I find it ambiguous when deciding exactly how much and what type of extra credit should be offered. Some instructors add extra credit onto a test while others offer projects specifically for extra credit. What is a general rule of thumb?

Although many instructors go above and beyond to get their students exicted about learning it can still be difficult to get everyone on board and wanting to learn. Besides the suggestions offered in this module (e.g. relating new content to the chosen career, multimodal learning, various methods of instruction etc.) what can an instructor do to get students engaged?

Guest speakers and field trips are very helpful in the classroom. Students love field trips because they get a chance to leave the classroom setting. Guest speakers motivate them to do there best in school so that they can be sucessful in their field.

how do we know they are learning?

Does anyone have any good suggestions for multisensory learning for a language class? We already cover visual, hearing and tactile pretty well but I find it hard to incorporate smell or taste. Suggestions?

I love these ideas. It really gets hard at times to determine the best way to evaluate your students.

Although my college library offers both "subject study groups with a teacher" and tutors, I find that pairing a struggling student up with a successful student in that same class works very well.

My feeling is that varying overhead transparencies with powerpont breaks the monotony and adds to presentation.

I usually require cell phones to be completely "out of sight", - in pocket, bandbag, or bookbag.

I think that this idea is great!! Once you have determined the knowledge base of your students it will enable you to have a more effective impact on their learning journey.

I really enjoy using this method. I am a skills instructor and this type of method is great for giving teaching skills and visuals needed to do specific techniques. After the theory part and the visual portion we then go to the bedside and perform the hands-on portion. This really seems to hit the auditory, visual and kinesthetic students all at once.

This is a must to attain respect and trust with your class. If they feel you are ready to teach then they in essence will show you that they are ready to learn.

I find it hard to determine how to walk the fine line between letting students know you mean business and will stick to your guidelines vs. still being flexible and empathetic. How do you settle on a happy medium (i.e. not being a drill sergeant or a peacemaker)?

I would like to see continuing Education courses that were actually based on an Educators needs...not one that all levels are taking, and a blanketed cure all for education...

We use pretest here at my school and I find it very helpful because it gives me an ideal of what I need to focus on the most for my classes, helping me plan my classes where I can spend more time on the topics where help is need the most and not waste time on classes that the students already have good knowledge of.

As instructors we need to be excited about our own career field, if we are, our enthusiasm will spill over into our work and will motivate our students to have an excited interest in their choosen field also.

Preparing lesson plans is very important for classroom management. Without a clear lesson plan, it can be difficult to focus on classroom management. I have been taught that classroom management is the most important part of being a good classroom instructor. Why is the skill of preparing lesson plans not emphasized as the most important?

My dad would always rattle off poems and quotes in the morning when I was growing up. I was the tenth of eleven kids so I did a lot of observering when I was young. "There is a price to be paid in success, that price MUST be made in advance" was one of his favorites. He was always talking about having the right attitude no matter what we were doing and how important it was to be positive. When I saw the part in this section of the course about bringing your personality into your teaching I started thinking back on all the quotes that I have said in class that I got from my father's early morning breakfast talks(more like a coach talking to his team in the locker room before a game). Most of my sisters were runners and my dad would love watching them run. I loved watching them as well and would always stand next to him at their track meets. Three of my sisters ran the 2 mile so it was 8 laps around the track. Sometimes people would go out too fast and fade away at the end. My sisters were late kickers so they would be in the back of the pack at the beginning of most races. One time my sister was in last place coming around the second lap and my dad yelled to her, "You're right where you need to be!" After she ran by I asked him why he said that to her if she was in last place. He said that sometimes you may be in the back of the pack at the start and that's ok, it's where you are in the end that counts. As the race went on she caught the pack and took the lead in the last lap. When she ran by with 200 meters to go my dad yelled, "Just hit light, and GO!" I find myself saying some of his quotes in class to my students when they are feeling confused or expressing doubts. It's important to let them know that they are right where they need to be in their career right now. Letting them know they are just beginning and the race is not a sprint. If they feel confused or if they feel they are in the back of the pack right now it does not mean they won't be leading the way years down the road. Then you can just hit light and go for it in their career!

any system where a grade may depend on an opinion more than solid proof could be said to be bias in nature.

having more than one method of teaching one part of a subject can be good back up and cover a number of student learning abilities.