I have tried some new things in my classes the last few months that seem to work. Every now and then you will still get, "I don't know," or a shoulder shrug but the majority of students enjoyed them

1. Get red, yellow, and green paper or plastic cups: enough for each student to have a set. Throughout the lesson, I would say, "Cup check!" The students would show me the red if they weren't understanding, yellow if they were unsure or starting to catch on, and green if they felt they understood the concept. I would start responding to the
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My issue is the fact that I have 19-49+ year old students so all of their styles are different. I use a variety but always seem to lose somebody in the more technical subjects. Any ideas?

 

With teaching the electrical courses, I am constantly watching Youtube videos, reading electricity and electronics books, and talking to people to get a wide range of ways to present something. If one way would click for everyone, I would be in heaven (I'm not in heaven). I'm happy when a way works for those struggling students who finally 'see the light.'

How do we at UTI get an approved list of music that will not violate copyright standards? I would love to have music in the classroom but this is the biggest obstacle. I would also support getting an overhead music system for the shop areas with the station controlled by the lead instructor. Any thoughts?

I work and have worked in other places where some or all of the tests are created by the parent company. It is difficult to supply input and have it evaluated and implemented in a timely manner. I have been using some informal, ungraded assessments to help students understand the information prior to "Corporate" tests.

I also believe that learning styles adapt depending on the material that you are trying to learn. I learned math better by working a lot of problems, I learned German better through a lot of auditory work (immersion in the language), I learned how to fix lawn mowers by hands on work.

I have had times when a student has been sleeping in mu class. I always talk to the student and remind them of their choice to attend this school and their individual responsibilities before advising them of the negative consequences. What do you do when a student has a horrible work schedule but has good benefits, a family to support with those benefits but stills sleeps in class? I think he knows that I care but he also knows that I support the school standards of not sleeping in class. He may fail the class because of this behavior. Ideas?