I find that random questioning helps to keep the students involved I tell my students on the first day that I expect them to answer when they are called on and that I won't ask question that they haven't had the information presented to them so they should know the answer.

I let my students know that I have expectation regarding their behavior in my class I ask them ack in the some professional manner that I try to hold myself to I explain that during my thirty years working in the field that I am teaching now I have had tto learn to behave in a more professional manner and I am willing to help them to work to achieve the same goal. they seam to respect and work to follow my lead.

We only have, on an average, three weeks with our students since we have a fast pace program, however I feel that if we are observant we can see the early signs of lost feelings in our students, this is the time to open the monolog and show there are options for assistance besides dropping out.

The big issue we have when I talk to students about retention is consistency. Instructors and staff having differant policy from course to course this causes a lok of confusion and many student simply need some clear guidlines for them to folow.

In class I try to vary the material presentation as often as possible to accomodate all the learning styles by using some powerpoint, class hand outs and in class lab demos.

I find when I have a long discussion planed for the days lesson that if I pause briefly at scheduled intervals that the students don't seem to be focused on "when will we be done" and usually use the short break times to discuss the previous material and have questions for when we return. This acts as a review right after the material is presented.