Not at all.  I like to see when my students are able to equate their life experience with the topics of discussion in class.  I feel that they can become more motivated if they are able to contribute in a meaningful, and sometimes personal, way to the discussion at hand.

Giving real worls examples for my lectures has always been a way that I motivate my students.  It shows them that there are real applcations for the classes, and that they are not just words and pretty pictures in the book.  They tend to sit up and take notice when real examples are presented to them, and their attention becomes wider.

I had never heard of the concept of "wait-time" prior to this class.  As I covered that topic, I saw that I am guilty of sort wait-times, sometimes.  Now that I realize this, I will make an effort to improve upon this. 

Some of the classes that I teach, like Medical LAw and Ethics, can be tailor-made for open ended questions.  I am always asking the classes how they feel about this concept or that concept.  I generally get some very interesting answers, to be sure.  My more technically minded classes, like Medical Terminology, ads made for closed questions.  I… >>>

I find it difficult, sometimes, to convince the students to be prepared for class.  I try to tell them that it is in their best interest to be prepared so that they can ask intelligent questions, and participate in discussions.  Some of them are less than highly motivated, and it shows when it comes time for assessments.  That is the time when I see alot of minds change, and they FINALLY see the wisdom of being prepared.  It is too bad that this is what it takes sometimes, but, as the saying goes, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.