I am the Externship Instructor at our school and my students have to turn in a timesheet each week to show that they worked in the industry.  It can be a real challenge to get the students to turn those timesheets in so that they get credit for their attendance and their point in the class.  I have started texting those students who have agreed to texting on their enrollment agreement and our percentage of turn ins has been much better.  The texting is done via Google Voice so that I am not using my cell phone number to reach… >>>

There are a number of ELL students in our school and I have had many in my classrooms.  Some understand English better than others.  How to you help the student who does not understand English very well understand the material without embarrassing them?

I like to use the very simple shapes/personality test and just draw the shapes on the white board - circle, square, rectangle, triangle and squiggly lines to ask student which shape are they most attracted to.  This is a great tool in the supervision class because it give students an idea of the different personalities and approaches that we all have and knowing these can be very helpful in team building on the job!

I will use role playing with one team asking - let's say interview questions - to another team and the rest of the class will use a buzzer system if the question asked is an "illegal" or inappropriate interview question.  The teams rotate to do these mock interviews and everyone stays very engaged.

@SherryErney

I have also found that if the lights are turned out in showing a power point, it can mean instant slumbering throughout the class depending on the time of day that the class is held. I keep the lights on and keep the power points short, interacting with the class with whiteboard notes in between certain power point slides.  This helps assure engagement.

@gmeers : In teaching the Hospitalilty Supervision Course, I have a project for each team to design a restaurant from the ground up including all of the architectural drawings, business plan, flooring, paint colors, menu, logo, labor and employee training programs, Name and tag line for the restaurant.  These are all great exercises for culinary and pastry students who will be graduating soon because they really get to see, feel and touch what it is like to open a restaurant or bakery and how much planning and money is required to do that successfully.  I think it is so engaging… >>>