How to Teach Without Lecturing: Try These 3 Things in Science Instead

October 12, 2022

How To Teach Without Lecturing

If you are like me you HATE lecturing. I simply cannot find the strength every class to get in front of students and blab on while students are bored to tears. I have some simple yet very effective strategies to share with you if you are looking for how to teach without lecturing.

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Ways to Teach Without Lecturing

ONE | Stations

If you have hung around here for a while, you know my love for stations. These are simply one thing that I use for nearly every unit I teach. They are so functional and can provide so much value to students. There are several ways that I like to use them in my classes. My favorite way is to have an activity built into each station that will reinforce a concept that we learned in class. Another way I have used stations is to have them jot down important points from the PowerPoint. I mainly only use this variation of stations if the content is factually based and doesn’t need much explanation. Lastly, I love to have stations where students can watch videos or read articles and do something with that information at each station. This helps to build their independence in learning the content and not solely rely on me to parrot (I mean lecture) the content in front of the class.

Stations are excellent, especially for science classes, because you want to give your students an immersive experience. We strive for hands-on activities and experiments and stations can help you accomplish just that.

TWO | Guided Reading

Students need to read. Period. I know that this is not the most popular way to teach content and students may not love it. However, the importance of reading science content is underestimated. I try to use guided readings to introduce topics to students, or when I want them to have some background knowledge prior to moving into more complex topics.

I typically will give students guided readings with visuals built in to help demonstrate the concepts as well as require them to answer questions about the reading. This creates accountability for the students and shows that I not only expect them to read the information but they will be required to know it as well. The guided reading is not meant to be the end of the conversation on that subject, as I typically do activities and review games with them as well.

Reading helps build their literacy skills which are helpful for all ages.

THREE | Flipped Lessons

I am a flipped classroom and I have to say that this has been the BEST investment in my time. Creating videos for students to watch has truly been a game-changer for my classes. Before you say, “but hey, I am trying to avoid lectures.” I hear you. However, you need to be able to deliver content to students. Flipping your lessons into videos saves you from having to stand up in front of the class and regurgitate information that is projected onto a PowerPoint. It also saves so much time by not waiting for students to write out the notes as you go through them.

Students are able to go through the videos on their own time (or even in class if you prefer) and take notes at their own pace. They can go back to them as often as they need to as well. That is the beauty of flipped lessons. You create the best dang video and put it out there for your students. You can expend all of your energy once teaching your heart out on video and know that every student will get the same quality teaching.

If lecturing several blocks a day is draining you, then take my word for it…you want to start flipping your lessons.

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