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Lecturing Creatively


Chapter Six in Brookfield’s The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust and Responsiveness in the Classroom, the author first dispels the notion that all lectures are old-fashioned, boring, content-heavy, teacher-centred examples of the ‘Sage on the Stage’ that encouraged Ferris Bueller to take a day off. There are poor lecturers and great lecturers and the lecture itself is a valid and appropriate tool for teachers to use in certain circumstances – in fact, lectures can sometimes be the best tool for certain jobs. Lectures are often maligned when discussing teaching excellence, mostly because they have been over-utilized in many classrooms for many years; lectures can be effective when interspersed with a variety of teaching methods and when effort and thought are put into their creation. I have sat through many fascinating lectures, some of them for one hour, some lasting several hours, and been inspired, entertained, interested and engaged (Sir Ken Robinson comes to mind), and learned deeply and been transformed. Not all of us are as magnetic, charismatic and talented as the greatest speakers though, and this chapter provides advice for those of us that were blessed with gifts in other areas, to spice up our lectures when we choose to use them as the best way to convey information to our students.

Brookfield provides five reasons to use lectures in our classrooms:

  1. To introduce and outline the ‘big picture’ at the beginning of a course or unit, to inform students of the topics, approaches and activities that will be discovered;

  2. To explain complex concepts that students commonly struggle with, providing examples and illustrating concepts in a variety of ways;

  3. To journey through different perspectives and interpretations;

  4. To model behaviours and attitudes that are desired outcomes for students, such as critical thinking, asking questions, challenging assumptions and working through uncertainty and the struggle to understand – to show students that struggling to understand is not a sign of failure or indicative of intelligence or lack thereof;

  5. To inspire students’ interest in the topic through the passion and enthusiasm of the teacher.

Brookfield consulted research from Race (2001), Brown & Race (2002) and Hepner (2007) to describe three main characteristics of lectures that students have identified as most helpful:

  1. Use a variety of communications styles and modalities, such as:

  • Provide periods of silence between 12-15 minute chunks of information to allow students to reset and refocus

  • Have students answer questions, discuss understanding, identify assumptions, locate deliberate errors in buzz groups or think-pair-share groups between chunks of information

  • ‘Lecture from Siberia’ – come out from behind the podium and lecture from different spots in the classroom, especially at the back, where the ‘micro-sleepers’ are hoping to avoid detection

  • Use ‘spatial difference’ or geography to emphasize differing theories or perspectives - one theory at the front of the class, another to the right, etc.

  • Use clickers, social media, one-minute papers or class discussions to solicit feedback from students during the lecture

  1. Clearly organize lectures to ensure that students can follow along without getting lost and confused:

  • Provide ‘scaffolding notes’, such as a written outline with white space for students to take notes or simply to provide a clear outline of the lecture

  • Use verbal cues to indicate key points, to summarize, to provide examples and to introduce a change in topic or direction

  1. Model the learning behaviours that are expected of students:

  • Begin lectures with a question or questions that will be explored during the lecture

  • End lectures with questions that the lecture has raised, that have been left unanswered, or that have yet to be answered in the literature

  • Discuss alternate perspectives using the ‘Clint Eastwood Chair’, one person has a two-sided debate with an empty chair, or with student groups describing themselves and answering questions from their assigned perspectives

  • Take time out to hunt for and critique assumptions and biases in the information being presented

Brookfield presents some novel ways to make lectures engaging. Many of his suggestions involve the ‘symbiosis’ of lecture and class discussion, which, he admits, is his preference, as he gravitates towards collaborative learning and feels less skilled at lecturing. So, for Brookfield, his experience has taught him to improve his lectures largely by incorporating student involvement, yet he points out that there are teachers that are talented lecturers and he is careful to remind us that this method is not inherently less effective than other methods - when used in certain circumstances, lectures can be a useful tool for teaching and learning, provided the lecturer pays attention to ‘the rules of engagement’.

For those who were gifted with charisma, or a unique charm or a certain ‘je ne c’est quoi’, lectures can be the very best method for teaching and learning. The best lecturers that I have enjoyed have some characteristics in common: passion for their subject, an intimate knowledge and experience of their subject, and either a sense of humour or a unique energy that aligns with their subject.


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