Barry Westling

Bonnie, Preachin' to the choir. I'll admit there may be some situations where it's approriate, but in most acdemic-oriented settings I'm involved with, it has no place. Barry Westling

Kathleen, This is great. Personalizing and understanding your students needs will always assure better student outcomes. And when the students see you're working for them, that helps create better trust and respect too. Barry Westling

John, Boy, I think you have touched on the most relevant techniques. The thing I find nearly always brings students back on task is talking about the profession, using a story, past situation, or unusual circumstance that relates to what they will soon be confronted with in the work setting as well. Barry Westling

Renee, Night classes are special, and they have special challenges. Understanding where most night class students are coming from, getting the most important "lecture" material out first, then activities involving motion and moving around, ending with more discussion (seated, talking, discussing, thinking, reflecting) would seem to provide a good general game plan to keep these dedicated students engaged. Barry Westling

Kelly, You're right, things just run smoother, in tempo with what an instructor wants when they are prepared. As you allude to, even if we want to change things up, preparation allows for an easy transition to make an event a "teachable moment". Barry Westling

Kathleen, Great! Whenever an instructor is willing to serve the individual needs of their students, they're acting in a way consistent with being a student-focused (student-centered) instructor. Personalizing has to make a diffrerence in learning outcomes, even if it's difficult to quantify. Barry Westling

Vicki, Positive relationships with our students can do as much to help them as the instruction we are providing. I agree that when the student feels their instructor cares, they'll be way more interested during class and willing to comply with the expectations given by their (trusted) instructor. Plus, it's just plain old common courtesy and good customer service to do what we can, both instruction-wise and personal-wise, to assist our students when we can. Barry Westling

Renee, Another application for SLO's are instructor/institutional guidelines that determine what a student should master prior to completing a class. I post the SLO or SLO's for a given class prominently so students can see where the class is leading to and what and why it's being discussed. These form the systematic organization for a course. Barry Westling

Amanda, Practical skills are as important to evaluate as textbook or theory material. Ultimately, good students will master both. Assessing therefore should include a good balance of assessment types to measure learning in both domains. Barry Westling

Derrick, I like to share information about grades and also offer my suggestion, encouargement and support. Students appreciate when they feel their teacher cares. Barry Westling