I believe that support marterials, notes, and assessments are "the back bones" of any course's content. Without those elements, I believe the class cannot run effectively and so, extra attention should be given to them when they are been developed.

I believe that standards along with objectives are key to help teachers stay on task and give students an idea of what is expected from them.

I beleive that it really important for a teacher to have an overview of the course's content; so he or she can make adjustements as needed.

I think it's only fair for students that lesson plans are put in place by the teacher; so that the class runs smoothly and student are able to learn in an organized way.

When I develop an evaluation sheet for my students. This allows me the opportunity to see if my students understand the content of what I'm teaching. It's a bit of a grading system on my deliverance of the material. My goal is to always make sure my student both understand and comprehend the material. This so that they can use it in their everyday life or work setting. Very good information... carmen p

THIS WAS FANTASTIC! YES! I have had many situations where students have are: a little Restless or I didn't plan enough time for the whole Program class and they get bored. Or the Assignment was too difficult. This has given me so much information and material to look into to resolve some of these issues in my class planning. WOW! AWESOME! AGAIN Best Training yet... I really needed this course... Thank you

Hi: I find that I have to use a variety of different methods in the courses I teach. Because, I have a variety of learners in my classes I don't want to loose anyone. So, I try to encompass PP, Flip Charts, White Board and some movies that are appropriate for the course. I find this captures just about everybody. it has been very successful. I did learn something about PP I utilize the PP that comes with the books. It's helpful but, I find a bit MONDANE... I learned that I can kind of make it my own... and I will :) Thank you very helpful training... very helpful Carmen P

I look forward to coming up with new and exciting new things to get my students motivated. I usually spend some time researching new ideas to get my students excited! about the course. I make sure my lesson plan, syllabus and copies are all ready before class.

Covering the objectives before the lecture and connecting it to why it is important to their industry, usually eliminates questions as to why they are completing a certain task. It also increase interest in the objectives.

I recently gave my students a totally extra credit assignment to design and to build a "fox-hole radio". It was more of a fun assignment. There was no punishment for not completing the extra credit. What happend was really interesting to me. I have a small class; but, two of my students made this a family project. They got their sons and daughters involved in the research and the building of the radio. Both people brought their radios in and the rest of the class participated in trying to make them work. It turned into a fun team building exercise; not only for the students, but for their families too. Personally, I thought that was cool. Oh, the way I set it up was credit for the design and credit for the build. Based on my reading of this course, was I wrong to assign this? I used the results for borderline cases - I wanted to see their desire. Instead, I saw family and our student body involvement. Although not directly related to our subject, it did apply. Again, the idea was to show innovative thinking and making it apply. Did I do wrong with this assignment? I think getting the family involved with their "significant others" participating in their class was worth it alone. thanks, jay

I've found that using material that the student should have learned in their previous subject provides some great insight. First, it shows the relavency of what they have learned and how it applies directly to the new material. It also provides the "pre-test" recommendation by seeing how well they understood the pevious material or see if they have learned how to use the material. One recent example was the use of a simple resistor/capacitor network to make a delay timer. We needed a delay timer for an access delay however, we had no delay timers available for the class. We made it an in-class assignment and got the opportunity to show how a RC ciruit can be used in the real world to solve a real world problem that they will encounter often. If also demonstrated their ability regarding the circuits course they recently completed. It provided a good basis for the level of training that I needed to start with. I quickly learned that Eisnstein's relativity theory was not the place to start; but, rather an understanding of energy was more appropriate (just an outlandish example in this case). But, the idea is the same. Comments?

Every time I teach the same class I always review previous notes, tests, discussion questions, power point presentations and visual aids. I always learn something new, either from my own studies or those of the students. With time I have been able to spot those students that need additional encouragement, or projects to make them feel as though they are part of the class.

Every student needs to know how they can measure their performance in class. By setting measurable standards they, the student, can be aware where they rank in the class and know what areas need to be improved upon. I understand the purpose of standards; however, my curriculum doesn’t have such requirements.

In my opinion, it is very important to me to hold an individual retropspective every day - the idea is to see what worked, why it worked, why something didn't work, and how to improve. It can be an invaluable tool developed during a perior of time that could otherwise be a waste. I think that there are many innovative ways to acheive better performance on a daily basis; but, this is certainly one that works for me. Of course, safety over being introspective. Thoughts?

Hi, all. I've discovered that being retrospective in both the classroom environment and the work environment are extremely beneficial. I must admit that some times it is difficult to realize problem areas that you have. This is the toughest area in my opinion. Being open minded enough to understand issues is a challenge. Primarily, because it is difficult to realize that the problem area is yours as a teacher and not that of the students (or boss). I have been assesing feedback from my students daily. I do have a small class; but, they are all eager. They also have individual methods of learning - that can be a challenge. Also, I find it difficult to determine if an issue is truly mine, or if it is an excuse for poor performance. I recently had a guy drop out. The reason doesn't really matter for this discussion; however, I took it very personally. E.g., how did I let him down. Did I let him down? Or, did he simply have other obligations. He spoke with the Registrar, etc., and I still don't really have a good idea what the issue was. I would like to know. Based on the Registrars feedback, it wasn't my methodology; but, I can help but wonder how I could have improved and kept him more involved. Thoughts? jay

When writing tests, you should give the test to another colleague to have them review it, to see if it realative to the material and makes sense to another person, and realtive to the objectives it is suppose to meet.

Pretesting has proved be an effective tool to see where the students are. It also gives me a chance to see you needs more attention.

Keep slides up to date, funny, interesting. The youth we teach now need more stimulation than in the past, by keeping the slides "catchy" we can keep their attention.

A field trip to a farm in culinary school is important. It allows the students to see first hand where the food comes from. Growing a graeter respect for the food itself

Before each class I always outline the material I intend to cover and additional material if the class time goes to fast. The next class I will briefly cover the major points and then continue with the lesson plan for that class.