I should never have to ask anyone to quiet down if I had not sucked.
So, in the second lecture of the class, I made sure I eat enough lunch to maintain my mojo. And I performed some live demos to support the lectures. No chitchat this time, and I know I got their attention.
Hi Li, just stumbled across the blog section of your site today – don’t worry about it, it’s partially because the room is kinda big and the sound systems aren’t broadcasting your voice in a powerful enough way to the back. Of course – we can still hear you, but it lacks a little bit of the effectiveness of teaching in a relatively smaller class room. Also more importantly is the mannerisms of young people such as myself, hope it’s something we can improve. May your mojo continue serving you well!
Comment by student — February 1, 2013 @ 4:07 am |