Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Tammy, You are on the right path to instructional improvement. We can only base our future upon what we know about our past. By looking at teaching styles you have experience in your past you will have a general idea of what being a successful teacher is all about. You can also pick and chose from those experiences as a part of your own professional development. Through the use of different feedback strategies, like videoing your teaching, student feedback cards, and course evaluations you can create a path of development that will enable you create a teaching style that… >>>

Hi Glenn, You are right. Sometimes our energy level and enthusiasm tends to drag during certain portions of a course. Unfortunately, as the classroom leader we really don't have the choice of letting our energy drain away. This means we have to keep our energy level up and strive to identify ways we can keep our students excited and challenged. We need to always be on the lookout for new ways to present material, games or activities that can be used to stimulate learning, and keep the student engaged in the learning process. REFOCUS is intended to help meet that… >>>

Hi Iesha,, You are on the right path to develop into a highly respected educator. You are working on improvement areas that will be of benefit to you. A couple of suggestions I would make would be to use an ongoing method of student feedback. You can use a 5x& card system that will keep you knowledgeable about how your students are perceiving what you are doing in the class. These cards can be filled out weekly, or at the end of a major assignment-problem solving activity-etc. The responses are anonymous thus giving the students the freedom to really express… >>>

Hi Glenn, Simply put, we must always factor in a sense of humanness for our students. As you mentioned we have all been there at one time or another, with sick kids, car trouble or whatever. We need to help the students through these problems and help keep them focused on why they are in school in the first place. We must also make sure our help is help and not be just an enabler. For my nontraditional students in many cases they were looking for an enabler not a helper. I worked very hard to help them through the… >>>

Hi Kane, The first comment is that the lab needs to have comfortable works stations. The chairs must be set at the right height and the work area must be large enough for the students to feel that they have a range of motion that fits their needs. The key points for the general lab is that it is well lighted and the line of vision to the instructor is clear. The students need to be able to glance up and see that instructor no matter where he/she is in the room. A critical point is the work station surroundings… >>>

Hi Jim, I agree with you. I always wanted to keep my finger on the pulse of the class. As you know each class is different and when it merges into a learning community it has its' own personality. Through constant feedback I could determine just what was needed for that specific class. In addition, I could focus on any people issues that were floating around in the class. I always had a formal evaluation at the end of the course because I was required to, but the real feedback was that information I collected during the course. I had… >>>