Being a lab manager for over 20 years, and a lab assistant for 15. I share manny of my real life experience.

Eliza Doolittle is alive and well. She is in every class we teach, especially at the Career College level. Our students are here to change their lives and we owe it to them to have those high expectations. They can succeed in college; they can conquer difficult material. But they can also be fragile; they need our constant support and encouragement to rise above their circumstances.

Eye contact is a great way to let students know that you are watching and interested that they are paying attention. If you maintain eye contact then they will learn from your expressinons and voice inflections.When you do not maintain eye contact students will tend to occupy them selves with other things such as a cell phone under the desk or falling asleep in class. Let them know that you are interested in their education by acknoleging them frequently during the lecture.

Modulating your voice during a lecture seems to help keep students interest up.

At the first day of class ask all students to take off their shoes and put them into one pile. Then ask students to pick a pair of shoes and find out who they belong to. After finding that person ask a couple of questions about that student. After the whole class is done. Each student will discuss to the class what they found out about their fellow student. It also gives the instructor an insight of each individual student.

So many instructors, as students, attended the traditional college model with lecture as the main focus - it is only natural then that most try to recreate that setting in their classroom. However, especially when dealing with non-traditional students, that lecture format does not work well. You still need to give the students information but lecturing for extended periods just wont cut it any longer. Use pairs, small groups and other acitivities to get the students invoved in their own learning.

I plan on using the CAT concept as much as possible. I know one concept that has been working well for me is that I make my students take weekly chapter quizzes over the weekend. Once we meet back into the classroom the following week, I break the students down into teams, and they engage in interactive activities that I’ve created. The student’s love this concept, because they all are very knowledgeable in the subject matters at hand, which tells me that they did read the chapters; and every single one of them participate. I’m always thoroughly impressed by how they know the answers to the questions. The participation is so good, that we always have to be told to keep the excitement down from other classes. Now with using this process, I will engage the students that scored low on the quizzes more to make sure they’re taking notes of the questions and answers provided from their team members during the interactive exercise.

When I make an effort to get students involved in various classroom discussions, I first try to gain as much personal information as I can about each individual; at least what they’re willing to share. When we have specific discussions, I try to relate the questions to the things that they have interest in i.e. hobbies, life experiences, life goals, etc… This will encourage the student to contribute more, and they’re more willing to participate because they can relate to the discussion somehow. This is my reasoning behind getting to know all of my students. I really like to use this tactic for the students that are normally quiet and bashful, this somewhat forces them to participate in discussions because I’ve related the question to something that they’re familiar with.

Is it better just to choose random students for groups? Or first evaluate each student and then assign students in groups to help with diversity?

The course mentioned the issue of culture and eye contact. I was just wondering if anyone was aware of specific cultures that find eye contact offensive and if you have come across it in class, how did you know and how to prevent an attempt to connect with the students from being perceived as offensive or disrespectful ?

Can anyone apply what was learned in this block of instructions to online classes?

I have a student who is falling behind in class and having a hard time learning the material. Yesterday he offered to pay me to tutor him outside of class. I wasn't sure how to respond. It's probably unethical to accept money from a student but I was wondering how to get him caught up.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to deal with students talking during my lectures without creating bad vibes?

Monitoring student learning groups effectively is a skill every teacher must learn about. How to be a good monitor is a skill and needs to be developed as an instructor. Any suggestions for student learning group monitoring?

Instructors should always be observing students to detmerine thier comprehension of concepts, but an instructor who is working with a student whho has a learning disability needs to become a real detective. He/she needs to review all the little details of a student's abilities to help him overcome his challenges.

Motivating students that think they cannot learn anything, should be one of our priorities

Learning how to cater to students' diversity makes and instructor more skilled even when dealing with a class with minimal diversity.

Student groups are excellent tools of learning. Even when an instructor communicates a concept in a very good way, it helps to hear that concept from another person. Groups and group discussions among students help with acheive this.

We have a blind student in our massage therapy program and while I have not had him as a student yet, I know that other instructors have struggled with him. I know I will probably have him eventually and I am wondering how in the world I am going to make it work. I don't have any training (beyond this course) in how to instruct students with special needs. So much of what we do is visual and we teach with demonstrations and examples that he cannot see us perform. I am having a difficult time thinking of what I will be able to do to help.

This course suggested that an instructor can videotape his/her lessons to review how effective his/her communication skills are. An instructor should also ask peers to observe and give feedback on this to get another person's perspective that is trained in the same area.