Unraveled Teacher

And let your students run the show

You know how everyone says “You shouldn’t be working harder than the students”? It’s not always easy to achieve that, but I’ve got an idea for you to try that raises the bar for your students and actually requires that you sit down for a bit!

As history teachers, it can be hard not to want to lecture. I mean, it’s fun to stand up and talk about history! We do know that students get lecture fatigue (20-25 minutes is really the max on any given day), but we also know that it is easier than ever for students to “prove” they did a reading assignment when in reality our good friend ChatGPT actually took care of it. So how do we balance delivering content, not lecturing too much, getting students invested, and not working harder than our kids?

Make them give a lecture!

Now, I know that sounds like it could turn into a mess, but with a little structure, you’ll have your students running the show. This gives you a moment to really observe, it builds leadership and speaking skills in your students, and it turns a traditionally lecture-heavy subject into a student-led classroom.

I used to teach AP Seminar, and after spending a full year getting students to stand up and talk using slides they designed, I realized how powerful this kind of ownership of content can be.

Now, you can’t just give Jimmy copy of your lecture and say “You’re up!” Here’s how I approach student-led lecture days:

First, you do not want your students creating lectures. The goal is still to deliver accurate and thorough content, and having students build lectures is a massive project (I mean, you know how long it takes to put a good one together yourself). You need to have the lecture and the notes for the lecture ready to go for the students. In my lectures, I have speakers notes in the presentation, but I also have a printable copy, too. This is what students get:

All the required material is there. We aren’t missing any standards or key concepts.

Next, you need to assign a specific topic to a pair of students one week before they have to deliver it. Why pairs? Public speaking isn’t easy, and it’s tough for a lot of students to stand up and talk in front of their peers. It’s good for them, but it’s tough. Require the two students to divide the lecture equally in half. This can mean one introduces the lecture and closes it out, they each talk a little about each slide, they go every other slides, etc. as long as they are both presenting roughly equally. This is the first due date. Have the pair submit a breakdown of who is presenting what two days after assigning the lecture topic and giving them the slides. You must give little deadlines like this to keep the prep moving along! Then, give them two more days to submit a bullet point summary of their main points.

Next, it’s go time! Now, for the students who are not presenting, I give guided notes packets that correspond the to lecture. Even though I don’t always used guided notes, this ensures that even if the presenting students drop the ball, the rest of the class walks away with complete and accurate notes. They look like this:

Every students gets everything they need, regardless of how well your presenting students have prepared. You get a chance to see if your presenting students really know the material, and this is almost a necessity in the age of AI. More and more college professors are turning to oral assessments because it’s just too difficult to discern if students know the material otherwise (as the old age of the college paper finally hits the dust in the face of AI). Your students get to really drill down and become experts on a topic, and they build really valuable speaking skills.

You’ll want to set guidelines on how much time to spend overall (usually not more than 15-20 minutes) and how much time to spend on any given slide (2-4 minutes per slides max depending on the slide). Remind presenting students to face the audience (not the slides) so they are heard clearly. I require my students to ask at least one discussion or review question during their presentation, and I ask one clarifying question of each presenter at some point. You can use the sheet below to help students plan!