Early on in my teaching career (clear back a year and a half ago! LOL), I think I tried too hard to be "one of them" and not be the teacher, per se. Funny, too, that I am not your typical just-graduated-from-college 20-something, but rather I am a mid-50' veteran of the newspaper wars. So I think my efforts to be "cool" can be attributed to the age factor. Now, I am finding it much easier to be their fiend in a teach-appropriate way without crossing that line of being their "pal" but it took me a few cycles of… >>>

I believe soft skills are very important and are often over looked by instructors. I teach my students as if each day is a job. I inform them at the beginning of the course why I expect them to be on time, prepared and have a good attitude. They are required to clock in and out at the beginning and end of class as well as for lunch. If they are more than ten minutes late, they have to makeup an hour. They can bring up their whole grade by the evaluation of their team work. The students will complain,… >>>

I admit that I under-dress for class. That being said, I teach a technical certification course where the students are predominately young adults dressed in jeans, tee shirts, and flip-flops. As I dressed professionally the first few weeks, a line quickly appeared. This line was clearly erased around the third week, when I started to dress as they did. My point is that, as in life, every situation is different. By my breaking protocol, the students better related to me; yet, in my opinion, I was still able to be a successful model, manager and motivator. Does this indeed show… >>>

With such a variety of students that enter the classroom, teachers need methods that allow all students to learn as effectively as they can. Howard Gardner's theories on multiple intelligences will help teachers understand how students learn, modify and provide various methods of teaching, and develop a positive learning environment. Each class should provide the students with several methods in which they are able to learn and participate. Provide the students with tactile, spatial, verbal, written, and logical activities to help them all succeed. Also, students can be grouped by their M.I. so they can really express themselves. How do… >>>

If you want improve your classroom management, there are several things that can help you. Being prepared for the first day of school is one of the most important attributes needed for successful classroom management besides being consistent. Having planned out the course, looked over the textbook, and created your quizzes, tests and assignments will assist in you having a full understanding of the learning objectives and of how the assessments and learning activities correspond to each objective. We also need to have our gradebooks ready by the first day, so we can learn and practice students' names before we… >>>