Blog Comment

There a lot of great teaching tools to help include students of different learning styles.

I gained a lot of great ideas from this course.

Discussion Comment

I find that taking part of te lecture material and dividing it into four or six parts, and giving it to groups in the class to discuss makes it an easier pill to swallow. I teach a wine and beverage course so I had four groups each discussing the quality classifications of wines in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. I found that they learn more about how to study when they do this as well.

Matthew Mejia

Discussion Comment

Common Instructor Mistakes

Yes! I feel that getting them to laugh distracts them from your mistakes also. In culinary, working in the industry, you have to have a sense of humor to endure the monotony of the repetitive work. I try to instill that humor here at school so they carry it with them.

Matthew Mejia

Discussion Comment

Common Instructor Mistakes

I am human, I know I will make mistakes in class. I have been teaching for 5 years now and still check to make sure my fly is zipped before entering the classroom. That would be the worst! Humor is the answer, everytime. It is important to teach the students to laugh at themselves as well. I am the perfect example. If I miscount handout copies, I blame my secretary by rolling my eyes and saying sarcastically, "my secretary can't count"! My students know I don't have a secretary. I feel redeemed in their eyes if I can crack them… >>>

Matthew Mejia

Discussion Comment

Managing angry students

We get quite a few of these, so we have developed some methods that work well. I teach Culinary Arts so we have to have them controlled because we give them knives to use! If I have an angry student burst out in class, I sternly ask them to meet with me in private during break or after class. I do not allow them to disrupt class for more than an outburst. When I meet with them I let them vent, and I explain to them that I will help them find a solution. Our student services department has a… >>>

Matthew Mejia

Discussion Comment

Getting "Apples" from students

I get a lot of these, our class time is 3 hours long. It is culinary so students want to cook and not sit for lecture so they show up late, and try to leave early. They want to cook, but not clean up. That stuff doesn't fly. Our attendance policy is to rigid about tardies, and if they leave before dismissal for ANY reason, they are counted absent. If you dodge clean-up, you aren't allowed to cook the next day. You spend it cleaning instead. It works pretty well, but we still have those who buck the system.