i always come an hour early

It is always important to keep in mind why we are in the classroom to begin with! Being on time and prepared is part of it, but for me it is important to connect with each student every day. Some will need more personal interaction than others. Some will seek you out frequently during the class - others the instructor needs to make a point of checking in with during class. I always make a pint of knowing where the student lives what kind of commute they have and if they work etc etc.

In any type of work environment, and in my opinion, especially teaching, being organized is very important. Organization ensures that the class remains on-task and does not have to stop for any unexpected delay. Before I started teaching at the college level, I taught high school, where organization is key. I found it very important to have the entire 9 weeks planned out and all assignments ready. I was able to take this organization and apply it to 10-week terms at the college level. When producing the syllabus for any one class, it is important to know what information is to be covered and in what amount of time. I find when starting a new term, I reflect back on the last term to see what worked and what did not. I may have to re-organize the assignments and the time length in which to give the students to work on them. By having everything organized in a binder broken down by weeks, I am able to view the material and go from there. In order to help my organization of class materials (handouts, readings, PowerPoint presentations), I find that taking a 10-15 minute reflection after each class helps. I keep a notepad at my desk where I write down what worked and what did not; what I want to add to the course next term and what I want to take out; and even write notes and comments on responses from the students to that days lesson. By reflection on the class, it helps me to stay organized and be prepared for future classes.

It is important to arrange field trips that will encourage students by showing them examples of the type of jobs they will be doing when they graduate and allow them to speak with persons in those jobs. Sometimes the field trips are just a fun day away from school and aren't really eduational for the students. This doesn't benefit anyone. Georgeann

I was fortunate enough to be teaching anatomy and positioning during the period of time when the body works exhibit came into town. It was magical to see the student eyes light up as they viewed actual bodies. It was one thing to have a fake skeleton in the classroom and quite another to see the real thing. I believe it helped for a deeper understanding and I know the students loved the trip. They are already asking me when they can go again.

I'll be honest, I frequently have trouble holding the attention of my students. I not only have a Plan-B, but C & D, for most days because my students are geared up for hands on application / skill - based learning. I try to have activities, visuals to support lectures, and group work; however, (and the students often let me know) they are culinary students first (which I think is honest and okay). The students want to be up and about with a knife or rolling-pin in their hands, creating something. They do not come to my class with the skills to focus on task that don't connect to their hands. I would like nothing more than to keep all of my students engaged all of the time, but honestly engagement is not the one way street that module 3 implies - Instructor to Student. Students also have a responsibility to come to class prepared, which means more then just brining the texts, a notebook, and pen. They also need to bring a positive I-want-to-learn attitude. I do my best to connect my course with their career interests, and I feel I keep the pace moving and changing to engage all learning styles and preferences. I guess what I'm getting at is that module 3 is too basic. I'm looking for more depth: how can general education instructors keep student interest their courses?

I love our one field trip as we all meet at the Ranch 99 supermarket in preparation for Asian cookery the following week. We then hand out a scavenger hunt map and they are to go find these food related items so that they become more familar with these ingredients. Afterwards we all go have dim sum and see if they can analyze and recognize some of the key ingredients which was on their scavenger map. It's a lot of fun and there is a lot of interaction with the instructor. Glenn

I am just wondering how some of these tips in this forum could be put into practice. One practice that was talked about was making students stay after class if they were late to class, late in turning in assignments, etc. Are you working with elementary students, high school students, or adult students? At the school where I work at, NONE of the adult students would EVER put up with this practice by teachers and would also run to administration if we were even to enforce it. It seems that the students that we are working with " feel entitled" and always remind instructors of "how much they are paying for this education." They also think that we have an obligation to teach them everything so that they do not have to do any reading on their own and that if they do not "get it" it is our fault. It is not just one teacher who fells this way, but many of the ones that I have talked with feel this way as well. Furthermore, I have noticed a vast difference between students at a career college and those students that I used to work with at a university/state college. SO..what practices can we use with adult students in this case? Thank you in advance for your help.

Best/effective teachers prepare for each class with the philosophy that their role is to accomplish the learning outcomes of the course as well as inspiring students to continue to learn. They pay attention to the complexity of the learning process that includes critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and curiosity to name a few.

One of the age old questions (at least in my old age) is does it really matter when a students achieves a learning objective? If they miss something on a quiz but get it on the final should that be taken into account in the final grade. Although we live in a competitive world and there is a keen focus on "grades", isn't the bottom line that the student ultimately masters the subject matter not that they do it on our (arbitrary) timeline? Any thoughts.

"Don't read the text on the slide. Make "ad-lib" remarks or supportive commentary about the slide. This gives students additional information about the material that is being presented." This is the single most important and most abused behavior in the classroom today, even amongst experienced instuctors. It is incumbent on every instructor to make sure that they don't fall into this trap. There is nothing wrong with allowing the students to read the slides themselves without hearing the sound of our own voices. I would even go so far as to suggest that you appoint a student the responsibity of pointing out if you start reading the slides.

I didn't see anything on this idea in the module. As important and the ability to be introspective is in developing as an IDE, we need to actively encourage our students to provide feedback, anonymously if necessary, and take a good hard look at their comments. They are the customer and their thoughts matter and can be extremely useful in helping us see ourselves from the other side of the podium.

The Belenky, et al summary of women's ways of knowing I think is important in this discussion. They identified the stages of knowing progressing from silence, received knowledge, subjective knowledge, procedural knowledge to constructed knowledge. As instructors/facilitators/teachers, I believe these stages of knowledge are a valuable framework for the development and delivery of our courses whatever instructional setting we are in.

I find that power point keep the student ingaged in the lectures. I also use this to keep myself on track & not go to far off trach, I also see tat the student take better notes, so they dont have to read my chicken scrach on the board. Chart work will with the pp presentation also. I found out it helps out a lot in my classes.

I think extra credit is ok as long as everyone is given the same opportunity to get it but it should only be up to 5 pints it is 0 or 5 no 1/2 points

I think they can be good but you can not fill PP with to much stuff

Extra credit should not be used. It is not fair for student who do all of their work.

Pretests are a good tool to help identfy weak students.

The best tool for learning.

Just taking one extra step. Makes a big diffrence in keepin the class in order.