I teach Math and some of my students have said "I get it when you're teaching the class, but when taking a test I'm lost or freeze up." I give alot of examples in class and homework for them to practice, but I still get these responses. How do I deal with this and change their attitude to a can-do, no-problem before taking an exam, particularly the Final?

Just a note on applications. I have found that in 38.5 years of teaching that the rate of student appreciation of applying the subject learned is inversely proportional to the complexity of the course. That is in many extremely difficult, complex and challenging courses, students will often get engaged just because of the difficulty of the material. It is in the basic courses where students often have to take it just because it is mandated or a "gen. ed" course using applications can increase interest, show relevancy, etc. Therefore teaching a basic easy course should inspire us to do even more applications.

Some students follow the Course Outline to the letter. As a former student, I relied heavily on the Course Outline. In my preparation for my 4th quarter of teaching, this is what I plan to focus my efforts as far as mapping out the class.

An Instructor 's personality should be magnetic and leading the class.

Establishing Milestones in your syllabus

It would be nice if the course had more emphasis on clinical lab instruction, we do not have auto nor shop training for our students.

The class I am currently teaching is of 5 hr duration. I use to have problems regarding student engagement. I am fully aware of the attention span of an individual. However, I try to navigate around this by doing mini-lectures. Afterwards, we will discuss a case study pertaining to the topic which is very much an interactive exercise. I find it to be working much better this way.

Introductions are excellent ways to calm the nerves when starting a new course. I found out that students feel great about themselves whenever they are given an opportunity to share something about their lives that the rest of the class are not aware of.

I definitely try to plan and prepare for my class. It begins with coming to class at least 10 minutes before the schedule start time. It also includes reviewing important concepts you are planning to discuss in class the night before. It helps with delivery and better prepares you to answer any questions that the students might have.

What is the best way to have students ask questions to not feel afraid of asking.

As an instructor, I feel as if the students perceive me as a model when I am in the classroom. They will always make comments like "You are here on time unlike the others" or "I like the way you explained this by giving us practical/real-life examples". It is very gratifying but at the same time it is a challenge for me to live up their expectations all the time.

I use a variety of these discussed methods so I don't lose anyone, do you?

The question always crosses my mind, I personally do not launch into the material because as a student I felt it was a bad practice, how do you feel about it?

With the idea of academic freedom, do you think that the instructor should choose the textbook and not the school?

How often should you use your past work experiences in the classroom to further a point?

In my class setting I've noticed that a lot of my students have formed cliques. At times,I've noticed some inappropiate behaivor (rudeness, attitudes) This term I actually assigned partners in our lab. How do you handle this problem?

I really never new about open or closed questions and how it does make a student think this will really help me in my classroom of Adults.Has any one tried more complex questions. My favorite sentence was best way to discover how well you understand something is to try to teach it to somone else.I have used translation questions in my class it helped me as a instructor to see if they understand what I was teaching them.

I am constantly looking for ways to improve my instructional style. Online courses like this are informational however, I am a hands on learner. I change and improve with the needs of the students. I need to set higher expectations of them and motivate them to achieve their career goals. Lisa Raines

At the end of each clinic session we have a huddle and review problems or concerns that might have come up that day. I always end the huddle by asking, "Is there any more questions?" or "Does anyone have anything they learned today to share?" I already have something I want to share so I appreciate being reminded of silent time before I talk to give my students time to answer. Sometimes I feel like I have to cover all my material when we can learn more through our students answers and sharing!

I also like to put my demonstration on the smart board. I do the demo, then I open the power point where I took pictures of myself doing each phase. They can follow along on the smart board or go off the demo the just watched. The homework is to do it again and practice at home. With my demo as a power point too, they can go back and look at it later.