I believe that being a good listener or just a sounding board is the key of any intervention you may have. If a student is timid to discuss a situation with a person face to face, I would love to see a online support system in our organization.

When a student is in my office and is overwhelmed with school life, work life and personal life. I like to give them advice about how to take one thing at a time. Where ever they may be, home, school or work.They have to focus on the task at hand. Once they have executed that task they can move on. Because they now own it and no one can take that from them.

I am a firm believer in giving a pre and post test on the subject matter the very first day of the course. This accomplishes a couple things. One would be where the class is from a knowledgeable standpoint and where you are as an instructor, from a teaching standpoint. This helps give the class a clear objective on what type of material is going to be covered and what is expected from them.