Barry Westling

Hi Rochelle, Good teachers will be open on-going critique, advice, and on-going correction. When open to new ideas or suggestions from others, we not only humble our ego's but usually find there really are lots of alternative methods yet to learn. Ultimately, students are the recipients of this attitude. Barry Westling

Hi Rochelle, Good point about distractions. Students invariably are asking "what is required of me", or or what is it that I am supposed to do?". A well organized class provides the answers to these questions in a general way and specific way. General, through the syllabus with details of teacher expectations. Specific, through daily learning objectives, perhaps written on the board, displayed in a PPT slide, or handed out. Disorganization can lead to confusuion, and students are seeking clarity. Even small actions can help in bigger ways in the minds of students. Barry Westling

Hi Randall, Well, all I can say is when a teacher cares, the student will benefit. Barry Westling

Hi Gina, A teacher willing to put students first has already achieved one level of success with their students. Further successes are very likely. Barry Westling

Hi Billy, Great analogy! Communicating with students reinforces the feeling the teacher is both aware of performance status but also is interested in seeing continuous improvement. Like you, I want to be reminded where I'm at, and that there is a road map to successfulness in a class. Barry Westling

Hi David, You're right, students feel better with more communication (not less), even if the news is less than wonderful. I think frequent and early on status reports (even informally) can do wonders in keeping students current with their assignments, and it contributes to improvement in their ongoing class performance. Barry Westling

Hi Billy, This is your call and (hopefully) consistent with institutional policy. I've had students claim I was being unfair, giving some students EC while none for others. It's a very subjective situation. I just prefer to stay from uneeded accusations and grief brought on by myself. So I make it clear at the beginning of the course and then I stick to my policy. Barry Westling

Hi Thomas, The question I've asked myself is "why?". Where is the learning, and what is the objective to awarding EC? To raise a grade does nothing specific about learning. I understand it can make lesser performance look better, but again, I have to say, what about learning? For me, I just don't go there - my personal bias. Barry Westling

Hi David, Yes - small group discussion almost forces one into a participation mode. A real key is to make sure the discussion is something the students find value in: competition with other groups; key information about one component integral to comparison with other components to be discussed, etc. In general, the closer the student can see where their interaction in the group is related to the career field the student will work in the more interested students are likely to be. Barry Westling