I have been a big believer of Experential learning over the conventional one.
According to me, the students learn more when they’re allowed to participate in the form of discussions, brainstorming, sharing own experiences where they applied concepts in real life. In the two-way sharing process, the lessons seem less like coursework and more like storytelling where the concepts relate with real life scenarios. I’ve always followed this approach and seen my students eagerly coming to my classes with their diverse experiences and learnings.
I also encourage a lot of feedback from my students where I’m sensitive towards the speed of the delivery and changing the course to games or lively sessions if the topics get too heavy in between.
All during my own academic life, I noticed if the students are not involved or listened to, the communication is reduced to a one-way thing and very boring in the process. If I let you all know of my secret, I was called the sleeping beauty in all my classes as the teaching method was quite conventional and I couldn’t keep up after 30 minutes of each lecture (I wasn’t a bad student though, passing all my examinations with distinction till date ;)) This gave me the biggest lesson in my teaching tenure to keep my pupils engaged at all times and be their friend more than a teacher while facilitating healthy discussions and a student centered approach.
I prefer a simple language in my discourse over jargons or any complex language in order to make the teachings look easy to the students.