bee koon tan

When students come into our classroom for the first time, they may feel intimidated, unprepared or even unsure (of the surroundings, the new instructor or new classmates). We often have students from all walks of life, of different ages and educational backgrounds. As an instructor, it is up to us provide an environment that they feel they can learn at ease. Having a plan 'a' and a plan 'b' to customize to the students makes sense as not everyone is created the same. Plan 'b' also helps to bring the off-focus students back in check. I often create Q&A games… >>>

I like all the pointers on the different medias we can use in a classroom. I am especially prone to the white board. I always make sure I have different colored pens to write, highlight, draw or emphasize any particular subject matter. One corner will be used for writing: Subject of the Day Date Timeline The rest of the board will be used during my lecture, to emphasize important topics and also to help out in student spelling, etc. I only write the bullets of what I will be lecturing on, while the class takes notes on what I teach.… >>>

I used to be a combination of Drill Sargent and Socratic when I was a trainer, about 20 years ago, in my other line of work. Then when I first started teaching at culinary, I was still somewhat of a Drill Sargent, but as the years went by, I honed myself to teach people in a classroom who were of different age groups, life-styles and with different past experiences. Now I am more of a combination of Socratic and Dead Poets. But at certain times, I think, depending on the situation and the needs, the Drill Sargent comes into play… >>>