I find that most of my students that struggle with the course material have things of a personal nature that are serving as a barrier to the learning process. With younger students it tends to be social issues and with older students it tends to be time issues due to family or work. I do not want to invade a student's personal privacy to discover what their learning struggles may be. I find that if I can't get the student to open up about personal issues, I am at a loss on how to help them. Any strategies to approach personal issues would be greatly appreciated!

I find that no matter the age of my students, many are lacking in critical thinking skills. Often they can't apply reason to a problem to figure out a solution -- for example, if a knob is missing on a piece of equipment, but there are 5 other removeable knobs that are exactly the same on that same piece of equipment, how can you figure out what the setting is on the control that's missing a knob? Beyond the technical skills they need to do the job, they need problem solving skills. How do other instructors address this issue?

Motivation to me as an instructor is being the coach and the cheerleader for the students. The coach gives the instruction and the cheerleader encourages them to continue......

I need to remember some times to step back and refocus my self for the sake of my students and my self as well as their experience within my courses.

I have already increased my own knowlegde for how I will approach some of the adult learners in my courses moving forward.

there are all different kinds of motivation, money, praise ect.

it's easy to get caught up in the moment or moments of the day.. fall back, regroup and punt. Learn from it, failure is the best teacher!!!! But, Learn from it!!

reading the students or ( employee ) right away is so important in management or teaching. Knowing your starting point and threshold- how hard to push.

This is so great. It's so true, the diversity information is so helpful, where their from, at what age and why they are here. A great starting point for a learning relationship!!

What about letting students know they can contact you the instructor for extra help if needed?

I found this a very instructive edition through the application of the concepts expertise, enthusiasm, empathy and clarity.

The above word can be defined by many terms which are more familiar to both students and instructors.

Student discipline appears to be more difficult in our public schools today. A good discussion regarding the possible causes would be both very stimulating and profitable.

I like to tell the student the important topics we will be covering the next day at the end of each class so they know they will be in the next day and will not want to miss the material.

I love to pull out lessons learned from my past jobs in the video industry. I tend to be a little of a 'digital pack rat' in that I keep a lot of the stuff I worked on over the years, including early drafts and versions. This stuff is invaluable when creating a lesson plan or a powerpoint guide. By using real world stuff I can show where things went off track, and more importantly, how the problems got solved!

I find myself getting sucked into students medical issues and I feel like my hands are tied because I work at a school and not in the medical field where I have a host of options. I have a student that is a juvenile IDDM and is only twenty. In the middle of class she states she feel like killing herself and don't think she will live to see thirty. I did not know what the resources were so I explained to the class that if a patient said that, we would let the provider know immediately. Now what should my follow through be, I don't know.

As an intrinsically motivated learner, I sometimes find it difficult to reach out to my unmotivated students. I find myself with the attitude that it's their money and their life; if they don't care to work, I can only do so much to help them. This is especially true considering the schedule and lifestyle of the adjunct instructor. I teach English at three schools in three different programs. I'm provided with course syllabi and textbooks for each course, but individual lesson resources/activities, tests, quizzes, etc., are often lacking when they're provided at all. And it can be difficult to network as an adjunct instructor. In other words, as a young instructor with training in his field but not in teaching, I find my time already full between familiarizing myself with the course curriculae, coming up with any (let alone good) class activities, and grading. I enjoy teaching and care about the success of my students. But I find the idea of motivating them really challenging. I feel really prepared to work with motivated students. I'm encouraged by their enthusiasm and excited by their accomplishments. When they'd rather play on their smartphones or gaze out the window, I'm pretty content to let them as long as they're not distracting others. How about those with more experience? Does it get easier to work on motivating students when you're not constantly battling to keep up with your lesson plans and grading? How do you get to know the "personal interests and hobbies" of your students when you have so many full classes? Is this something that also becomes easier with time? And how do you balance professional development (such as spending the recommended four hours on this module), all the responsibilities of teaching, getting to know your students, and not have it bleed into your personal life? Maybe these are all common concerns for an inexperienced teacher who has the good fortune of getting several jobs at once, but any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Could someone please share there experiences

Has anyone had any experience with and if you have what is some advice you could give from your experience ?

How do you use reinforcement with a student who wont respond?