This, probably more than anything in this lesson, struck a cord with me. I know it's true, and I've known it for a long time, but just seeing it now in print made me stop and ponder it anew. I've been teaching now for about 12 years, and early on I became of aware of something pretty profound. That when I started, I thought that I would be teaching what I knew to the students. In reality, though, it turned out to be that I found out WHAT I knew by trying to teach it. This really is the same idea as Most Learning Takes Places Outside of the Classroom. It takes place when you try to apply it at home, at work, in real life. It just so happened for me that my work WAS the classroom. As instructors, I think we all want to help students to learn, but I think it's also easy to forget that we aren't the end-all of their education. Education and learning have to continue beyond the classroom, and, as instructors, it's really our job to help give them the tools and training to succeed not so much IN but beyond the classroom. I think this has helped me today. And I don't know if I'm just a control freak or what because I'm already trying to come up with some ways now that I can bring Beyond the Classroom situations INTO the classroom. :-D

The content is good and adds a great deal of additional knowledge to teachers.

What do you do to keep the students in the back row as engaged as the students in the front?

I have not had much experience with that yet. But it is good to know if I do geta student with disability, how I can hepl them.

I have had some students in my classes. They seem very focused and try and work hard to be in my class and submit assignments and participate.

I feel that group assigents are admired by averarge or poor students. Good students dislike it as they feel like they are doing all the work . They are always more enthusiastic and do their part of the assignment well. I do agree that it helps students know each other better in a group. They make new friends, exchange phone no. etc. which works later on as they help each other and try to work on homework assignments togetehr as well.

One thing that I have done that helps and reminds students why they are here is having them set goals. I use this exercise with a class that is just starting. Every week when they meet with me about their grades, we go over the goal that they set for that week and see if they had met it or not.

The course is based around a series of problems that the students work through with you serving as a consultant and director.

How should a class sessions be structured ?

What portions of the content are germane to the learning goals/objectives?

How do you know if your a good instructor?

Is there any way to assess a students prefered learning style before they start a program. Often times a student is 1/3 of the way or more through school before their stlye is identified. It would be great if there was somethig to identify their style upon admission to school...

As I teach in a school which has a very diverse population (South Florida), I have to deal with students of various language/understanding skills. As it mentions through this section, it helps to learn some words of the students' language. Since I am a multilingual speaker, I tend to bring out words the students will understand from their own language so they will understand the day's topic. It also helps that the classes I tend to teach tend to focus on topics which are close to most international/other language students.

HI Everyone... I wanted to start a thread about professional organizations that you are a member of to pass along to all instructors who read this discussion. This would be a great list to share for our professional development plans. I am in the Twin Cities area and there are two groups that I would like to mention right away: 1. ASTD - American Society of Training and Development. They are a national organization and have local chapters all over the United States. www.astd.org 2. PACT - Professional Association of Computer Trainers. This one is specific to MN. The website is www.pactvision.net Thanks for contributing!

I do try to keep my classes fresh and up to date by relating the subject matter to current events, when possible. I'm just wondering what do other instructors do to keep their material fresh, to avoid becoming stale and boring?

I teach online. Before class begins, I think its important to post a welcome letter, a meet & greet discussion board, and a list of student expectations. I introduce myself in the meet & greet, including my professional background. For the most part, the students respond positively.

Many times, I have had students come to me and express their fears about their ability to complete the course successfully. I try to let them know, that even though they are expected to perform, the classroom is safe. I tell them that many other people have completed the course successfully, and the odds are their favor, if they apply themselves. I'm just wondering what other instructors do to reduce their students' anxiety.

I had to teach one year with little to no hands on materials. I instead made the students create and act out scenarios. The would have to create paper props, so even though we did not have any actual materials we had paper ones and they really did well. However, I would really like some more ideas on things that someone could do with limited resources.

I find that if you stay in one place the energy of the class and of the students starts lacking. However, once I start moving, with the students following me they are almost always paying attention to see what I will do next. I also tend to stress important topics that they should remember using hand gestures and movements. When I'm excited about a topic, I show it and the students seem to take it in like osmosis.

Is there a realation or sub division of styles of learning to the science- art of the brain?