Prepping for Lecture

Okay, so you have a lecture coming up. DON’T walk in there blind. The more you prepare for the (roughly) hour that your professor explains a topic, the more you’ll GET out of that hour. In this blog post, I'll talk about how to do that.

Think of something that you enjoy learning about. When someone explains something to you about your topic - you already know a lot about that topic. You already have a context for the new information. If someone is teaching you to play a new board game - you already know how board games usually work. You can look to see if this one uses dice or a spinner. You can look to see if you move one piece around a set path or not. So as the person explains to you, you have context for their instructions.

If you want to actually learn what someone is explaining to you, you have to have a context for it. You have to have some pieces already in your brain to connect the new knowledge to. This is sometimes called Activating Prior Learning, and good instructors do it in class, by reminding you of topics you've already covered, and helping you see how this new information connects to it.

Okay, now, back to talking about your upcoming lecture. The best way to get context in your brain for the lecture is to prepare for the lecture.

What tools do you already have available to you before the lecture? You have your textbook. Do you have a lecture outline, like a Powerpoint? What other handouts do you have ahead of time (maybe posted on a course shell online)? Gather those materials to read through.

Is this the first lecture on this topic, or will it continue prior discussions? Do you have notes that you took on prior discussions? Put those with your tools to use.

Now, how much information can you glean from these materials on your own? What can you teach yourself with these materials before you get help from someone else? “WHAT??” you exclaim, “what do you mean TEACH MYSELF?”. Here’s the thing: the only one that can learn the material is you. A professor can explain things so you might understand things differently, they can explain how two things relate in case you don’t see the connection yet, they can help you synthesize information. But learning is a fundamental process of YOUR brain, and only YOU can do the step that is “learn” things. 

Another way to look at it: you’re going to be sitting there with these same materials at 3 am the night before your exam. You’re going to be trying to cram it into your brain at that time, using the same materials, but withOUT the benefit of an expert helping to explain it to you the next day. So instead of waiting until the night before the exam, you should get as much as you can out of the materials on your own BEFORE the expert is scheduled to engage with you to add on or help. It’s the same activity, but if you do it before the lecture, you’ll both be able to get MORE out of the lecture, as well as things cleared up that you weren’t able to comprehend just by reading/studying.

Okay, so now I’ve convinced you to prepare for lecture, what should you actually … you know … DO? That depends on your learning style. How do you normally try to comprehend written information? Can you focus on reading for long periods of time? (Most people can’t - so break it up into chunks.) Do you need to write things down while you read in order to keep your mind engaged? (Most people do - and writing helps you retain what you read.)

Here’s what I suggest. Look at your Powerpoint - that shows you what your professor is planning to cover. What’s the topic they are going to cover? Where is that located in your textbook? Now read the section of the chapter that covers that topic. Is there anything that catches your attention that you want to write down? Now look for figures in your Powerpoint. Find the same figures in your textbook. Is there text explaining the figure? Read that. Write down anything you want to remember. And then think about how the text and the figure are trying to explain the concept to you. Is this building on prior lectures or material that’s been covered already? How does it fit in? Make notes on whatever ideas pop into your head.*

Move on to the next topic or part of the concept that is in your Powerpoint. Continue until you’ve studied on your own the material that will be covered in the lecture. 

You can see that this isn’t a simple process, or one that can be knocked out by getting to lecture 15 minutes early. That’s where many A&P students go wrong - they don’t invest the time to PREPARE for lecture, when it will really pay off.

If you’re spending 3 hours outside of class for every hour that you spend in class, some of that time can go toward this preparation, and getting everything out of your book that you can before you come to lecture. It’s really a wise investment of time. If you do this in a focused and engaged way, it will really help you get more out of the time you have with your professor explaining concepts. Block out the time in your planner to sit down and get prepared for what is coming up.

*You can feel free to make these notes on sticky notes that can be removed and thrown away if you think what you’re writing might not be “right”. Try not to get too bogged down with things being “right” or “perfect” and just learn to capture your thoughts in some way. If later studying clarifies your thinking, you can always cross things out, erase them, or toss out the sticky note.