I think that after going through this course, and with New Year's coming up, I plan on finding better and more efficient coping mechanisms that I would like to have a partner with. For example, get a workout buddy, a walk to get some lunch buddy, a lets take 10-15 minutes to stretch buddy, and maybe even a let me vent to you real quick buddy. I would say that I do not do these activities enough myself and sharing the stress relief and time could possibly make it a bit more fun.

For sometime while I was a part time instructor, I was commuting 2-3 hours daily and would always find myself in rush hours traffic in the afternoon. It was no fun and could honestly say that it was a stressor in my life that felt as if it got bigger and worse as time went on. After being offered a full time position and quitting my other part time job, my commute was reduced to 1 hour at the most on most days. There is a huge difference in how I feel, how I react, and how I present myself since reducing my commuting time. I am very glad and happy I was given an opportunity to reduce my stress, my commute, and my chance of having any health issues.

I have used scantron and like to then utilize a system which then tells me how many students mised the question. I can then see if the wording or presentation needs adjustment. I count how many students missed the question. Those questions with a high percentage of misses get reviewed and possibly changed for the next test. I am told that there is a method to aalyze this with scantron. But I've not been shown this so I will ahve to find someone who knows htis method.

I find it interesting that some students, and I was very much bias before, prefer to take essay exams as opposed to multiple choice. I used to dislike multiple choice exams until I found better approaches to them. However, I am much more of a fan of short answer with multiple choice. For me personally, I feel that it challenges their knowledge enough to not only have to remember terms and definitions but also have to apply it in short answers. Though I will say that online learning structures with multiple choice does allow for more time to be placed on grading assignments and for class preparation.

I honestly never quite considered how much we take other's perception of us and how much it can indeed influence our time management. An example would be an unorganized desk, I am guilty of being able to be productive in a what may seem like unproductive environment. However, if someone mentions how it looks I may want to 'fix that immediately.' Though many other things need to get done, cleaning goes right to the top of the list. I noticed that happened a lot during exams while I was at UC Davis. There was a need to study, but even my own perception of my work space become more important and needed to be taken care of before I could feel 100% comfortable studying. Then again, as I read that it sounds like procrastination.

To me, the effective instructor--like the effective manager--is capable of organizing space, time, and interaction(s) in such a way that those s/he is supervising find it pleasant to work and learn.

I had an interesting situation this past term. I am in my early 30s, and had a student who is in his 50s. One day, as I was trying to finish my lecture and class discussion, this student and another were unfocused and loudly packing up their belongings (in a class of 5 people). I stopped and just said "Where are we going guys?" in a normal (not angry) tone. This basically prompted an angry, agressive response from my older student - "What, I can't pack up my computer?". After I explained that of course he could pack up, but I was trying to finish class and that both students were being a bit loud and weren't focused. The exchange ended with him yelling at me, finger pointed, saying "You need to calm your attitude down!". I was rattled by the experience, and after class I went and spoke to the administration about it. They were surprised, and the best answer we could arrive at was that he was uncomfortable as a person in his 50s being reprimanded (no matter how politely) by a younger professor. Looking back, I'm not sure what I could've done differently. I was polite to him, I was clear about what I was asking, and I wasn't trying to embarrass him. The students needed to be asked to quiet down right then because they truly were disrupting the class with the noise, so I don't feel that I could've waited until after class to talk to him. Still a bit perplexed.

I always try to keep control of my class, to help manage the classroom.

It is important to be aware that if one instrctor is bending rules to be the buddy the instruictor in a sense is making it hard for other instructors to enforcde rules

It is important to always maintain a combination of instructor stles the controlling is somtimes great beacuse you can use excessive rules with a wild bunch of students

