Eliza Doolittle is alive and well. She is in every class we teach, especially at the Career College level. Our students are here to change their lives and we owe it to them to have those high expectations. They can succeed in college; they can conquer difficult material. But they can also be fragile; they need our constant support and encouragement to rise above their circumstances.

So many instructors, as students, attended the traditional college model with lecture as the main focus - it is only natural then that most try to recreate that setting in their classroom. However, especially when dealing with non-traditional students, that lecture format does not work well. You still need to give the students information but lecturing for extended periods just wont cut it any longer. Use pairs, small groups and other acitivities to get the students invoved in their own learning.

It goes both ways in the classroom - if you are learning, the students are learning; if you respect them, they will respect you. When you are honest with them, you will get honesty in return.