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Classroom Discipline

Discipline for adult learner should be place on learning adults like to know what is expected of them.

Difficult student envolement

Most students understand the value of education today. Almost all can not afford a 4 year school because of the time involved or expense there of. In a class with multiple personalities there is always a student or more that feel they have paid the tuition so a diploma is deserved no matter the involement or attention givin to the subject. I have heard it from them (I paid so much to be here I should be able to do what I want). Most are very excited to become more educated and attentive to their work. Yes they would like to say " I went here for this and I received this grade" I have done it myself. What is it we can do to bring them from this mentality to I need to receive a certain grade That reflects my work.

Respect VS Being liked

It is difficult to balance being liked and being respected. Instructors must stick to moral decisions when it comes to course content in order to be respected. Student pay to learn, not for new friends.

Phones in class.

I had a student a term ago take a picture of things in her textbook and notes and use them to complete a test. I only found out because she completed her test in 5 minutes and it took everyone else over an hour. I learned that I provided the opportunity because at that time i let students use the calculator on their phones. Now students must have cell phones away during class.

When external becomes internal

At the institute where I teach, external variables are real for the majority of the students. This hinders attendance, focus, apathy, and completion. Sometimes, while it is tough, instructors have to encourage and support students on improving their lives through different channels in order to be successful.

Online syllabus for face-to-face

I have learned that both a hard copy and online copy of syllabus are important. Most teachers give a hard copy which leads to students loosing the copy and using that as an excuse. An online copy serves as a back up plan, however, even though they are college students, they still manage to find excuses as to how they can not access the syllabus.

Value

the instructors I most valued in school were those who taught me new things, more often than not they were also the ones I personally liked, but not always.

INstilling Pride

Instilling pride in each student and his or her sense of honour will mostly eliminate cheating. It has worked for a long at the Naval Academy.

Personalities

Each classroom is made up of separate and interesting personalities. the fole of the facilitator is to meld these into a unit which is receptive to instruction.

Students

Dealing with divesified students can be challenging but its never boring. I try to be active and teach to all. I try to employ different medias to get my Objective across and consistently do formative asscessments. I like the idea of Minute papers. It keeps the sleepy head distracted cell phone users on their toes and appeals to those that are in the groove.

Grab their attentioin straightway

You only have one chance t get the attention of your students. I believe that the course must be interesting and motivating from the very first.

Stress Scoping

Sometimes I will set aside an hour or so to play a video game. I understand not everyone is a gamer, but to me it's a great way to relieve stress after a day. Facebook has many games on it - often ones you can do in simple sessions sometimes even with friends. Nice way to unwind - doing something that exercises your mind - but doesn't TASK it as much as teaching. Listening to music or soundscapes helps too. Youtube is full of long compilations of "Waves on the Beach" or "Rainforest Thunderstorm" type of videos that are great for meditation or just relaxing.

It all keeps adding up...

I was brought on about a year ago to work in a new department at our career school. Because it was new at this location, there weren't many instructors and virtually no precedent when it came to creating a course beyond the learning objectives. This means not only teaching twice a week, but also developing a completely new course every five weeks. This, combined with a long commute and lackadaisical and uncooperative students has caused significant stress. Though I'm sure that this has been discussed over and over - I did find the pacing to be much better for both learning - and teaching - back during the days of the ten-week terms. However, working through the stress is itself a reward. Always could be worse right?

Grading Non-Standard Topics - Art

As primarily a computer art instructor I find grading can sometimes be much more difficult when I'm grading things that aren't quite as cut-and-dry as right or wrong. Art being as subjective as it is, is harder to grade than an exam on terms or topics. The working method I've come up with to make sure there are no questions asked when it comes to WHY a student received a grade is to make and include a detailed grading rubric and include it with each assignment. I can't necessarily grade your art style - but I can grade whether or not you applied the proper technique (oftentimes program-specific) in the creation of the art. Therefore the method becomes what is being graded, rather than the final product. Don't get me wrong, I DO grade the overall gestalt of a piece of art - but it's usually the technique that carries more weight in individual assignments - as there are right ways and wrong ways to use the software, but who can say what is good and bad when it comes to art?

Obstacle of Immediacy

After reading through the module I came to a realisation - that this Obstacle really affects how I tend to view certain students and colleagues. I tend to be a person who wants the reply right now, and always works on completing a task as soon as possible. The opposite of procrastination. However this can and has jaded my opinion on some others who tend to take time in the responses, having mistakenly believed they were procrastinating, but in truth were only pacing themselves. Perhaps a hold-over from OCD? Is there any others who feel the same and how did you overcome it. The scheduled tasks list seems to be a good idea - but when cursed with immediacy (or perhaps impatience!) it can be difficult.

Class Activities

I really like the idea of having multiple class activities to pull from. I can see how this would be so helpful because class dynamics change a lot from term to term. Sometimes I have over 30 students and sometimes I have 8. There are some activities that are really difficult to do with 30 students and vice versa. Not only is the number of students important, but the personalities as well. I really liked the airplane activity and I am wondering what other class activities instructors in the forum have done that have proven successful in helping the students interact and learn, and in helping the instructor to get a sense of class dynamics?

Being honest with yourself

I believe people too often overlook stress in their lives, they chock it up to "nature of the beast". I'm guilty of it too. This is when we need to be honest with ourselves, to acknowledge the stress, and then to identify the root causes. Sometimes it's easier to tolerate the stress, to just deal with it, but that is short-sighted. It would be to our greater good, and to the betterment of our students, if we make legitimate efforts to reduce the stress in our lives.

Assignment deadline

I have given my students a syllabus on the first day of class with their homework assignments due dates and all the test and quizzes for the entire course. I also review the syllabus the first night so there is not issue with understanding the course and when there due dates are. This has eliminated any issue with late assignment from the very first day of class.

Handling Stress

Some healthy ways that I have found to handle stress are exercising, stretching, or going for a short walk/run. All of these were outlined in this course, but they actually do work. It gives you time away from whatever is stressing you and frees your mind to think about more peaceful, relaxing things.

Coping with Stress

We all feel stressed at some point in our lives. How we deal with everyday stresses is extremely important. A good and healthy way to deal with stress is to exercise. This helps to work off any frustration that may be caused by the factors stressing you, and helps you to feel better inside and out. If you do not have time to exercise, you can take a 5-10 minute break away from whatever is causing your stress. During this brief break, take a few deep breathes, think of a happier place and time, then return to your duties.