Hi everyone,
I'd love to hear ways that other teachers balanced demonstrations (where students watch you do something) versus having the entire class doing something.
I'm teaching bread-making, which seemed tricky because (1) it is messy around a computer, and (2) the timing can be hard to manage, as far as having all the students in the same place in the process, given all the factors that affect the speed the dough rises at. Also, my class time is two hours on Wednesdays, for four weeks—so not enough time to get through the whole process of making bread.
So, I started off with having the students watch videos and bake as homework, and then during class we went over the video content, had lots of questions, and shared experiences and results. Then I demonstrated one or two breads that they would make that week as homework. This worked great for the first two classes; there were lots of questions, and they seemed engaged, and this filled the entire two hours.
During the third class, I felt like I was starting to lose some of them. There were less questions, and even with two demos, we finished about 20 minutes early. I might be imagining things, since this is all perceived over Zoom, but I think some of the students have more time (no job or no kids), while others are trying to fit the class in among other tasks. I'm worried that I'm losing the busier ones, who might have trouble doing homework outside of class. Also, some students are previous folk school students who seem to have a different mindset, like they are more chatty and "hanging out" in the classroom; others seem to expect a lecture.
So for the final class (sticky buns!) since there is less general information to discuss, I messaged them and offered the option to make sticky buns during class. I sent a list of what they had to prepare (like getting the ingredients out ahead of time). This class is tomorrow, so I'm not yet sure how it will go.
I've been wondering if I should have done all the classes with the students doing things. But then, the first two classes were so full already, that if everyone had been kneading a dough or shaping a baguette, and asking for feedback about it, I worried it would be chaos, and perhaps torturous for the students to watch each other.
Anyway, I'd love to hear any thoughts other teachers have about this. I've always gotten so much from taking others' classes and chatting at "Pub Night" and Monday Happy Hour, that I wish I could be doing that regarding this new online venture. Thanks!
Emily
Hi Emily,
Maybe you can pivot after the first two classes and begin to discuss variations and other kinds of techniques that the students might want to know about; e.g. history and background information on a particular bread's origin, tips and tricks for visual presentation, common variations that produce related breads, etc.
Just having this kind of information ready to go is good because you can control the amount and quality of discussion. For instance if the students get too far off topic, you can say something like "I love all this discussion, but before we go, I just wanted to give you all a little background on _____." It's a good way to break things up too. In a two hour class, you probably want to change activities and topics fairly often to keep everyone engaged.
Another thought is to have everyone give you their "dream bread" project and then take a vote on what they would like to learn for the last class. This gives them a stake in what they are learning and that alone will increase engagement.
Just a few thoughts, but I hope they help!