I believe that you must begin with being professional yourself as an instructor. You must also remember that respect begets respect. Once the students see that you are there to assist in their success a positive classroom environment should follow.

I teach Automotive Technology and have found that students utilizing smart phone have a definite advantage. Some look up specific vehicle specifications, while others take pictures of components before disassembly to aid them in reassembly.

One of the things I live by is" Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today". I don't however mean get everything done today for fear of tomorrow, but if you can get something done today, then do it. For you never know what tomorrow will bring. For example, I once worked at a State Prison, and I would always complete my paperwork before I went home. One time we had a 2 day lockdown, which meant we would not be able to access our office's to complete certain tasks. I over heard many people that day complaining that they had not completed certain task's the day before.

I was always the youngest one in the crownd and the fear was about respect.

It is very important to understand their behavior. The whole class can be disturbed because of one person. Observe and interact with students helps the communication and the better flow of the class.

Unprepared students are a problem because we have to always go back for those to caught up.

Assignment deadline. There is always someone late on assignments.

What is one of your most effective strategies to use after you have made a mistake in front of your students? Use humor as you explain how you made the mistake and how you are going to correct it. By laughing at yourself, the students will see you as a human being and will understand that you are willing to learn from your mistakes just as they should.

How does monitoring help you with class management?

How can you help unprepared students come to class

Put distinct expectations in the syllabus about the improper use of cell pone/iPad/pda.....etc. and be explicit about the demerits or increasing discipline levels and the negative influence on their class grade.

Probably the balance of home and work

As a new instructor I was so overwhelmed. It seemed like everything was coming at me so fast. Though I know the material I was about to start teaching I felt the hardest part was preparation for classes. Thankfully, the previous instructor left all the previous material (PowerPoint, handouts, test, etc) that I used as an outline. I did not try to "reinvent the wheel" and it was of tremendous help. I cant even imagine how much more overwhelmed I would have been if I had to start from scratch. My advise to all new instructors, at least for the first couple of terms, use the same outline as what was used before. In time, you will know what works and what doesn't, and slowly but surely you will eventually modify the course to one that fits you.

My fellow instructors use facebook to communicate with their classes, but I don't. I don't like seeing them and their pictures in that environment. Am I wrong and behind the times on this matter, or should I just sign up and start using this venue to communicate and monitor my students?

Our classroom is small and we have a lot of students. Since they have to sit closely together, I think that it would be easy to cheat. What is the best way to arrange the seats for exams?

As I went through the first part of this class, one of the things that stuck out to me was the discussion on reflecting after class. One person said he made notes immediately after on what worked and what didn't, and then adjusted for the next class and did the same thing again. Another said to take 20 minutes after the class and ask yourself questions: What worked? What didn't? What was asked that I wasn't prepared for? What didn't get asked that I was sure would? I think those questions can provide a lot of really good insight, especially for first time teachers. Does anyone else have any questions or suggestions/techniques they may use after a class to reflect and build upon?

What are the best ways to keep students motivated? I find that when students are bored with the subject being taught they are less likely to stay motivated.

Dealing with stress is very easy . avoid - hack away at it - meditate. Repeat

Meditate on how much time you really need to develop new or old materials

I believe in time management to the point of not knowing no return. It is an important factor in our day to day life.