I have been an instructor for only 5 years at a vocational educational institution for future mechanics. We have 5 hour long classes 5 days a week. I have found that keeping students engaged during the lecture portions of a lesson is not only the most difficult part but also a critical component to successful labs later on. This is especially true in of classes with high student counts and night classes where many of the students have already worked for 8 hours plus travel time. In my limited experience I have found the greatest successes when I deliver the… >>>

At my 4-year university, I often muse on how I could access the building plans for the classrooms, because I am sure each classroom door has a special field built into it that causes the students' minds to be wiped of all their classroom experience when they exit the room. Here is a classic example. At one time, I was teaching a series of 3 x 10-week information security classes, one right after the other, and had the same small cohort of students in each. The students were at the 300-level of instruction, so presumably they had mastered study and… >>>

The two statements made here about some students coming in with a sense of entitlement and the one about using common sense really struck a nerve with me. I teach at a for-profit technical education school located in a city with a high population of lower-income students, many of whom see this as a way up out of poverty. I'm glad they're trying to improve their lives and make a better living for themselves and their children, but so many of our students come to us expecting our education philosophy to be the same as in the large public city… >>>

It is a challenge to get students involved in classroom discussions;maybe because students feel intimidated or because they don't want to be embarassed in front of their peers. However, if you ask interesting and probing questions you will be able to break through the barriers that keep students from actively engaging in the learning process. Also, I like to assign group work in the classroom. This encourages both team work and students feel more open to trying their ideas out with one peer. Are there others way to get apathetic students to "own" their education, instead of relying on the… >>>

The overlying assumption in this sort of topic, which is something familiar to me over long standing, is that somehow the material needs to be adapted to the students, so their intelligence types and learning styles are maximized. Of course, in a lot of cases, this is exactly what should happen. Not in all, however. It seems to me incredible that someone who is not verbal/linguistic could be successful in the practice of law, since that is the core of the profession. Which in turn means that trying to 'juice' law studies up by appealing to other intellectual styles is… >>>