It is very important to ID the learning styles of the student. A student that wants a demos will not react to a lecture or audio.

I have noticed that frequent quizzes work great to keep students on their toes, also when students have trouble with a particular quiz they usually take it personally and strive to improve imediately. It usually spurs alot of good questions so that student fully understands the material for the future.

at times if I have a quit group I will give them the info then have a casual review and then go into more detail about the content of the subject. Dan Butler

if you are prepared for your course you can help your students by outlining the days activities on the board before class so as the students arrive they can look and what the plan is for the day.

Hands on is the best learning process for my line of instruction. I enjoy being envolved with each student as they work with a client to see how they envlove with their duties and stay on task.

One of the greatest challenges I have as an adjunct at 4 different institutions is ensuring that I am up to date with the current syllabi and required textbooks. Each University/College uses different methods to communicate to adjuncts and I find that I have to initiate much of the communication myself. Each term I have a least one new textbook to read before I begin teaching. Adjuncts don't seem to get much input into the selection of the textbooks. While I don't mind using the latest editions and new approaches, I find myself spending a lot of time reorganizing my lesson plans to accommodate each change. If not for the great joy I find in teaching as well as the satisfaction I enjoy while performing under pressure, I would give up this gig!

I don't mean to be critical but I have a suggestion. The section on classroom setup talks about preparing your classroom and ensuring you have enough chalk for blackboards. I haven't used chalk in at least 15 years. Are there still classrooms with chalkboards? If not, I think it would be a good idea to change the text in this area as it gives the impression that this training material is old an outdated. At least put a reference to markers and white boards.

I have noticed over and over again that yes-no or true-false questions are usually useless to keep the attention of a class and to further the learning potential. You can see on their faces that close ended questions are no challenge and very little want to participate. I found that layered questions that cause students to create their own answer keeps their attention and sparks atleast a general interest into the subject.

What are some of the best tools you have found for classroom assessment of your students?

I keep records of my class progress and how I feel each group responds to the same method of lecture or demos. I then try new things a little at a time to see what works best as a whole.

I have noticed that performing demonstrations then having the students performing the action encompasses several of the learning methods. First putting the directions on the board helps the written person, performing the action is for the visual and auditory, then having them perform it covers the kinesthetic person or hands on person.

I find that if I spend alot of time do a good job planning, the teaching part is easy. I've learned as an Instructor if you don't put the sweat in the prep you will sweat teaching the class.

know your meterial be for class. give corse lay out learn students names

Motivating a student is the hardest thing to do. It is not always easy to find the right bias to get their full interest and motivation. However it is by far the most challenging endeavour.

Having hard time gathering all the informatoiom and not being overwelmed.

I'm in my third week of new instructor training,along with sitting in a class for two weeks prior observing, I feel I am becoming more and more relaxed but also feel that I should be at a more comfortable state than I am when I give my lessons. Any help to get me in my comfort zone quicker would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I have found that most instructors, including myself, find it refreshing to alter their normal content delivery style. Thus, this practice is beneficial for pupil and teacher alike.

More of a question than a comment here... What about open book tests? Are open book tests that require a student to resource, read and understand information to correctly answer a test question valid? What might some pros or cons of this type of testing be?

I have learned that that first day can make you or break you in the eyes and mind of the student. If you can't be prepared that first day, how can the student feel that you are able to teach them successfully? First impressions are very important in anything you do especially in front of a room full of people that are ready to learn something from you. You don't want them to learn that you are unprepared or unorganized.

I have had a couple of experiences with cohort groups. The first was an experience where I had not truly learned class control yet. That particular group was very hard to keep in line and was a big distraction for the rest of the class. Since that point I have learned to find who the cohort groups were and use them to my advantage. For example if I were teaching transmissions, I would first find out who that students were that had been to another trans. class or had field experience. I would then separate that group and make lab team leaders out of them. This tends to have a great outcome in the lab as well as the class, because in most cases that lab group would then come back to class and sit near eachother. This keeps them from getting bored and causing distractions because thaty are kept busy.