How do we balance students full time employement with home work?

As an English instructor, if I do not find myself very engaged in the readings I can assign, I have a hard time staying motivated to teach well. I get bored and bummed out. However, if I feel the structure and/or content of a reading can teach the students something, even if they dislike the reading, I do a much better job. Being forced to use readings/a textbook I don't like always causes internal conflict and stress.

I thought it odd that the first module suggests that it is not a good idea to complete tasks as one receives them. If you have time to return a student's voicemail, why wait? If students turned in papers ten minutes ago and you have nothing else do, why not start on them? I work better when I get things done right away.

What about students that have A.D.D. OR similar illnesses that can appear to be disruptive in a class room. This could come across as a cheating or angry student. I have not come across this yet, but i am sure I will.

I have a student that no matter what the discussion, she has done it, a student in the class say's her daughter's friend was burned my hot water, and the student began to tell of her little girl was burned by a cup of soup, someone else child has autism and now her child has autism, and so on, HELP ME!!

Being an instructor, students look up to us as their model. We have to show confidence in what we do. As soon as I enter the class I smile and greet them a cheerful day. I say something funny to wake up the class before anything else. If there is a game in season I try to watch the news recap so the next day I can start the day with an interesting conversation. Any new song that they are playing in the radio, I ask them what is the title of that song or who sang the song. Anything just to start the ball rolling. Some of our lectures are long so I make sure I crack a joke to keep the students listening.

When I think of cheating, it is not only cheating during quizzes and test. I really get frustrated with sutdents who think they can just copy from their classmates homework and think not get caught. No matter how much I emphasize that the homeworks, lab practicals, quizzes and tests are not just given for them to get a grade and pass. These exercises are given to students so we can see where they need help and where we can focus so we can clarify any questions that they might help. I do not think the students realize that whatever they learn in class will be the basis of their success in life.

I have found that group projects or activities and sometimes games where I split students into groups help to keep the class interesting and competitive.

I have students who work and so by the time they get to class they are tired and sleepy. What I normally do is sit them by the aisle so they can avoid leaning on the wall and fall asleep. When I lecture I walk around and it is easier for me to just tap my fingers on the desk without having to much classroom distraction. I also call students at random during lectures and also during laboratory practical exercises to much sure they are doing their work.

I am an intructor in the pharmacy field my students and myself sometimes have difficulties pronouncing different medical and drug terms we would look them up online in class but our computers do not have speaks so we can't hear how the word is pronounced, what can I do to help solve this problem?

How do you handle a disruptive student,and keep the other students on corse?

I have found that giving the same tests, but not making all the questions in the same order works. The cheater has trouble finding the question or answer that matches his/her test.

I posed a question on Normative Vs Instrumental. The careers they choose will not always give room for excuses. I try to show the good and the bad of both sides so that they can make a choice. I would like to see more leaders. Do we help them govern behavior or choices?

Do we teach them to be leaders or followers?

I have retired and then I got the chance to teach again. that way i am able to keep up with all the new ideas and still keep active.

When I have students that can't get invovled with the class asignments I work with them one on one till they can apply them self alone.

I learned in the army that stress is self created. In other words, dont let things that you cannot control cause you stress. Mind over Matter - If you dont mind, it dont Matter...

As an adjunct instructor, I am commited to the school, but I have many more commitments. It seems the communication is lost between FT faculty and the PT faculty. Sometimes alerting us of necessary courses that must be done on our own time (not on the clock like the FT) and having to disregard outside commitments is stressful.

This forum had excellent ideas in regard to the cheating and angry student. These situations are often very delicate and must be handled with care. Documentation is an important factor in handling these types of situations.

I find that when doing a power point, the inattentive student loses concetration quickly. At that point I ask that each student read one of the power point slides which causes all students to pay close attention so that they do not miss their turn and become embarrased. Works wonderfully.