Barry Westling

Edwin, Good. I try to look at things from the perspective of the student eyes; would this be interesting? do students feel engaged? is my pace adequate? Many of these and similar actions can be ascribed to instructor personality and have an effect on student participation, involvement and interest in the material. I think we all have our individual personality strengths, yet if we fail to engage all students and keep class interesting, it does little good. Barry Westling

Sheneka, Glad you found something practical you can use. I will often keep a notecard nearby to keep remnder notes to myself. These notes are then later transcribed in full in my journal binder after class. I find that, for me, if I don't write it down at the moment, it's likely to be forgotton. Barry Westling

Cassandra, Right on. Care and words of encouragement along with advice and suggestions for improvement will nearly always be received with gratefulness. Barry Westling

Cassandra, Good point. Time is so valuable, we really can't afford to waste time. Therefore, planning to focus on material the students need to learn first makes a lot of sense, and pretesting is one way to assist achieving that goal. Barry Westling

Cassandra, Most students rely on all three learning styles (visual, kinesthetic, auditory), although one is usually more dominant. By adding an additional sensory stimulation to the learning environment can only help student retention of key or essential material to be learned. Barry Westling

Cassandra, Definitely finding a blend of varied delivery methods and media expressions works best. Incorporating hands on is always welcomed, especially when the tasks are directly job related. Barry Westling

Edwin, Good introspection and self reflection do bring a degree of grounding to instructors. This is a helpful trait for students, as usually they yearn for direction, instructions, and expectations. This brings clarity to a world full of potential uncertainty. Barry Westling

Cassandra, Both competence and confidence are improved in a setting where the instructor has taken measures to be organized and prepared. Barry Westling

Amir, If we are teaching, then measuring the degree of learning that has occurred is only common sense. Barry Westling

James, Right! And helping students learn from the point of their prior learning is greatly assisted with pretesting activities. Barry Westling