The article says that allowing other students to grade tests is a good time saving method. However, it is time saving, FERPA prohibits teachers from sharing the grades and other private education related documents of another student (and rightfully so). The way around this is to have students write a reference number on the test that identifies the student who took the test -- the number can be kept a secret between the student and teacher. Personally, I don't use this method at all. However, it does save on grading time, it also factors in student grading error, and takes up valuable class time that could be used for more relevant class activities. I think a better method would be to switch to a scantron or online format for quizzes and exams. You can blend essays and short answers with a scantron or online format so that you only have to grade the essay and short answer portion of a test. I have used this format often, and it works for me. It saves paper, and it allows you to put full-resolution color diagrams if your school doesn't have a color printer. I find that I have to be more vigilant about walking around the room to make sure no one is peeking at notes for online tests though. If you're using a Mac, you can make sure they put Safari in full view, and let them know that they cannot leave that full view until the test is done. This way it's pretty easy to see when someone sneaking onto the desktop to take a look at some notes. The downside of online tests is that if you make the test inaccessible after they take it, the students don't have a study resource. However, most online portals allow the teacher to keep the test active even after it is taken. Some even allow the student to take the test again (un-graded of course) for extra practice.

The article says that teachers should avoid essay exams. While I don't completely disagree with the statement, I think that it is important to include essay questions when relevant on exams. I usually make 20% of my midterm and final exam essays questions because (1) it helps the student develop their writing skills and their verbal skills in terms of making strong points and (2) it makes the exam a stronger, more accurate assessment because you are not sticking with just one type of questions. I typically make sure my exams are a mixture of multiple choice, short answer, essay, and diagram questions. For example, on a history exam, the student may have forgotten the dates of a specific event and maybe even some names of important figures, they might still understand the underlying concept. A 3-6 sentence short essay might allow the students to still convey the message, even if they have forgotten some key points. Essay questions also help to solidify the students' own understanding of the topic. When I was college, seeing and/or hearing material didn't always help me learn and remember the material. Writing it did. on my midterms I often give my students the essay topics in advance, so they can do a little research on their own to prepare for the essays on the exam. I would rather a student research the topics, and learn and retain the material, than take an exam with essays blind, lose points on the essays, and learn nothing.

The topic that resonated most with me was: "Don't over-react to minor disruptions, but be sure to react." I have learned this with experience in the classroom that there are many situations where students will test the limits sometimes even unknowingly which is why it is so important to have an appropriate measured response to the disruption. I have found that having a disruptive student "table" their discussion for another time, usually makes them acknowledge their disruption (chatting with another student or talking out of term). I will definitely implement the "I" not "you" approach to recognizing the behavior and correcting it. That too makes it less confrontation and as stated before some students do not recognize their behavior as truly disruptive, and it will be appreciated over being singled out negatively.

I have teach students that do not engage in the class and look distracted but do very well in test and are excellent and on time in the homework and projects. So I approach them individually to let them know that his contribution and engagement would be of benefit to the rest of the class because they have so much to give.

What is hard to understand is how this students do not comply or try to shortcut what is require from them since they pay or borrow the money to get an education? I always tell them that if it was me I would take as much advantage as I can to make my investment work in my future.

In my opinion, the four steps mentioned in this model are maintained and gradually play a vital role in the classroom. These goals are growing steps in any instructors career. I have been in education for 12 years and these are all qualities that have grown and been instilled in me over my experience in the classroom. Does anyone else feel these qualities are attributes that help you grow in education and in the classroom?

give them an assignment to present to the class as part of the class

If I have two students that are having personal issues that do not actually pertain to school but rather to their personal issues, how do I handle this without letting it affect my relationship with either of them?

Sometimes these students ask very good questions making you realize you could present the material more clearly. This can also be a good opportunity. Make it a class effort. Ask the class how they could achieve a solution and coax the answer from them. Develop the problem solving and reasoning skills they need. A discouraged student may be inspired by this. It can boost morale and increase participation. It may also decrease the amount of times the chatty student raises their hand.

I believe Classroom Management is the key component in any educational setting. I believe that if students are in a safe environment, then learning can take place. This doesn’t necessarily mean punishing behavior problems but rather a combination of setting the tone in a class, preventing behavior problems with interesting and engaging curriculums and effectively including all students in the classroom so that their needs are met. Having the right environment for all students to learn is my major goal of implementing good classroom management. Without it the students would not be able to learn.