I have a real problem with students grading someone else's work especially quizzes or exams. I strongly feel that we need to keep the confidentiality of the students' grades. Having another student grade a peer's paper especially if the peer did poorly can have a huge effect on the peer's self-esteem. The peer may believe that the student grading their paper thinks they are incompetent or even dumb. Even though grading the papers myself may take time, I do it to maintain the confidence of my students. I have found several ways to make it quicker. One is to use… >>>

I like the idea of using to do lists. I have been doing it for years. However, I have two to do lists: one for school and a different one for home. Then while I am at school, I am looking at only the tasks I need to do there. I am not tempted to focus on what I have to do at home that night. When I go home, I then look at the to do list for home and focus only on this list. I find this way I do not slip into a procrastination obstacle of "worrying… >>>

It would be nice to be able to label all students with learning disabilities. Even if we do have a label for the student, it does not mean that the student has all of the characteristics of that disability. Each student has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. As instructors we need to ask them how they learn best. We cannot fall into a false sense of understanding and think we know what they need because they have a specific learning disability. All too many times students with learning disabilities are lumped into one category and expected to all act… >>>

I have used student learning groups for projects in the past. I find that students at first dislike group work because they fear that not all members will do their fair share. I allow the students to pick their own group members, assign a project that easily breaks down into equal parts for the number of students in the group and allow the students to "grade each other" by writing what each member of their group completed for the overall project. I found that once I put these things into place I had far less issues with the learning groups… >>>

I like the idea of using charts and other instructional tools to draw the students attention to another part of the room. However, I have a colleague who is known to have multiple technological things going on in the classroom at the same time. It is common for powerpoint slides to be shown on one wall, an overhead going on another wall, the whiteboard being used with notes all at the same time. It is good to use different areas of the classroom, but it is not good to try to use them all at the same time. The feedback… >>>

I recognized very early on in my career how participation could be so subjective in nature. Therefore, I tried to make my participation/professionalism category of my grade as objective as possible. I use a five point scale for each class meeting. The students can earn a point for completing each of the following: being on time and not leaving early, prepared for class (have writing utensil, paper,etc), wearing student ID (which is required at our school and most careers), participating in class, having assignments completed that are not designated as graded assignments. If they are absent, then I can't see… >>>

So many new instructors believe that they need to entertain their students with powerpoints, but they incorrectly use them. These instructors will use powerpoint presentations week after week. They read the slides to the students. It is especially hard in an evening class for four hours where students have spent all day at work and then come to a "movie show" for a class. I think it would be enough to put anyone to sleep. Powerpoint is not meant to be the whole presentation. It should only be used as a visual in an oral presentation (class lecture or demonstration).… >>>