I believe it is important to let students know that you take cheating seriously. Diligent students resent cheaters - they are not part of the academic community that a class normally forms. I think that while it would be impossible to absolutely be certain I have eliminated cheating, my clear and reasonable efforts assure good students that their effort is respected and I am doing my best to protect the value of their grade.

I have found that I need to keep in mind that the student and I are in a partnership - they are attending college to better themselves and I am engaged in helping them sharpen their skills and discover hidden talents. This attitude helps me distance myself from a potential personality clash and enables me to see the difficulty from a technical perspective - a puzzle to be solved - rather than as an instructor-student conflict.

I like the idea of presenting real world applications for the knowledge to be mastered in the course. Particularly regarding techniques that the student will polish during the term - their ability to master large chunks of information; their ability to synthesize differing points of view on a controversial topic; and, in my teaching, learning how to manage teamwork for a grade that will reflect those skills.

What is the number of students in a group?

Does it has to a certain number of page?

I have found that by assigning a research project that requires the students to observe in their specific career choice has greatly improved unmotivated/thinking of dropping students to recommit their time and effort to their studies. It gives them “a light at the end of the tunnel” so to speak where they can see what they will be doing once they graduate from the program.

To do lists are great to follow. They keep you on track and they also keep you informed of what you need to do and what you have done. If you decide to delegate, the to-do-list will also be great for communicating with the person you are delegating pieces of the list to. Just remember once you have created the list it needs to be followed and don't overwhelm or overdo then it just defeats the purpose of the list.

As an undergraduate and graduate student, I always made school my priority. My parents could not really contribute financially to my higher education, and as a result, I relied heavily on financial aid, including massive student loans. I did well academically overall and pursued mathematics, which is a subject I am passionate about. I did work part-time as a tutor, lab/teaching assistant, and grader to cover all my books and transportation expenses. It was hard working more than 20 hours on a given week because of school conflicts as I also needed to cover rent and utilities. Nevertheless, my grades and learning the material presented in class usually came first. My adult students are a different story. I understand that they have families of 4 kids who need to be homeschooled, are suffering from the side effects of triple by-pass heart surgery, are getting divorced from an abusive spouse, have been out of school between 6 and 35 years, and work three jobs just to survive. Reality is far from ideal, and I am fully aware of that. Any effort they make to further their education is commendable. Notwithstanding, I can't accommodate them with late assignments on a consistent basis. I also don't consider studying 8 to 10 hours outside of class an unreasonable proposition for a college level math course, which is at best remedial high school material. I also strongly believe that they should seek help from me or an available tutor as soon as they notice a poor grade on a quiz or problem set. But to my dismay, this is only wishful thinking. I tell all my students that math requires patience and dedication; unless you already know the material, it is unlikely that you can prepare well for a midterm the night before. Moreover, most of my students have either failed algebra on multiple tries or barely passed their Prep Math course with a D. With only two exceptions, the better students don't study as hard as they should because they are confident in their abilities, and then they see a decrease in their quiz scores. In turn, all of this stresses me out because program directors want to know why their students are not doing well in my class (which leads to mostly unsuccessful interventions with failing students), the students become angry and frustrated, and I start feeling incompetent as an instructor when only 3 out of 10 students show signs of truly understanding the material. I have been tempted to tell some of these students to reevaluate their choices and reconsider if attending college at this juncture in their lives is really the best idea. I know they are not studying as they should; they barely dedicate a few hours before class to their homework; they expect the allowed calculator will solve rational equations for them without having to know what is going on; and they simply don't assume any responsibility whatsoever for their performance in my class. Unfortunately, I know this might sound discouraging and would affect retention, so I bite my tongue. My department chair is aware of this, and he has told me it's a challenge that originates from our student body. Other than not passing along students from the Prep Math course with a grade below 80% (curve not included), which is something outside my control, I don't know how to minimize this source of stress. I would appreciate any insight.

Can the instructor's behavior have an effect on the students behavior ?

What are the key factors to deal with challenging students?

What are the key point to setting a stage of success?

How can we prepare ourselves as instructors to avoid making the common mistakes such as poor classroom manegement

What if my obstacles change over time or work synergistically against me? During the beginning of the 10-week term, I am excited about teaching Algebra to my students and even grading does not seem so bad. So, I try to get everything done right away. Since I teach part-time and tutor privately on my own, I am not really exhausted by the initial burst of effort. But then, about three weeks in, students start handing in assignments late or start to skip class one week or two and fall behind with regular quizzes as well. Despite our strict attendance policies, several students are usually late or absent. Since my class sizes always range between 3 and 10 students and retention is a big issue at my college, I become lenient and lose control of when the work gets turned in. Then, I procrastinate as I don't want to grade quiz 4 or homework number 3 on three separate occasions. Moreover, students that don't do their work on time copied off the graded assignments from those that submitted problem sets by the specified deadline. I figured this out after I saw strings of familiar errors in the late work. Needless, to say, the last 2 weeks of the term I am still grading tons of make-up work. I have tried using point deductions on late work or saying I would not accept tardy assignments, but neither strategy solved the problem. Of course, students rebelled against such policies when they consistently missed classes due to family or job conflicts. And as I said above, because retention is so important, I do cave in to avoid having several students drop the course at once. If everyone has submitted their assignments and no further quizzes need to be taken, it takes me much longer to get everything graded with all the accumulated make-ups. What can I do in this case?

I find the use of the pejorative "con-man/women" to refer to certain students rather distasteful. It seems reflective of a belief that some students are just bad people and not worth the instructional effort.

In this age of technological breakthroughs that occur very often, we as instructors have to be techno-savy. The student is barraged with information by the second. An instructor must be as rapid fire with information, reiterate the info for those who may not have absorbed it the first time, then question the qroup as a whole to observe if your information was grasped, digested, and the precept absorbed. Question any abberrations from the precept, and if necessary, reiterate with an analogy. Keep them involved, engrossed, empowered with the knowledge you are presenting.

I have found during my experience with challenging students, some either forgot or did not get the ground work or they have forgotten the necessary concepts that are needed to be applied to the current task at hand. Therefore, they become frustrated and challenging.

I can really relate to worrying about the "what ifs". I teach four hour long classes and starting out my biggest fear was, "what if I run out of material at the third hour?" I always tried to plan an extra hour's worth of material. However, now Im finding that I dont have enough time to get everything I have planned accomplished. Im starting to relax a little more and realize that it is "ok" to have a ten or twenty minute discussion that I did not include in my lesson plan.

Just a comment on this subject. I think it's important to keep the psychomotor activities within the scope of class subject matter. Class time is valuable and engaging students in activities that are not relevant mitigates any arguments you make regarding how the class benefits them in a real-world sense.

Maintaining a professional demeanor helps to set the standard by which the students should strive for.

I find it hard to deal with the alpha student! It disrupts the class and makes me frustrated.