Handbook Table of Contents > Teaching Methods > Delivering the Lecture
Indiana University Teaching Handbook
Teaching Methods
Delivering the Lecture
Your lecture will be more effective if you remember a number of points about the style and clarity of presentation. The following suggestions can help ensure that your lecture is clear and well received (adapted with permission from Cashin, 1985).
- Speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard. This may seem obvious but undoubtedly we have all sinned against this prescription. Talk as though you are talking to the person sitting in the very back of the room. Perhaps in the very first class you should suggest that people signal you if they cannot hear, e.g., cup a hand behind an ear.
- Speak slowly. Most of us tend to speak more rapidly when nervous, and this makes many lectures difficult to follow. We also do not notice how fast we are speaking unless it is pointed out or we hear ourselves on tape. Slow down.
- Avoid distracting mannerisms, verbal tics like “ah” or “ you know,” straightening your notes or tie, etc. Use a videotape early in the semester to help you identify mannerisms that you want to shed.
- Provide an introduction. Begin with a concise statement, something that will preview the lecture. Give the listeners a set or frame of reference for the remainder of your presentation. Refer to previous lectures. Attract and focus their attention. Try a broad question to students or a survey of opinions to help draw student attention to your presentation.
- Present an outline. Write it on the chalkboard, or use an overhead transparency, or a handout. Then be sure that you refer to it as you move from point to point in your lecture.
- Emphasize principles and generalizations. Research suggests that these are what people really remember—and what you probably really want to teach.
- Repeat your points in two or three different ways. Your listeners may not have heard it the first time, or understood it, or had time to write it down. Include examples or concrete ideas. These help both understanding and remembering. Use short sentences.
- Stress important points. This can be done with your tone of voice. It can also be done explicitly, e.g., “Write this down”; “This is important”; “This will be on the test.”
- Pause. Give your listeners time to think, and to write.
- Change activities frequently. The average adult attention span is 15 to 20 minutes, so change activities several times in a class. Many activities provide a change of pace: stop and ask questions; have your students discuss a point with one or several others, and then get several groups to report to the whole class; have them write for a few minutes; or have them work a practice problem using a method you have presented in your lecture. By adding a “change up” to your lecture, you can revitalize your students’ attention and thus give them renewed attention several times in one meeting, rather than just at the beginning.
Links
The following links will take you to small additional readings associated with this general section.
