Barry Westling

Vicki, You're welcome. Sorry to hear about your past bad experiences. Perhaps the only good thing is that these are now "past experiences", at least for you. Barry Westling

maritza, Progressing through a course requires benchmarks along the way to give students guidence as to what progress they are making towards the goal. I also like to personalize my meetings with students with grade information but also support and encouragement. I want students to see that I'm there to be their answer, not their prpblem. Barry Westling

Carmen, I feel a little different with regards to EC. IIf it's a required topic or material, I expect students to learn it, and their grade will reflect to what degree they did learn. Smoothing over poorer work, missed or failed assignments by giving EC only helps inflate grades artificailly, and does little to contribute to learning. I choose not to offer EC. But each instructor and institution has to decide what works best for them and their students. Barry Westling

maritza, Right, a platform, or guideline that helps identify a reasonable game plan for these students, in this class, at this specific time. Subsequent classes may be different. Barry Westling

Vicki, If you are saying the course outline (or course description) specified certain lab activities using specific lab resources, but were intentionally not available, that seems to be quite unfair at the least, and possibly borders on fraud. As instructors we often have to "be creative" in getting our desired lab and demonstration resources gathered. But if these involve costlier equipment, supplies, or other specialized instrumentation, that is going too far. It's unfortunate that some schools place profits over instruction. Being thrifty is commendable, especially these days, but witholding essential materials seems a bit too much. Barry Westling

maritza, Great. Working with hands is a perfectect example how to incorporate multiple senses into the learning process. More senses will result in better retention and more likely to be stored in long term memory. Barry Westling

maritza, The improvement over time (perhaps we could call this growth) is best viewed over time, and therefore, time with journalizing will be required to truely see it's helpfulness. Barry Westling

Carmen, Yes, we all have a self perception of ourselves, which may or may not be what the students see. True self awareness and understanding takes in the perspective students may have, and the good instructor will try to align with the educational objectives while meeting individual student needs. Barry Westling

Jenny, Using the same metaphor, even when the individual parts are in tune, if they are out of snychornization with the leader (instructor), the results will not be pretty. Getting students to be in synch with the instructor occurs in part by having an organized plan, resources gathered, and redied daily lesson plan for all to follow. Smooth and pleasant is the result. Barry Westling

maritza, I agree. Many field trips can be quite inspirational and even motivate students to mend their ways and begin really focusing on their studies. What a powerful motivator! Barry Westling