Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Stephen, You are really focused on establishing the key components of a positive learning environment, that being thought and preparation. In your thought process I hope that you are visioning what your students will be seeing when they enter your classroom. Try and get into their mind set and you will be surprised how clear the picture of the learning environment becomes to you. You then can make any of the necessary changes, such as seating arrangements, etc. that you feel are needed. In addition, you point about being ready for the day's lesson is a good one. Isn't… >>>

Hi Al, I am sure that your classes are enjoyed by your students as a result of your desire to be an instructor of quality. Your previous responses to the forums have created a understanding of your professionalism. I commend you for this. In Forum 4 your use of “war stories” helps to bring realism to the instructional setting. By using your students with work experience you are expanding even further the opportunity for your students to gain in site into their career field. A suggestion would be to keep a record of those stories and where they best fit… >>>

Hi Eric, Good idea about letting the students problem solve “real life” case studies. Real life is what they will be experiencing in a very short time and if they can't “trouble shoot” situations they are not going to succeed. A suggestion would be to keep a notebook or a computer file of these “real life” situations in order to refresh yourself when teaching future classes on what case studies really helped the students and those that were most challenging. By letting the students explore the solutions and then gaining the feeling that they came up with solutions that were… >>>

Hi Al, Both examples that you listed illustrate some of the challenges we instructors face. The one about teaching on a company site reinforces that many times we are at a disadvantage in the instructional setting even before we start. We have to gain some form of “high ground” in order to be in control of the classroom environment. By taking control of the student behavior issue you established yourself as being in charge. As you well know had you not, then other issues of behavior would have taken over and before many class sessions had passed the students would… >>>

Hi Al, What a great perspective on how to improve your instructional delivery. It sounds like you have followed a long term plan of improvement. Your key components of observing others and their teaching techniques, both good and bad, have helped you to pick and choose the methods you want to employ in your classroom. My only suggestion in your process would be to keep a notebook of your observations and experiences. As you record them you will be reminded of the successes you have had and the areas that you want to improve on. In addition, when you are… >>>

Hi Again, You have asked a question that is raised by a number of instructors in career colleges throughout the United States. Do I have to make accommodations or can I make accommodations for persons with learning disabilities? The first rule is that all of the students have to master the skills and competencies required to be successful in their chosen field. This fact cannot be altered. If you and your college start to reduce the requirements and standards there soon will be problems due to the fact that your students are not trained to business/industry standards. The second part… >>>

Hi Eric, The key to teaching a standardized curriculum is to understand how much modification to the delivery that you can make and still cover the required material. You are on the right track with making a note of how the lessons are going and then making changes the next time. Experience has shown that if you keep a notebook of your experiences it is easier to make modifications the next time around since you don't have to rely totally on memory. Also, by keeping the notebook of teaching strategies, you build for yourself a professional library of methods that… >>>