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Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

Student Learning Styles

How are you able to effectively create lesson plans that adhere to the various learning styles of your students?

Having a back up plan

Having a back up an ensures that you are always prepared for class even when the unexpected happens. It shows that you have total control of your classroom.

oranized

Students know when you are not prepared and organized for class. They feel like you care when you are organized

Testing

Testing should be a gauge of understanding and not a scorecard.

Fluidity

The point of this module is becoming increasingly repetitive. Remain fluid and success will come. Remain rigid and invite failure - yours!

Match Our Students

The method delivery must match the students! As teachers we must be fliud as the material is static.

Know Thy Student

This should match the types of learners. Know thy student and follow with the instructional methods that succeed for them!

Teacher types

I hate to sound like the zen master but any teacher worth their salt should know thy self before trying to teach.

Glazed Looks

Glazed looks from students will cue the instructor to a great deal of information about whether or not the instructional strategy being employed is working or not. If that happens, switching plans is the way to go.

Test Phobia

How to deal with some students who are very knowledgeable, and who can demonstrate good understanding of the material covered in class, but are unable to score high on a test for some reason?

Goals

The best way to set goals for career college students.

Awarding extra credit points

Extra credit points should be awarded to reward students for going over and above the requirements of the class not to simply boost grades. J. E. wright

"I'm upset because you gave me bad grade!"

I get this from student from time to time. Several students, after receiving a bad grade fail to see that it was their performance that earned them the grade and not the instructors fault. They fail to see collectively that sucking up to the instructor doesn't change the fact that they handed in homework late or did poorly on exams. Having strict and structered syllabi helps the student understand why they earned the grade they did when this happens.

PowerPoint Slides and chalk/board

The combination of powerpoint slides with just a few bullet points on them and the employment of chalk and board seem to be very effective

Being Organized and Motivated

showing enthusiasm, excitement and good preparation motivates students.Motivated students tend to reciprocate the favor by being respectful and attentive.

The Extra Credit Fiasco

I've used extra credit to motivate students to study at home. I give them study questions to help them find specific information that I will emphasize at the next class period. One quarter I decided to give students extra credit for completing the study questions. I quickly discovered that the students who would complete the homework without being coaxed were those that got the extra credit points and those I wanted to motivate did not comeplete the homework regardless of the extra points.I never offered extra credit for homework again.

Pretest

Research that I've read on testing shows that students do better with more tests. I offer students a pretest for every class session. The pretest/study guide is similar to the graded test and it helps students identify important information from the text before they attend class, know what kind of information the instructor uses for testing, and helps relieve pressure form students with test anxiety.

Using pretests as a tool

A pretest would be a way to evaluate the preparation level of the students. If you do give pretests and have each student sign their name be sure you inform the students of the confidentiality of the in formation. J. E. wright

Creative teaching strategies

Today an instructor has so many more teaching tools than ever before. We can literally involve our students in a real time discussion with students in other parts of the world. We are way beyond power point. We can use skyp, video, interactive games. For a creative instructor the possibilities are limitless.

Theory and Practice

Working with students at a theory level is insufficient for a complete learning experience. Many times theory or what is taught in the class room does not translate well in the real world. I've had students that "get it" when they see in action what I've attempted to teach them. In addition, I see that some of the information I'm currently teaching needs to be updated.