Always remember to ask peers and administration for help and suggestions when dealing with challenging students. They may have suggestions that you haven't thought of.

Sometimes you forget what works in reducing stress and need to be reminded. After reading these topics I realized that I have stopped doing things that reduced stress for me. Sometimes life becomes so hectic you forget to take care of yourself.

Not sure I agree with sitting in the back of room during tests. If you do it makes it hard to see students who could be cheating by looking at other resources. Whoops, meant to put this in Forum 4 instead of one, my mistake.

I can relate to the stress of trynig to balance family, friends and work. I can also relate to the stress of trying to juggle many tasks at once. It seems there is always something new to be done or completed weekly on top of my regular duties.

I didn't know there were so many test making resoursed out there. It was nice to obtain this knowledge. :)

My dad would always talk about the importance of setting the tone or setting the pace. Whether he was talking about life or running, he always said it was important to set a strong pace from the beginning. I think with teaching it is very much the same. The first days of class it is so important to let the class know the tone and pace of the class. This way they know what they will need to do to keep up and what it will take to have success in the class.

It is hard to balance the demand between work and home. It seems that there is always one of the other that required extra time/focus. The goal is to find the right balance between the two.

Any tips on dealing with a loud student?

Been a while for me, but I am new to teaching at the college level. For me, dealing with students with poor work ethic has proved to by my most challenging task. Trying to teach Algebra to adults is a bit of a challenge when they have had years of life experience never needing to use it. It is a tough sell for sure, but I am working on it. Regards, Scott

Not everyone can be pleased. At the end of the day I am confident that I always do my best. I have come across students who vent in teacher reviews about different issues that they are having. I have found that you can be an excellent teacher and do well for most, but never all. Unfortunately I have no fix for this as I refuse to be all things to all people. Part of being a student in a professional career college is learning how to deal with different teaching styles. My end point is sometimes you have to agree to disagree and be respectful at all times to all people. Regards, Scott

I am big believer of being fair and firm long before I get any bit friendly with students. It is very important that they see me as a strong capable instructor. I want to deliver quality instruction and being the students friend usually takes away from the teacher respect. There is something to be said for a student being to comfortable with the teacher. It is always much easier to be less strict than to be more strict. Regards, Scott

As I do agree with the idea that the real world doesn't accept late work, within the college setting, I have found it a good idea to take late work on a case by case basis. Sometimes, you can do more harm than good by being to rigid in regards to accepting late work. That extra day or two might be just what they needed to stay on track. This is a common problem and I am amazed at the number of students that do indeed pay a lot of money to go to school and yet fail to get work completed in a timely manner. Regards, Scott

NO MATER THE YEARS TEACHING IS THE MOST HARDEST BUT THE RISK IS WELL WORTH IT.

CAN CHEATING TEACH ETHICS?

LOOSE THE IPOD BILLY!

INTERESTED STUDENTS AND A MOTIVATED INSTRUCTOR?

Some students complete lab assignments way ahead of the rest of the class. Sometimes I assign these students additional work or extra credit to "broaden their horizons" and prepare for higher level courses during their course of study. These assignments are usually "higher skill level" and are not required for the current course. Can this potentially make other students "jeolous" for not having the opportunity to perform extra-credit assignments?

I teach paralegal studies. Last term, I had an incident with two students who submitted the exact same project, word for word. When I confronted one of the students, she first stated "I did my own work." After I explained to her that it was clearly not the case, she stated "Well, you said we could work together." I told her that while I encourage students to work together to find information and resources, each student must submit their own original work. Also, if she and the other student thought it was a group project, why didn't they submit one paper with both their names on it?" The student then stated, "Well, I let the other student use my paper, but I didn't do anything wrong because you said we could work together." Needless to say, this drove me crazy. It has gotten to the point that I place a warning and/or disclaimer on any assignment explaining that one must submit their own work, if they choose to work with another student to find the information or "This is not a group assignment." Since when are things that appear so obvious have to be defined? In the nine years that I have taught at the college level, I have NEVER heard something like this in my life...either at a career college or a traditional college. Of course, being a former attorney, I know that the student is making excuses for what she did. But, she does not understand that giving a completed paper to another student to use is never OK. Has anyone out there encountered such a situation where guidelines, even those that are obvious, must be defined? How is that helping the student? And, is it an insult to the others in the classroom who do get it?

A mistake some new insturctors make is coming into the classroom thinking that they know everything based on the feild experience and the did not prepare before coming to class.

It has always bothered me to be in the middle of doing something that I'm doing, which usually needs to done and have to quit and start doing something else. I have my day planned out of what needs to be done and it makes me feel that I'm being thrown off course.