Barry Westling

Hi Sultana: Yes - wasted time is the teachers enemy. We need to be sure each moment we have with our students is making some progress towards a course objective or student learning outcome. Regards, Barry

Hi Karen: Good point about consistency. Outlining how grades will be determined, and then sticking to that helps students plan and feel like there are no surprises, which can diminish the trust a student has for their instructor. Regards, Barry

Hi Karen: I think your key word in your post is "unknown". by determining at level our students are at, we can remove that unknown factor to better plan where and what to emphasize. Regards, Barry

Hi Shronda: An instructors personality can shape the students view of the importance, relevance, application, and efiiciency of the class and their learning of the needed information. Regards, Barry

Hi Shronda: I think it's possible there may be misunderstanding of expectations if we're not clear, and the needed resources are not avaiable. This comes with preparation and organization. Regards, Barry

Hi Maria: Great!. When we project confidence, that reassures students and helps them rely on our advice, instruction, and suggestions on how to do our assigned work successfully. Regards, Barry

Hi Maria: Yes, this can happen. Actually I thnk we always have control, it's just we may lose the attention, interest, or (in some cases) respect and trust of our students if we fail to do our prep work for a given class. And we have to be consistent. Students want organization in their classes and their lives. Often, there is already enough chaos - we don't need to complicate things with our own. Regards, Barry

Hi Emma: Sounds like a good plan. For me, in a 15 week session, I would intervene before midterm, perhaps several times, especially for the lower performing students. I think they need more help and also time to correct they performance. Wainting too long may prevent enough time to use our sugesstions for advice on improvement. But each teacher needs to decide what works best for their students. Regards, Barry

Hi Emma: For me, a good back up plan is usually low tech, something a pull out and implemment with little preparation, and is interesting and relevant to the course topic. A discussion or some prepared exercises can be good back-ups, for instance. Regards, Barry

Hi Emma: You're right, the selection depends on the topic. In other words, we know what information needs to be taught, Our job then is to decide how best to present it expeditiously so all students can grasp it. Having extra or back-up exercise can be available so if students are not catching on, we already have an alternative assignment that can be substituted. I thing having more material available than time to present is a good safety factor. Regards, Barry