Barry Westling

Shannon, Right, students generally do expect their instructor to have it all together. They see their teacher as the facilitator that will help them achieve successfulness in their classes. Students will respect and trust teachers who put in the necessary planning, time and effort to make the class effective. Barry Westling

Kenneth, I'm sure available dollars is an overarching limitation in many schools these days. Ways I have found to maximize the guest speaker is using vendors, product representatives, and recent graduates who are successfully working in the career area. Although inexperienced, they bring an enthusiasm that more seasoned workers may not demonstrate. Also, they are familiar with the school and the classes, so they can bridge the world of school and the working world in their presentations. Students sometimes relate to recent grads as "one of their own", and therefore get more out of the graduate-as guest-speaker experience. Barry Westling

Kenneth, Unfortunately, sometimes activities don't work out as planned. Nonetheless, I think the spirit of student centered learning is sound. If a collaborative student assignment is made, the involvement crteria needs to be made clear and the teacher needs to monitor sufficiently. Whenever we can individualize our time and/or attention to students, a more personalized instructional experience the student will likely receive. Barry Westling

Allen, Great. This should allow weaker student performance to be identified early on so we can intervene, offer whatever help we can, and have time to see student improvement while there's still enough time to make a difference. Barry Westling

Shining, When we share status, we are indirectly conveying we care about the students success. That's why I think frequent, regular, and personal communication is needed. It also gives us a chance to offer our encouragement and support. Sometimes a student may have something goint on that's interfering with their successfulness, and these performance updates give us a chance to listen and offer advice (if requested). Barry Westling

afework, Nice sentiment! When we put our focus on individual student achievement the outcome will result in improved student successfulness. Barry Westling

anthony, Sure. Students need advice and information about their performance from their instructor. They look to us for the pathway to successfulness in the course. So we need to be there frequently to share both course performance and also offer support, encourage, and convey we care about their success. Barry Westling

randy, Right. And of course, besides the skills, knowledge and behavior appropriate to the particular profession, soft skills such as professionalism, attenadnce and punctuality, common courtesies, and career-specific ethics and workforce standards help assure the student/graduate will land a job and sustain that job, perhaps building a career. Barry Westling

Kundukisa, I am interested in student learning - not student grades. Socrates would ask questions and I suspect his method of grading was more aligned with "yeah, they got it" or "no, they've missed it". I am not a fan of EC and choose not to use it. What good is a higher grade if higher learning has not accompanied it? I say, if it's important to learning the material, it should be included in the regular assignments. No EC. My opinion - my bias. Other opinions may vary, and that's OK. Barry Westling

Terri, Balance and perspective are key adjectives when discussing past mistakes. We do learn from mistakes, but minimizing them and learning from the past are good teachers. Staying close to the course objectives and student learning activities is the best place to start and rely on for whatever activity we are involved with. Afterall, this is what the students will be tested on. And hopefully, these define what the course is about, what is to be taught, practed and mastered, and what the student will be able to do at course completion. Barry Westling