I see so many instructors coming in shortly bebore class starts, which makes me wonder how one can be ready for class. i for one like to be there at least one hour in advance, so i can prep for my leccture and demo. and yes , sometimes it will not take an hour to do so, but at least i feel comfortable and ready to start class

The first impression given to your students is critical – if organized and well prepared it will be appositive one.

By asking students there opinion of the course, it can help to determine if any adjustments need to be made, it may be instructor delivery or the content of the curriculum.

Grading varys from school to school and class to class so it is important to make the details of the way you plan to grade assignments very clear to all the students.

Having a back up plan is a great idea because there are days that things wont go like they should

Power Point slides provide an instructor the means to present material that will appeal to all learning types

The importance of being a role model is inportment When we keep the students interests as our main focus, they're going to respond favorably.

I engage the students by using different methods, showing props to hand out, raising and lowering my voice, calling on them to answer a question, walking around the room during discussion.

I more or less agree with the content detailed in this lesson. However, I am not confident that it needs to be as complicated as detailed with so many versions of evaluation. I like the point system, IE: 100 points per test and the test results in my mind detail what the students were able to learn from the lessons presented in the class. I do agree that extra points can be earned for student participation in the class, homework etc. I also feel that points should be deducted for poor attendance, tardiness and non participation, as this puts forth the idea that students need to be accountable and take their studies seriousely.

It is often necessary to speak of actual field experiences, hypothetic or actual. particularly problamatic situations, cause and effect insidents that may have taken place. and what is or could be a solution to these situations. make it a game and work it out with the class in groups. see who has the best solutions and why?.

Preparing for class ahead of time keeps everything rolling smoothly.

This is copied directly from this course; "Make sure you know the evaluation policy of your college. You have to be consistent with it. Often college grading policies reflect only the end result, meaning a point score, letter grade, or percentage listing that will be posted as a part of a student's permanent transcript. If this is the case you then have the freedom to develop a system that will enable you to come up with this end result for each student while using a number of different evaluation methods within your class." The last sentence to me seems to suggest that you should adjust your grading as you move through the class; making adjustments on the fly as it were or using different standards to grade different tasks. Yet, as I look through this message board we are all talking about consistency. I am just looking for some clarification on this point. I will be the first to admit my mistake if I am missing the point.

Field trips are most productive, if/when they are related to the subject that is being taught prior to the field trip exposure. after the fact field trips are often scheduled out of sync with the classroom training. what are your thoughts on this?.

many instructors are very capable academically but have limited field or work experience in their particular field. Student's seem to recognize these traits and pick up on them. how do we handle questions like? IE: how long have you been working in this field?. What is your background, are you a qualified journeyman etc, etc. in this field?

i give make up tests at the end of the course (3 weeks). all makes up are given at one time and than graded. i use a different test for make ups but it covers the material equally. the make up tset can be a test that is also use for regular testing but not the test i used this course.

you should always have a back up plan for any course or lesson that you are instructing. there can be many outside interruptions that will lead to a change in your lesson for the day. EX. a fire alarm, an unscheduled meeting for instructors and or students. you will need a plan to cover these ocassions.

Anyone know of ways we can help our students move their senses to “high alert” so that they will, more easily, absorb what is required?

For a few people, taking a test can be a traumatic experiance. Some people don't take tests well but are very good with tactile tests.At our institute, we have tests that are already made up. We as instructors don't change them. I will however, proctor make-up tests at the convience of the student. Now there has to be some specific time frame agreed on and adhered to. If left go long enough, the student will loose the info and usually will do poorly on the test.

powerpoint is a very nice form of instuction because it can be easily updated with out redoing the complete lesson.

A student approached me upset, the other day and asked me why there were 2 questioned on an exam, that she had just taken. The subject was American Cuisine and the two questions were about 3 types of mushrooms found in a region and the other about a famous fish market in the Northwest. Her point was that she had studied all of what she thought was relevant and did not find those particular questions relevant.She said, of all the questions that could of been asked, why those?. I researched the test and discovered that the 2 questions were covered in class and are nessasary questions for students to know. The toal exam covered definition, skill competencies and "point of interest" which these 2 questions fall into, they both relate the regions covered. After another discussion, this student admits that she always were remember these 2 answers and will always remember this exam.