By effectively motivating your entire classroom, you can assess your students and their potential needs and personalities. It is also important to remember that we all are motivated by different factors. By taking 5 minutes to learn a small detail about your student, you can save yourself the potential for disaster.

When reviewing student surveys, I am always a bit cautious of this statement, especially from students who have just started and have had limited contact with other instructors. While I don't want to sound negative, I have to wonder what makes this person the best teacher ever. I hope that it would be the instructor has effective classroom management, engaged learning and high professional qualities that the students will mirror. However, on the flip side, this could be the instructor who lacks all of these qualities and therefore, the students consider them a peer rather than a leader. Once a student feels that they are on the same level of the instructor, it can be extremely difficult for the instructor to gain the respect of other students, which can lead to future issues within the classroom.

I have mixed feelings on accepting late assignments. As noted, we should be treating homework and projects as assignments given to the student by the future employer. If your boss gives you a hard deadline for a project, they are not going to accept it 5 days past the due date. However, collecting these assignments, can give the instructor an assessment of the student's learning and therefore are extremely important. This is why I feel it is essential to establish your expectations on Day 1 and stick with this policy. Also, to set the example, the instructor must also return assignments, exams and other assessment methods to the students in a timely manner, after all, we set the example of the expectation.

I sometimes find that relating with the students about their issues and problems outside the classroom leads to trouble and respect issues. I want to be relatable, but when does being relatable cross the line?

cheating makes me extremely upset. I tend to take it personally. Does anyone else have this problem?

I,m constantly torn on how to deal with cell phone use in the classroom. should I take it away? Should I let them interrupt their learning? They're adults, they can make their own decisions right? But then I constantly get frustrated when they are busy texting while im teaching. I figure they have control of their education, why should I force them to learn if they don't want to. after all, they are adults and can make their own decisions.

I believe its important to have students that are higher in the program of study to mentor students that are just getting started. In my workplace, we set partner up students with more experience to those with less experience and they help each other through the program. It helps keep students involved and encourages team work.

FIRST DAY OF CLASS IS MY FAVORITE. IT ALLOWS ME TO SEE FRESH NEW FACES AND IT LETS ME KNOW WHOW MANY DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES I WILL BE DEALING WITH. IT ALSO ALLOWS YOU TO GET THEM MOTIVATED FOR THE CONTENT AND PUTS THEM AT EASE AS WELL WHEN THEY MEET THEIR NEW INSTRUCTOR.

I FEEL LIKE STRESS CON BE VERY HARMFUL IN MANY ASPECTS. I KNOW THAT DEALING WITH LIFE IS STRESSFUL IN MANY WAYS, WORK, FAMILY, FRIENDS. YOU NEED TO TRY REALLY HARD TO MAKE A HEALTHY TO DO LISTS. IF YOU CAN FOLLOW EACH ITEM IN THE HIGHEST OF IMPORTANCE IT WILL ALLOW YOU TO MANEUVER LIFE A BIT LESS STRESSFUL.

I have found that when I talk to my co-workers about my stress often times, they are having the same issues. Then we can at least discuss them and see what changes we can make to eliminate of reduce the stress

Boy did I make a few when I first started out. I had technical issues with classroom equipment and my first class on this campus. So i had to totally change my delivery quickly. Also there is a phrase called "Death by Power Point" I lost a class or two until I found my grove and only use them as a back drop and not a crutch.

Many of my students are from the inner city and do not have a support system at home. So they are on their own with this goal of becoming a college graduate. So I have found that students need a dose of motivation daily. We are a very small campus with several different disciplines on campus from accounting to dental and other medical. So each student is close to the faculty and staff. We are many times their only source for normalcy. I took it upon my self to start a program called "Understanding our Students." In this program I found a book called "Bridges Out of Poverty." I think a must read for a career college instructors. Our students have three things that are critical to them 1. housing (shelter) 2. Food 3. Health If any of these are out of balance the student loses focus and is will not attend class.

Hello: I just finished a course of marketing and the project was 50% of the grade as outlined in the syllabus. So to meet this requirement I offered ample time in computer labs to assist students in this project. The course was almost over and several students stated that the project was to big to involved. I reminded them of the amount of time they wasted in lab surfing the internet. Part of my teaching style to build skill sets and traits in these students that have been pushed through the public school systems. 1. prioritize your time 2. complete task on time. As this course stated that many students do not have these skills or traits.

Hello: I have been teaching ground classes for several years now. I have found it necessary to have students sign a form that we have discussed all the rules of the classroom and also the outline of expectations for the course. I have also asked them to sign that we have reviewed the grading/project rubrics. This I was surprised to find that the students want and expect from me now. These are adult students and as this course outlined the expectations of everyone needs and has to be outlined in an open forum. Before I started this signing of expectations and requirements half way through people would start to bend the rules.

I have found that after many years of teaching it can be very easy to fall into a routine. This can cause you to take your teaching for granted coming across to the students as if you are not passionate about your course. Continuing to educate yourself with new skills and information keeps you fresh and new in your teaching skills.

The students can see what its like to be in the dental setting so they can understand what they will be doing in their chosen field.

I have found that by switching from the electronic format to paper and scrambling the question for each student helps to prevent cheating. The students in my class normally take thier quiz’s online giving them the opportunity to cheat by using Google to look up the question.

All adult students have one challenge or another at some point during the time you have them in your course. Financial, personal, medical and family problems can rear its ugly head at any point. I try and see how each student is acting in class on a daily bases. Any change in their attitude or demeanor that lasted more than a couple days, I would meet with them to talk about the problem. Letting the student know that they are not alone sometimes helps. I try not to become their therapist but tell them they can vent to me. This approach along with telling them to try and leave their problems at the door .

Let me start with a little background. I teach Computers and Networking at a technology school. Our curriculum is all electronic based and is structured in a day by day format with lectures, labs and assignments spelled out. There is submittal, due and late dates assigned to lab and assignments. These show up in a calendar on the students laptops. The dates are also verbally announced when they are becoming due. Any assignment handed in after the due date has 10 points deducted up to 30points (3days) after which a 0 is given. This rule is clearly addressed at the beginning of the course and during the course. Yet students continually miss assignments. The student is given time to complete labs during class but do not use this time. The students are given a laptop that is part of their student fees and belongs to them. They have their electronic books on the laptop and can access the LMS system for their daily work . The problem arises when, as an instructor you do not have any control over the programs and content on students laptop. This makes it very hard to monitor them without physically being over their shoulder. I believe this distraction is contributing to the students late or not submitted assignments. The Student needs internet access to complete the assignments so turning off the internet is not an option. Installing any kind of monitoring software is also not an option due to the laptop belonging to the student. I believe this is a double edge sword that is cutting into the student’s grade.

Let the student know what is exceptable classroom behavior. To let students know expectations of the course.