Most of us are exhausted after work. Not just physically exhausted, but mentally and emotionally as well. Helpful Hints! 1. Forgiveness 2. Thankfulness 3. Positive Thinking 4. Meditation 5. Ability to say I'm Sorry

People want more from mental & spiritual therapy than a clear account and chronology (phase 1) and symbolic analysis (phase 2). They want an expanded and deepened sense of the meaning of their lives. Identity--Who am I? Why am I here? Direction--Where am I going? How do I get there? Purpose--What am I doing here? Why am I going there? What does it all mean? This simply helps to put every aspect of our personal & professional lives in a more workable, logical and a stronger vision of accomplishment and self gratification.

I recently added a calendar to the handouts I give to students the first day of class. It was very helpful in giving the student a clearer picture of what is expected but I felt I did not have as much flexibility to focus on students specific interests and discussion. I have evaluated my calendar and will be changing some things to make it more flexible without giving up the explicit explanation of expectations. I could always use some suggestions with this however.

Hi, I often tell my career college students that employers that they extern with only want dependable, hardworking students in their offices. I make sure students understand that if employers see that their class attendance is poor, they will automatically assume, with good reason, that their work attendance will be poor as well. I encourage students to practice good work ethic in the classroom so they will have good work ethic during externship and on the job after graduation. Rhonda Daniels

Believe it or not, I had both at one time in my class. Together they bonded and tried to make it harder not only for me but the other students as well. I did the usual, verbal and written warnings, but that still did not help. After doing some "research" I learned that they had some major issues going on outside of class.I did everything in my power to help and make it clear how much I was not going to tolerate their actions. Needless to say, any interuptions and so forth I did have the support of the school. One did not pass and the other some how made it out. There is only so much you can do for these people but, the biggest support I got was my Supervisors and the school.

I have found short walks help me with stress, you may feel too tried,but feel much better afterwards.

I teach in a technical environment, and all of our intro classes have basic technical knowledge in them, and many of our students know it very well already. But some of our students have never seen this information before. I have been told that using the more advanced students for peer tutoring is helpfull, but i don't think that is something that my school is looking for us to do. This term will be the first intro class i have taught, having come from one of the more advanced diagnostic classes. Anyone have any sugestions on how to keep the more experienced students involved without taking anything away from the students that really need this basic information presented to them slowly and completely?

In an Applications Course, whether it be C++, JAVA, or any of the Microsoft Office Applications, it is important to enable the students to visualize learning concepts. At the Beginning of every lesson, I do a "step by step". I take one assignment of the three graded for that lesson, and do it on the wall WITH THE STUDENTS!! In my introduction, I explain, I have my own "Leave No Student Behind" Theory. As I go through, step by step, all students must not only follow along, but also mimic what I am doing on the PC. Any student falling behind raises their hand, and myself or their classmate(s) assist them in explaining the objective the student is not understanding. At the end of the Wall Assignment, students upload there files to me, which I can look for deficiencies and discuss with the student immediately. This builds TEAMWORK, and allows for Formative Assessments of not only my students' Progress but also my ability in presenting the information.

All instructors must be confident in their ability to teach and advanced preparation with ensure a positive classroom experience.

Adding support, developing a teacher student relationship letting the student know that the instructor is the avenue to a successful classroom experience.

I am new to teaching, but my gut feeling is that it is unwise to personalize student behavior. Can you provide an explanation why a student's cheating is more often a violation of the instructor's trust, and not simply the behavior of someone trying to game the system? I can't think of a scenario where both factors are not in play. The cheating student is both gaming the system, and violating the instructor's trust.

I find that tutoring is an excellent way to help students succeed in college. In nursing programs, for instance, the traditional classroom lecture is oftentimes so voluminous and complex that students may feel overwhelmed and unable to focus. This has led me to offer tutoring to students who did not comprehend the material in class. The students are happy when their questions are answered and concepts are explained to them at a pace they can manage.

Using Excel has saved me countless hours of time. I can use the excel spreadsheet to be more efficient with my time because it allows me the tools to grade effectively and with a standard that I set for each class. What I mean is that I can have standard grading policies from one class to another and maintain a great resource through Excel to compare how students have done at the end of a grading period without having to calculate free hand notes and free hand math to calculate a final grade. This is all done in Excel for me making my time use more effective.

How do you cope with stress?

I find that stress creeps into my life and it is the result of procrastination. I find that stress results in lack of sleep for myself and my family.

I would like to share how I complete my task list for the week: 1) Most Important Items For The Week, numbered from most important on to to least important on bottom. 2) After completion on the most important items from the week I move the least important topics to the next week. I do all of this on an electronic database or my event database on my PDA or cell phone which I sink to my Outlook. Hope this adds to the conversation! Byron

I have problems remembering all my students names in a 3 week class. I am up front with my students about this. I tell them it's a mental thing and not to be hurt by it. I also tell them that while I might forget their name I will always remember their face.

I assume there are instructors employed in career schools, much like myself, teaching courses such as: English, humanities, speech, art history, and other general education courses. Some of you might also assume that non-career colleges enroll a completely different type of student--one much more eager to enroll in your literatue or writing course--trust me, not true...at all! Having taught for over ten years at community colleges, four year universities, and careeer colleges, it is my experinece that almost ALL of today's students are interested only in classes they see as directlly related to their career field of choice. Thus, accountings majors or nursing majors,attending ANY college in 2010 must be convinced by US of the importance of writing complete sentences and articulating themselves intelligently. The importance of understanding the subjects and skills we teach, including the understanding of history and many other courses not mentioned above, are usually not considered relevant. (Of course, there are always exceptions.) This student attitude is an additional challenge general education professors face that accounting instructors or instructors of nursing seldom experience. (Although I'm not insinuating such instructors do not have thier own issues with some students' expectations and attitudes.) Early in the term, I work to "sell" my courses to the students. I usually open with asking my students to guess the number one reason employees are terminated. No student has ever known the correct answer. "Most people are fired because they cannot get along with other people." This fact helps me lead into the need to understand ourselves and others, and I continue to remind them throughout whatever course it might be, that the best nurses, accountants, marketers, etc. know how to understand people by effectively communicating with them. Of course, I want my nurse to draw my blood correctly, but I also want her to show compassion--have soft skills. We know our students need not only career skills, but an education! I will not use more space explaining the many other "tactics" I use on my students to empahasize the importance of the general education courses that I teach, and for which I have great passion. Instead, I think it might be helpful if other gen education instructors shared their experience with this seemingly prevalent student attitude, perhaps offering their methods of responding to students who think general education classes are a waste of their time and money. ("Why do I have to take English when I'm going to work on computers?") Sigh. I look forward to your comments. (And I applaud all of you for your dedication to education.:) Nancy K.

That particular quarter, I had been just too relaxed in the classroom. I had the worst time with one class because they just didn't take me or deadlines seriously. It was very frustrating, but I did realize that I created my own problem. Yeah, it was fun to laugh and joke, but just not worth it!

One way to get students involved is to have participation points. Once they involve themselves in the beginning "just for the points", they will soon realize how much they enjoy working with each other and how much they can learn from one another.