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Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

First day of class

I can remember when attending college, an instructor brought pieces of construction paper and markers to the first night of class. He had all students write their first and last names and created tents to place on the top of desks to keep track of student names throughout the duration of class. He also had us students to continue to bring during each class. I thought this showed interest in the students.

Arriving Early

I always arrive early before class to prepare myself for class. I am the same way with my full-time job. It just makes my day go smoothly when I prepare early.

ED101

This course gave me helpful insight on how to be a better instructor during my next class. Any helpful suggestions from seasoned instructors in the medical field?

Younger Instructor and Older Student

How do you deal with a student that doesnt respect you because of your age .You stay professional but she is off task and focus because she feel she is old enough to be my mother.

Formal greetings for an adults classroom

I've been recruited to teach an advanced marketing class for people wanting to improve their skill set for advancement. These are working adults from the surrounding community. I'm not sure requesting that the class address me as "Mr." is appropriate but I'm open to comments and suggestions.

Rediretion

When teaching a course in learning a certain software, I find that redirection is commonly used when answering a question. For example, if I ask a student, "Give me four ways to zoom in and out of your page on the computer," most of the time I get two to three correct or semi-correct answers. When this happens, I address the issue at hand, then ask another student to add to or finish answering the question correct.y.

Student names

I loved the idea of ticking a checkmark by each student's name to track my interaction patterns with the class. I try to be mindful of connecting with everyone, but I am aware that I develop habits of wanting to zone in on a few select students. On another topic - While this is not specific to groups, it is a unique issue I've encountered with remembering student names (which tends to affect my interaction with students in class and groups)... I find that my brain will "rewire" two students' names in class at some point in the term. Although I know the proper name, I will use an incorrect one, sometimes repeatedly - my brain says "Sue," and my mouth says "Jane." Does anyone else find this happening? And if so, what do you do to ensure you remember the correct name or to course correct? I learn all students' names at the beginning of the semester and use nemonic devices to remember them. I use their names often in class. I don't know what triggers the incorrect naming, but once it happens, I seem to get stuck and have to work very hard to remember the correct one! It's certainly not a major catastrophe, and often the students laugh and tease me - however, it's disruptive for me! Any ideas are welcome :-)

Student assessments

I use a variety of types of assessments including written and online.

Learning Forum

I like to variety content delivery and then have assessments at the end of class to ensure that my students are receiving info and processing it accurately. I adjust as necessary.

BASEBALL

I currently teach at a technical school where most students are fresh out of high school. There are 6 hour lectures on some days which challenges their attention span. For review they take a multiple choice practice test and keep the answer sheet. They then break up into two teams. I draw a baseball diamond on the whiteboard with targets scattered throughout. They then take turns coming up to the plate and throw a suction ball at the white board. I then ask the player what is the answer for question number 15 for example. (or any random number) Only that person answers. If the answer was correct the team gets the score. We then review the question and answer regardless. After the first inning they all have an opportunity as team to look over the practice test and answer sheets. The game continues until all the questions are answered. This keeps the students engaged and working together.

Reinforcing content

While alot of this unit's content was familiar, it was supported by good research and was a great reminder of some important steps for getting students to remember content. The suggestion to reinforce content through review (what's been covered) and preview (anticipate what's to come) was familiar and, I thought, apt. In public speaking, we say "preview, view, review" for your audience - that look back and look forward allows students to download previous content, reboot their attention spans and prepare for new material. I particularly appreciated the concrete tidbits of research - eg, 2-4 topics in 30 minutes - that offer practical "on the ground" reminders for improving student success.

Board Games

I find board games to be an excellent source of active learning in the classroom.

Slow Learners

It gets hard when you have one or two students that are having trouble and are slowing the class down. I try to give them special assignments to help them learn the material.

Using Different Styles

Personally I enjoy using powerpoints, dry erase board, hand-outs, and any materials for the subject that the studen t could put their hands on. I also employ pics and videos to try and hit all learning styles. My classes have been very responsive.

At the Beginning

I find that if I tell my students how much I have learned from teaching a course it will inspire them and also make them realize that they, too, will not know everything and that is okay. I also tell my students that I do not know everything and if you ask me a question I do not know we will figure out together or I will ask them to do some research on their own. They can then share with me only or also with the class!

Question and Answer sessions

I enjoy being able to make answering a question fun in my class. I call this technique phone a friend, pass the ball, or a life line. It seems to make the students more involved. For example, I may ask Sarah a question and she may know a portion of the answer and not the full complete answer. At that point I say, " Would you like to phone a friend?" , "pass the ball?" or get a life line?". This technique has been the most promising for my students and I to have harmony as a unit.I enjoyed this lesson because it also helped me to start restructuring the way I may ask certain questions. Excellent!

ADA

I recently instructed a student that cannot hear but requires sign langauge help in the classroom. Our school has given two instructors to assist during class with delivering sign langauage and the student is wonderful and succeeded in the class very well. This shows that students with disabilities can be successful.

Instruction in a Computer Lab

I believe beginning this general education classroom requires advance preparation, objectives and topics written onto the white board, and possibly handouts for student note taking. I instruct by presenting the basics, then walking around the classroom as students work on computer assignments from myitlab.com. I encourage students to work with one another (on skill-based projects,, not exams) and raise their hand when they need to stop me for assistance. This information in this modular is a perfect reminder that I need to continue teaching as I have been, oh, with a smile, too! :)

Motivating Students who are uncertain

It's overall easy to motivate students who want to learn and have a passion for the field they have chosen. What tools do you use to motivate those who are uncertain about the career path they've chosen? We have many students who feel culinary is an easy profession and cooking has to be fun so they enroll. Their passion and desire to work hard are not there. The food ntwork portrays cooking as fun, glamorous,easy and you can amke a lot of money. All these are far from the truth for most culinarians. What can we do for these students?

Adult Learners with Disabilities

I have ready many of your posts and agree with most of the comments. I have found that some adult learners do not want to share their disability with me unless pressed. For example, I had a student who was easily upset and hated exams. I offered to tutor her, but she was very hard to reach and extremely defensive. Finally, during one of the exams she was in an absolute panic mode, and I asked to see her outside. I told her I knew she was very private about her personal life, and I wouldn't want to intrude, but was it possible she had a learning disability? She immediately told me she didn't do well on exams and was dislexic. I gave her extra time on her exam, and it changed her entire attitude about me and the class. We added her disability to CampusVue to aid other instructors. I think students tell us about their disabilities when they want us to know and on their own timetable.