Adding proffessionals as project of techniques facilitators or project critique assistants has proven to be an enthusiasm and motivational plus.

What are some other ways to get out of a class slump/rut?

By providing students with the opportunity to assess each project, could this create an atmosphere where students will question their assignments? Could this be detrimental to achieving course objectives?

Issuing surveys on the first day of class awards me with information about students' career goals, experience in the subject, and personal interests - all variables that help me to develop a successful learning environment.

How can an instructor discern between a student's inability to grasp a concept or general lack of interest in the subject?

By bringing in former graduates who are working in their prospective fields as guest speakers or critics for final projects, we can show our students how the relevance of their learning.

If you continue to keep taking classes and broadening your education, you will observe effective ways to change up your routine of teaching skills, that you can incorporate into your teaching style.

A way to get new students to feel like they are part of a community could be to get them involved with extra curricular activites that would be beneficial to their learning experience.

When teaching a CAD class where there are varying degrees of pre-existing competencies, is there an effective way of assisting the most needy students without making the other students feel like they are waiting for them to catch up?

Instructors in a Career College setting need to establish an employer/employee relationship.

One method I uses is what I call shadowing. As mentioned in this topic some of these students come from harsh background and have never worked in a professional environment, so they have fears and anxiety. Probably at times wondering, "what am I doing in school!" Shadowing is used basically in Professional Development or another business course. I would call one of the local high schools, county court house, or any professional environment. Call and schedule an appointment for 1 hour. Your class is to sit with a professional in one on one. The student may ask questions, walk around with the employee and take notes. Then afterwards you might want to go eat somewhere or back to class and discuss what they learned. It is a very rewarding experience to both you and the student. They come out saying, I can do this too! If you need more information, please write to me.

Sometimes the administration needs to be refocused. How do you do it?

student motivation has always been an issue. i've taught pretty much every grade from kinder to high school to a community college and now a career college. i've always felt that the knowledge of the subject matter is always the best motivator. this, however, must be in conjunction with other factors of teaching; susch as, humor, empathy or leniency, understanding or caring. once a student see that you are willing to bend over backwards for them they do set to complete their work, and even try to please the instructor, and hopefully with that they learn what is necessary to graduate and succeed in their career choice.

If your school has ATB students, do you give them any reading or other tests to help determine the students basic learning abilities?

in my last forum topic i mentioned that the students find me to be a stickler to rules. i, however, do build a good rapport with my students regardless of this perception. i find that if i can relate and interact outside the class i get the needed classroom attention and work product. i build this rapport outside as well as in the classroom by joking around with them. i feel this helps put them at ease.

If you use your classroom as a simulated Work Site, how did you set it up and how do you evaluate your students?

many of my students feel that i'm am rather a stickler to rules. i feel that a structured environment is conducive to the learning process. i rarely if ever have a class luncheon at the end of our semesters. i try to utilize as much of the classroom time that i possibly can for the students to receive and learn information that will enable them to succeed in the career chosen. i'm my hardest critic in that if the students don't get what they want once they graduate i blame myself for that failure,if you will. so how much should i lighten up and reward the students?

recently our school had a couple of verbal altercations amongst students and with educators. when students come in with certain expectations and even high standards from the school and don't receive them they do get frustrated and vent out either verbally or sometimes even physcially. it is understood that educators must be the motivating factor for their education, but how far must one go in motivating students who may have already have a mindset of not following through or even following rules? i am enthusiastic about my decision to educate in a career college, but must i babysit constantly? i do become frustrated myself in that i question sometimes if i want to continue. any other ideas on how to be a better motivator for my students and the student body as a whole?

Sharing personal experiences has been a key motivator in my class. I have a wide range of age diversity in my class they all have discouraging times but I am able to share personal experiences that influence all, no matter what the age is and produces encouragement amongst each other. No matter the age, everyone can learn something new!

I find that the most entertaining and productive classes are when all the students participate in the lesson. It gives the opportunity for students to relate the material they are learning with class topics and sometimes it even helps other students understand material better.