How to Effectively Teach a Large Class?

It is important for teachers to use workable methods to teach in a large class. In some cases, a professors will need to teach hundreds of students in a lecture hall. They need to use the most appropriate methods that can be effectively used. The focus should be on both teaching and learning. In general, we should make sure that a large class feel psychologically small. It should be quite easy to divide a large class into numerous small groups and this should be performed from the first day. The size of the group can be adjusted depending on requirements. This will encourage participation in the class, because there roles that students will need to assume in each group. It is important to make sure that each student has an essential role in each team. There are different ways for students to participates, such as answering questions, making opinions, asking questions and others. Professors should be able to provide response for each participation of students.

A good method is to give each student a participation card every week. When a student answers questions, asks questions or provides opinions; then the card can be returned to the professor or teacher. At the end of the week, the professor could see who hasn’t returned the card and encourage these students to participate. By using the participation card, teachers should be able to get a sense of what students are doing. Students could also be more eager to ask, when they still have unclear understanding. Students should make sure that they can establish a sense of connection, which is essential to learning. In many cases, a small team that is consisted of 4 to 6 students are enough quite enough. The presence of multiple teams in the class should provide motivation for students to become more active. Small teams should also be easier to manage. In a large class consisted of a few hundreds students, each team can use numbers for their names. If possible, we could also use other names that are easy to remember.

There should be clear assignments for each student and it is important to ensure that everyone has strong contribution in the team. If teachers are concerned about the participation level of many students, they could also use scoring system. As an example, students who ask questions, answer questions or provide opinions could get scores. With multiple small teams in the class, the learning process can be significantly enhanced. Also, students should be able to play active roles. Each team can be given broad assignments or a list of questions that will need to be handled by each student. These methods should ease and facilitate management of students in a large class. By studying in small teams, students are often able to develop their interpersonal skills and it’s possible to foster learning process beyond the classroom. Also, it will be much easier for teacher to manage time better and effectively.