Anderson Sandiford

On the first day of class, it is natural for students and instructors to have a mixture of feelings ranging from anxiety to excitement. One key goal is to create a comfortable learning environment. By assuring students that their success is my highest goal, that I have a plan for helping them to succeed, and that we will have a good time together, I can begin the learning process with a positive attitude.

Comment on Matt Rinowski's post:

Hey Matt. You make a good point about making the objectives of the lesson public to help students and instructor focus on achieving a shared goal. A side note showing how the particular objective fits in to the overall scheme of the course would be good too.

Preparation! Preparation! Preparation!

Being prepared makes it easier for the instruction to relax. I also appreciate the emphasis on arriving at least 15 minutes early. This allows time to welcome students and interact on an informal basis, learn a few names, create a positive emotional climate. 

One takeaway for me is the importance of teachers being students by continually learning about their profession and themselves. A growing instructor must always seek to expand on their content knowledge by actively participating in professional workshops, attending seminars, and staying current with the literature in the field. Even so, growth as a successful instructor goes beyond mastering a solid base of content knowledge. The teacher needs to continue personal development in the area of delivering education to students. This could mean ongoing enrollment in courses in technologies that could more easily reach a generation of students stepped in the… >>>