Cindy Williams

The first day of class in a new semester is always stressful for both the professor and the student. Humor, describing a situation that occurred with me, allows them to relax a little and personalize me as accessible human. Secondly, I reassure them that by placing in groups of 4. They communicate with other students. The personal connection of the smaller groups collectively discussing the overall goal of passing the class, provides the connectivity to relax and be successful. I ask them to create a group name and elect a team leader. More activities that allow them to interact, communicate… >>>

I am amazed that I was taking this course at the same time a particular issue arrived in my class. A student yelled out in class that I was going to fast for him. He rarely comes to class and is behind on his subject matter, etc. Although he was embarrassed, I felt immediate feedback was justified. I asked him to step outside the room, so that I could speak with privately. I not only corrected the out burst, but I also addressed the future issues concerned with class attendance and class/homework. He was receptive. Then after class, another student… >>>

My student had a learning disability. Functionally, she had difficulty in choosing words to speak and difficulty correctly spelling the term. She knew the term. During office hours, I spent time with her to review the concepts/definition and place them on flash cards. I identified early that Repetitiveness was key to her exam success. I also noted on the first exam that she was spelling words the way she spoke them. I changed the format of the exam to Multiple Choice for all students, without changing the integrity of the test. After taking this course, I am curious if I… >>>

As the instructor, my students share very personal issues with me. Many of the information shared is directly involved with their disability. Most of these students want to be treated like everyone else is treated. Narcolepsy was experienced by one of my Math students. She was a very bright student, but was heavily medicated to keep her awake. The medicine corrected the issue of falling asleep randomly. However, the opposite effect of the medication was making her very agitated and nervous during class. She cannot not take the message. As an instructor, what is the best advice to give this… >>>

In both situations with two students with the need for accomodation, I was not aware that disabilities existed. The first few weeks of school they communicated their situation to me. Currently,our school does not have a Disability Services Office. On the first day of class, I also ask the student to let me know if they have any special circumstances that they would like to share with me privately. I try to make the invitation very generic, including transportation issues etc, as not to embarrass the student. Unfortunately, the students with disabilities assumes they will be treated differently by professor… >>>

I recently had a student who was in a wheelchair taking my College Math course. As part of class, students are assigned questions and demonstrate answers on the board. I realized that John Doe was not participating as actively in the exercise. He was a very bright student that was an asset to the class. I talked to him privately to see how I could boost his confidence in coming to the board. He simply replied that he was only able to reach a very small part of the white board. From that point on, I verified that John Doe… >>>