The logic and overall thrust of your lectures are probably very clear to you. But to your students, who are hearing everything for the first time, following closely, seeing how the pieces fit together, is more difficult. Constance Staley suggests a very simple, but effective, technique to put students in a better position to learn from lectures: a lecture map.
A lecture map can be as simple as a list of the topics you will cover, in the order you’ll cover them, posted on the board so the students can see where you are at any time. Or it can be a more complex and creative visual representation of the day’s intellectual journey. What’s important is that, at all times, the students can look and see the itinerary for that journey. You may want to put this map on the board behind you, or give it to students as a handout. Knowing where they are in the lecture can free students to focus better on the nuances of what you’re saying at any given moment. -DG
Source: Constance Staley. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lectern. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003. 118.