Great points for intervention. this was very helpful for me

How do you deal with students who come in with stress ? what has been your experience?

I know my students by name. Anytime one student asks me a question I stop them and ask their names (first and last) and then they can proceed with their questions. It is very effective. I practice the same in a classroom setting. Student tell me their name each time they are addressed until I can call them by it. I am one of the lucky people that remember names rather quickly and they are always impressed

I recently had a student who needed to fast track his education by staying late to attempt to complete all his required class and lab assignments. The area he was training in was his weakest point in the automotive field. This young man had the thoughts of leaving school to go train for his military duties he would soon be expected to perform as well. So, with an active military assignment and his current class assignments, hw had already started to expect the worst case outcome from fast tracking his education. Together him and I stayed after class late and helped him to get a better understanding of the area he was training in, with the one on one help, we found that even with the military duties and the fact that this was his worst area of expertise, we were able to get him through it, and in turn, just a little caring went along way, and the student scored very high on his written test and he performed very well on his hands on lab task. This being said he was able to leave for military duties with hopefully as clear of a mind set as we helped him with in class.

Any student with a failing grade at midterm is given a form that asks them to define why they believe they are failing, and has them set goals and measurable actions to improve their grades. For many of my students this is the first time they have set actual goals, and those that actually follow their plans do very well turning their grades around.

And the customer is always right... Shouldn't they all be getting 4.0s?

On the first day of class we not only orient the student with their new surroundings but we introduce ourselves and talk about our experiences and all the wonderful opportunities that await them when they graduate. We also discuss student's past experiences and the reason they came to school instead of continuing on their previous path to help them define their "dream".

One of the things we do at our school is to participate in a lot of community events. It is a great way to get our students involved together when we do special events for various charities such as Ronald McDonald House, Children's Hospital, and the local military base for wounded soldiers. The students not only have fun but form bonds while practicing their cooking skills.

Our school has a formal student mentoring program. Aside from outside office hours of the instructors, we have culinary students that wear blue neckerchiefs that students can easily locate and set up tutoring when the need arises.

When I first started teaching, I figured I was supposed to do what my college professors always did on the first day: hand out the syllabus and send them home. Then I remembered that I often skipped the first day of school in college, because I figured I could pick up the syllabus on the second day. Since I don't want students skipping my class, I am always careful to plan relaxed but beneficial activities on the first day.

I feel that this is a very important aspect of retention. We seem to focus so much on ensuring the new students get to know functional managers while forgetting that their most important interactions will be with their instructors on a daily basis. Instructors shape the student's opinion on the institution everytime they step into a classroom. To be honest, I cannot remember anything about the financial aid department or program chairs from my collegiate experience, but I list 5-10 instructors/professors who shaped my career path.

I agree with the concept of sending the enrollee home from orientation as a "student". At my law school orientation (6 months before the first day of class), we were given a reading list and reading assignments expected to be completed BEFORE the first day of class. A bit extreme in our career college environment, but I definitely left feeling like a student. Distributing books, ID's, uniforms, etc., is a great way of accomplishing the same idea.

I firmly believe that a career college's instructors have the greatest impact on retention. Its my experience that instructors that can strike a balance in acting as a role model for students and providing the best knowledge to assist the student with their career goals, all while treating the students with the respect of a future peer in their chosen career field have the best retention rates.

When a student has a personal mentor they feel important.

Making each student feel important assists with retention.

It is important for each student to have a mentor.

I find that positive reinforcement goes far with my students!

I just took the assessment quiz. One question in particular puzzled me. The question was "customer service should be a focus for all staff and faculty when working with students. I agree that regardless to what job you have working with people, customer service should be priority. The correct answer reflected that students are paying for an education. Again, I agree however students are paying for the opportunity to learn the skills to make them marketable in the field. I do not think it is necessary to say you pay for an education, it is the opportunity.

I was really enlightened with mentoring. I was able to look it at from another view. I learned the importance of how it is critical to model, mentor and monitor the students. As an instructor, we should always lead by example.

Mentoring students will help them understand what is going on in the class room and what you expect from them. It will also keep them focused on what the class has to offer and that you do care that they understand what you are teaching them. If you mentor a student correctly you will see them mentoring there classmates.