I've been using the "you ARE each others team" approach in my into classes ... the camaraderie has been surprising and seems to have an overall positive effect, even to the point that the student body is now actively involved in the retention effort.

Don't overlook the importance of facility in getting and keeping students. We have a courtroom on campus. It's used as a lecture hall and once every quarter or two we present mock trials involving the paralegal students and incorporating staff, faculty and other students as witnesses, parties and jury. Quite a selling point.

I teach our GS101 Career Development class. We occasionally refer to it as "How to go to College" - loads of info on studying, reading, not taking, test taking... and alot of positive reinforcement. I but into the program, but am dissapointed by that 1 student in almost every class that defies help - constant whiner, always SOMETHING wrong. How do we help the "chronic"?

IMHO I'm one of those "likeable" teachers, but I don't TRY for it. My grades are usually a bell shaped curve and those who don't get A's usually know why. Should I remain concerned or get tougher/stricter?

Only one incident of cheating in three years. Identical wrong answers including identical misspellings. Of course, teaching an ethics class helps to cut down on the incidence.

I keep butting my head against attempts/desires for retention that severely interfere with steps at correcting problem students. If a student knows they can stick around, why work?

I've found (and this module reinforces) that the first day - getting acquainted, ice breakers, syllabus & expectation discussions - can really mean the difference between a rewarding experience and drudgery - both for my AND the class!

THIS has long been my Achilles heal. I'm a procrastinator. The tips I've learned as an instructor have me improving here but I'm not there yet. Is anybody EVER really "there"? How will I know?

I've tried to implement a variety of tests / question types this quarter and have managed to uset EVERYONE. It seems every type of student resents at least one type of question. So just suck it up and go? Or is this a modifable problem?

Our school's switch from a 3x4x3to a 2x2x11 schedule has allowed for much better evaluation. Hoping I can take the points of this session an implement. My "test writing" and ongoing evaluation need some brushing up.