I was pleased to see that after completing this module, I felt that I already possess many of the qualities of an excellent instructor as described. However, one area I feel I can improve upon is clarity. I often feel like I dance around the point when I answer student questions or am easily side tracked. I will definitely use some or all the techniques described in this course to keep myself more focused.

I really liked the idea of this module focusing on personal story sharing as a supplement to instruction. I feel I share a lot of personal stories with my students (I teach career development and customer service) and that I am able to make points while keeping my students interest better when I share something personal. I do find that I sometimes adjust personal stories to make my my points rather than being entirely truthful. However, they better fit the learning objectives after my subtle tweaking.

In my current teaching position most of my students are older and fit perfectly into the model of an adult learner. However, I occasionally get students who are of traditional college age and expectations. I feel like I lose them a little because they do not approach the work or class with the same mindset that the majority of my class does. I also feel that my younger students receive less of my attention because they are often more technologically savvy and need less help. Should I feel guilty about this? I always receive positive feedback about the class from traditional aged students but I am not sure that I am reaching them in the way I want to.

It is important that you get to know each of your students. My first day of class I do alot of bonding techniques so that all the students will feel comfortable whether young or old.

In many of the courses I teach, I have found that dividing them into a midterm and a final is not necessarily conducive to student retention. I tend to have quizes more frequently, dividing some of my courses into thirds or quarters, and, in one instance, giving a quiz every week. This tends to make it easier for me to keep my focus and the students to keep their focus.

I think having the students relate their life experience to their feild helps them to connect and appreciated what it's going to take to be successful and how what they have already gone though can help them.

I teach career development at a career college. Because I am the first instructor most of the students have, I have incorporated a lot of student retention theory into my courses. Part of my teaching style, both to achieve my classroom objectives of creating a safe and effective learning environment, and to foster a sense of inclusiveness for the students is to have a strong interpersonal connection with my students. However, occasionally I wonder where to draw the line when asking students to share their personal and valuable experiences and insight. I want to use the valuable life experiences my students enter the classroom with in a productive way, but I don't want it to just seem like a social session. Any suggestions?

I really think it is very inportant for instructors to stay excided and motivated about teaching, if we as instructors lose our zeal and excitment our students will lose their and that defeats what we are trying to do. Yes sometimes we do get worn out but we have to refocus and power ourselves back up to their goals.

I find teaching adults to be most enlighting most of the time because they are very attentive to what they are learning, they ask questions, do research, and try to get the most out of the class, and as an instructor that make teaching the class very exciting.

A key to sucess in any class is to feel like the teacher cares. They must know the students and notice when more help is needed. Sometimes students are scared to ask for help. If the teacher can anticipate the needs, the students will feel motivated to work at the material.

As instructors we would like to think that our adult learners would be self motivated but most of the time thats just not the case, we have to be ready to give lots of support, encourgement, and motivation not to mention praise and reasurrance to help them reach their goals.

Expecting success,developing a community of learners, placing a value on learning, can aid in keeping your students motivated.

having a well managed and organized classroom creats a better environment for the students and elminats distraction from the subject at hand

promoting and embracing classroom diversities would encourage students from all different backgrounds to reamain in the classrooms, also by offering tutorial sessions for students who can't grasp the the subject in class can resort to for further clarification.

visual learner, aural or Auditory learners,read/write, Kinesthetic learners who prefer learning via hands-on activities. these are some of the ways an instructor can reach his/her students. understanding there needs and meeting their cognitive capacity

Instructors must recognize what it takes to make all students feel important and valued. Taking time to know their students will help the instructor develop methods that will retain the student's interest.

Being successful in college entails a certain enthusiasm for wanting to know and learn about things that a student can use to enhance their growth and understanding. The instructor can always use these tools as reinforcements to engage as reasons for wanting to be successful in college.

Always keep in mind that your job doesn't only provide for the transferral of knowledge, but it actually allows for students to rethink about why they are there. If you are not excited about your daily instruction, they will recognize this and it will reflect upon their desire to put forth the effort to take on the challenges of school and be willing to be determined to graduate.

As an instructor, you should seek out opportunities to apply the class content to what the students would actually use it for once they are in the workforce. These work-based scenarios will pique their interests and instill in them the reason why they enrolled in the first place, which was to become productive citizens within their chosen career field.

Students in most classes come from many diverse backgrounds, ages, and instructional/learning preferences. They know and understand how they were taught in the public school system and sometimes are accustomed to that style of learning or may be dissatisfied with their childhood learning experiences and expect a proprietary school to meet and/or exceed their expectations. Sometimes it is a difficult task for the instructor to take all of these different learning styles and preferences into consideration while still covering the core competencies of the course. In my experience as an instructor, I have found that sometimes sharing your life experiences and stories does help the students realize that you have been in their place and are capable of getting them through this transitional phase of uncertainty by telling them your successes as well as your challenges when you were in college. They really appreciate you making the classroom experience real for them so that they begin to believe that their goals and dreams are attainable, but they first must make that effort and your facilitation of the class objectives will then seem within their reach.