Often students are motivated to get a good grade, but fail to “own” the information. I encourage my students to “own” the information rather than just learn it to pass a test. If they review the material, find it relevant to their furture lives, discuss it, try to teach it to someone and if possible apply it; then they “own” it. In other words they have put it into long term memory. Then when they need to use it in the real world they have it. Or can easily go to the source for details. Student need to be encouraged… >>>

Many students are afraid to ask questions. They may have been humiliated or embarrassed in the past and are very shy about asking questions. I tell my students at the on-set of the class that I encourage questions. Most of the time other students have the same question and they are thankful that someone was brave enough to ask a question. When students do ask a question, I answer it in as positive a tone as I can and thank them for asking. When they complain that other instructors do not answer or answer in a negative manner, I encourage… >>>

What advice can you offer concerning fostering better social interactions between students in the classroom? With students ranging in age from 18 to 60 in some of our programs, we occasionally run into very volatile confrontations between class members who are fed up with the "high school mentality" of fellow students, the issue of classroom cliques, and the "he/she was talking about me" complaints. One situation escalated when three women ages 23 to 28 (all mothers!!) began screaming at each each other, the police were called, and the Director of Education threatened to withdraw all three students if they continued… >>>