Working with multicultural diversity at a college level could be a real challenge for facilitators and administrators. People coming from different cultural backgrounds carry on different educational experiences and sometimes hold "non traditional" expectations of educative processes. We have to deal with cultural accomodations, language accomodations and translate those into an effective educative planning. Those accomodations may involve all parts of college support systems, admissions, academic counseling, registrars and facilitators.

What are some sources of motivation to keep students interested in completing assignments, taking notes, etc.?

I gave my student motivation by reinforcemet on your good work, no matter how bad it look, or I tell them. they will do better next time on your project. motivation for a student is very important.

I am in instructor in cake decorating. when I am going to give a demostration and I gave them hang out, they start asking questions before time,in another word before I start the demostration,the problem is one student start after another one and so on,what I gave done is I tell them to wait until I have finsh gaven the demostration,them ask questions

when I see a student falling behind, or if having a hard time, with the suject they working on, I gave them my personal attention by helping them with there suject,I give some more sample to practice with.and let them know they will catch up

I am instructor in a rehab school,most of my students are spanish,I have to spend more time with them in reading, to make sure they did unstand what we had just cover.

As i continue my journy into this exercise, I feel my job isnt as easy as we think. My students majority are rehabs. And when the students lack a solid education background, it seems almost impossible to keep up with him or her. To make my point clear, i find students with multiple variable that doesnt my make my teaching easy. For instance: 1. note taking. I give handout and class lecture,it becomes difficult. Imagine the student trying to write every word by word of what I am saying. Also, they lack of vocabulary, and slow hand writing. 2. language barrier. (dont know if this falls into this chapter). I am teaching back and forworth spanish and english. And on top of that, books are in english. And computer operating system in school is in english. Need Help and Feedback from others teachers. Thank you.

As an instructor in a Rehab School, I face on a day to day basis with students of 55-60 year old ages. I find it extremely challenge and difficult to teach them since they have very little educational background, and have dissabilities. The things they learn, might take them a great amount of time to pick it up. But again, I only have couple of hours to teach them the topic. The next day, they will forget what they have learned. I have no problem, going over the subject with them, but I have a syllabus to follow, so time is critical. Each module will cover about 20-30 chapters for two week period. On top of Memory Retention, many of these students suffer pain and other problems at home. Please, I will like to hear from others what you guys will do, and can do to improve and speed up the classes.

Some students (even very good ones) seem so shy that they never hold up their hands when you ask a class question. If you call on this student and he/she doesn't know the answer, you risk turning them off for good. On the other hand, if they do supply an answer, you have created participation. One tactic (as mentioned in our lesson) would be to ask "opinion" type questions in this situation, since no right/wrong is involved. In my experience, however, shy students often answer "yes" or "no" or "not sure" to wiggle out of having to say something. Any other ideas?

A key element in retaining students is to "touch the career" - to constantly remind students that what they are doing has reason and value. The classroom itself can be used for this purpose. Ideally, every time the student steps across the threshold he should feel he is IN the career. In some fields (culinary, auto mechanics, etc.) this is done for you since classes are taught in kitchens, shops, etc. But how do you dress a bookkeeping class? One instructor made posters of tax forms, balance sheets, W9's, etc. and hung them around the walls. For a class on employment interviewing, another instructor moved in an executive desk, small rug and applicant's chair.

I find that the best weapon against student frustration is success. Any success, even in the smallest thing, gives a degree of confidence and establishes a positive mental "template" for future activity. I have made it a rule for myself that every day, every student should leave the classroom having accomplished something. Towards that end, I make an initial student application as simple as possible, model it thoroughly, even run a rehearsal before the real thing. Once they have had initial success, however, later applications are provide progressively less help and require more original work.

Are students more easily motivated by having early classes - say 6 AM to 2 Pm or by having classes begin at 8am? What is the "best learning time" as a means of promtoting motivation and retention. Differentiating between the physical aspect and the psychological aspects of the learning climate- what are some of the stressors assocaited with early classes or late classes?

I dont know how many times I have seen teachers at the beginning of their course start strong but wane off and end a course like it was a burden to them. I myself have been guilty of that as well from time to time. REFOCUS is an excellent way to keep myself excited about going into a classroom. Is there any other literature you can recommend specifically for teachers?

When i teach our vocational courses the students tend to be in the age 25-35 group. Most are family men/women that just got out of work to come into class, and most importantly paid good money to be there. Occasionally i get the younger students in the class mixed in with them and usually have their parents paying their tuition. I tend to notice that the older students that paid out of their own pocket are more focused than the ones that didnt have to pay for themselves (which seems logical). Would it be wrong to cater to my older students a bit more than my younger ones in class that fit my description above?

I strongly beleive that teachers are sometimes looked at as confidants to a student. I dont know how many times i have been approached by a student with concerns...whether they are classroom-related or personal. I tend to draw a line with the personal stuff like "sorry i was not really into the class today, i had a bad argument with my girlfriend earlier and i don't know what to do about her." What are your ways to spin that so you dont sound like you dont care but to not get involved with their personal issues?

Life Experience Teaching at Career College is wonderful because most students bring their life experience to school which helps others with lack of experience. Some of my students have strong work experience that applies in my class. I take advantage of that by creating groups and name a student leader when working in projects. The student leader will help the rest of them and I just walk around to make sure they understand the material. It's amazing how useful that life experience can be if the instructor can take advantage of it.

Focus Focus is an important part of an instructor. I've been teaching for 6 years but I started to pay special attention to material preparation for just about two years. Now I think the students learn quicker because lectures and hand outs are ready when I get to the classroom. I also pay close attention to the course syllabus that way I don't miss subjects at all.

It's a real challenge to me when I face students with learning disabilities especially in reading (dyslexia). I make them write the sentence or paragraph that I want them to learn for a few times then they get some ideas out topic. Can any of you advice me with another teaching method?

Occassionally in class I'll have a student that is a little more difficult to motivate than others and I'll begin to mention what type of capitol they can earn in our profession. Is this wrong ?

Dr. Meers, In numerous courses I have taught, I've restrained myself from using the element of surprise because of fear that it could backfire and completely cause the wrong effect. As a computer support instructor, I would find it fitting that computer technicians in training would benefit from ocassionally being surprised. For instance, one time I planned a drill that would have a student perplexed, encountering a computer that is malfunctioning after it was working perfectly fine before the coffee break. I've done this drill a few times with mixed success. One time, the students were able to succesfully fix the problem... another, they proceeded erroneously and even caused irrepairable damage. Yes, there was a learning experience, but I do not know to what extent it was positive or it was discouraging. After the incident I tried being supportive and debrief the students in order to ensure they understood what happenned... nevertheless, I had doubts as to whether reattempt to continue this approach. Are there any suggestions, in your perspective, that can provide some insight into delivering a "safer" positive effect while using a high impact surprise?