Phil Finch

Discussion Comment

I teach advanced mechanical ventilation, both for adult care and for pediatric-neonatal care classes. I often uitilize past graduates from my classes, or at least specialists in the subject matter of the module at hand. Some of my guest lectures come from past graduates who now work in critical care, and thus have the credibility to offer.

Phil Finch

Discussion

Faculty Integrity

I have known a situation that was demoralizing to my students. A campus dean would walk to each class in session, coffee in hand, enter the classroom, look around to catch any student with coffee in a classroom, then return to her or his office to write a message to the instructor, threatening to terminate the instructor if another cup of coffee were to be seen in her or his classroom. The students noted the cup of coffee in the dean's hand, and were more than a bit demoralized with such events. Is this situation a question of faculty integrity,… >>>

Phil Finch

Discussion Comment

Quiet students

Reply to Yolanda Puente-Benson's post:Yolanda, I will try your suggestion of asking students to restate what they have learned in class. Possibly even I can share with the class what new concept was discovered or clarified through the class time.

Phil Finch

Discussion Comment

Module 209

The courses are easy to navigate, but I have become lost in the "Lounge." Having completed the lesson #ED-209, I appreciated the methods of evaluating types of advising. I also strongly identify with the concept of Adult Learner, specifically "Self-motivated" or "Self-directed learner." It has been my personal experience that the self-directed (often older) learner is the one most easy to instruct (teach). It would be (personally) impossible to study such a course and not apply many of the concepts to myself, although I believe the emphasis was obviously toward our approach to our students, whom I believe are (or… >>>

Phil Finch

Discussion Comment

First Wait Times

Hello again Judy, I will continue to observe our faculty in the matter of uniform application of such techniques as initial wait time. I could wish that all faculty were free of any biases, but even in the year 2013, we have room to improve. Thank you for this discussion. Phil

Phil Finch

Discussion Comment

First Wait Times

Judy, Please review my earlier note. I observe (possibly I only infer) that my fellow staff do not wait long enough to allow a response from ESL students who are in our science-based instructional program. I believe we should wait longer, not shorter for ESL student responses. To give a case example: In my own home, my spouse is learning English, and I speak more slowly, wait longer, and re-state my question to allow the time necessary for translation from English to her native tongue, then translation back to English. I do not make the rules, but I do truly… >>>

Phil Finch

Discussion Comment

First Wait Times

I read with interest Jodi Mathews' topic of Second Wait Time, but I am interested in our educational department's inter-rater reliability in dealing with First Wait Times, especially for students who have English as a second language (ESL). I have nothing to report, but I will begin, from this point, to observe and to compare fellow instructors' wait times during our fairly new activity of Oral Exam. My best guess is that we all hurry the ESL student more than we hurry the English as native language person (ENL).

Phil Finch

Blog Comment

ED-103 Questioning Students

The comments about broad questions caught my attention. In a recent course, I evaluated students via the format of the "Oral Exam," based upon pre-written questions. I found myself adjusting and re-phrasing questions to students who looked blankly back at me when a question was posed. Was the question too broad? Sometimes. I believe some students had not studied well enough for the Oral Exam. Some students may prefer to answer "quietly," and privately. As a result of this experience, I will be alert to broad-based questions versus specific fact questions or application questions or the deeper analysis questions.

Phil Finch

Blog Comment

I recently completed ed106

Now I know I should have participated in ED 106 a bit earlier. Teaching in a program which provides an AAS degree in ~18 months, I feel there is not much time for remediation of students, yet I spend many hours extra doing so. Having studied the nuances of learning disabilities, I now am more prepared to work more efficiently, not just harder for those students who need so much more than their peers.

Phil Finch

File Comment

Guide – Education Performance Group

ED 202 Teaching English Language Learners

This course is very appropriate for our present-day colleges in larger cities. Within the course, statistics substantiate the need for such a course, given the percentage of ELL students presently and the almost certain percentage of ELL students we can expect by year 2025.

Phil Finch