Teaching Lesson Contest

Event Coordinator: Dr. Jim DeLaura

Central Connecticut State University

delaura@mail.ccsu.edu

TOPIC:

Prepare and deliver a lecture/demonstration lesson for the 6-8th grade level on the following types of electrical circuits: Series, Parallel, Series/Parallel.

DESCRIPTION:

The TECA Teaching Lesson Contest evaluates how well an individual, or pair of students, teach others about a technological topic. The topic is provided well in advance of the TECA competition. All preparations for the actual lesson must be done by the student and/or team. During the actual competition, the lesson is timed and instructional material is evaluated. The judging panel (evaluators) will consist of: 1 current technology education teacher having a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience, 1 professor of technology education, and 2 or more students from a local junior or high school. The teaching evaluation is based on: teaching effectiveness, use of appropriate instructional materials, effective and appropriate lesson plan flow (i.e., stated learning objective, helpful and well-scaffolded anticipatory set, evidence of learning assessment, ability to engage learners, and ability to demonstrate innovative teaching techniques.) Note: the handout(s) could be in the format of a Design Brief, an in–class worksheet, etc.

TEAM:

Team members MUST be members of an affiliated TECA college and university and must be registered participants at the conference. A team of up to three students may be involved in planning and developing the formal lesson. However, only one or two students may be designated as the primary teacher(s). Each school may enter one TECA Lesson Planning team entry, and the entrants must be registered conference participants.

PROCEDURES:

1. All students must “check in” at a designated time and place to be scheduled for their teaching performance.

2. The lesson should be a “live”, interactive teaching moment. Video may be presented, but only for instructional purposes.

3. The student or duo will be teaching the team of judges who will “play” the role of the members of a typical technology education class (therefore, plan on a maximum of six judges at any contest site).

4. All planning is to be completed prior to the conference.

5. Each formal teaching segment should be designed for a maximum delivery period of 10 minutes. Lessons extending over 10 minutes will incur penalty points. Note: Lessons that continue beyond 12 minutes will be stopped.

6. The total cost for developing the unit of instruction should not be excessive.

7. Students and teams are responsible for their own media requirements for the contest. Note: You may plan on a large, white screen being available at each competition site, but other items are the team’s responsibility (i.e., laptop, projector, etc.)!

8. A set–up time of 5 minutes is provided prior to starting the scheduled technical presentation. Note: Exceeding set–up time will also incur penalty points.

9. Video segments/portions of commercial videos may be used but should not exceed three minutes in length.

10. Each individual or team should prepare six copies of a typed instructional handout. Student handouts should not exceed six pages!

Suggested items that will be evaluated include:

(a) A design brief that introduces a lesson

(b) Worksheet with special graphics related to the main topic

(c) A formal lesson plan (in a format of your own design)

(d) Other

Note: If teaching aids are to be used plan on a maximum of six students (i.e., judges) in the “class.”

11. The lesson must not create a hazardous situation.

12. Both the (a) TECA teaching presentation and (b) all developed instructional materials will be reviewed by the judges.

JUDGING CRITERIA:

The Teaching Lesson Contest is based on students effectively teaching a topic to a live, interactive group of students. To maintain consistency, the “class” will be the team of judges. This means the judges (a maximum of 6 individuals) may be engaged as normal students, responding to questions and completing tasks during the teaching unit. The specific values are outlined on the Judge’s Scoring Sheet (included in this document). The percentages are included below.

1. Paperwork & Teaching Aids — 25% of over-all score

Format, content, appropriateness to the assigned theme, instructional value, and completeness of all documentation.

2. Teaching presentation— 75% of over-all score

Teaching is defined as: use of instructional activities that promote student learning. (In the past students focused their teaching on traditional presentation methods, i.e., PowerPoint, however, as all good teachers know teaching should include more than a PowerPoint lecture. The teaching in the contest should include an innovative and helpful anticipatory set that sets up stated learning outcomes, instructional activities that support learning outcomes, and some form of evaluation or assessment of student learning). Also included in this criteria is the nature of the delivery of the content, organization of the lesson, personal appearance, and the educational value of the lesson.

3. Rule / guidelines violations— Deducted from total score overall score. Points may be deducted due to violation of any guidelines or rules!