Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Hi Christine: Well prepared teachers have preceded class with thought, effort, time, and planning. It's true some days are better than others, even when we feel we're prepared adequately. One comfort is if we're honest with stdents, we won't loose their respect. Faking it will almost guarantee it. Try the "four C's": Coordination, competence, confidence, and caring. Each contains elements that result in better classes, because we're trying, and students will notice. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Reasons for evaluating students

Hi Susan: Yes, true. For me, I believe the core of why we evaluate is to measure to what degree our students have learned, have met the course objectives, the student learning outcomes, and readiness for the skills and knowledge they'll need in the work setting they're being trained for. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Making field trips and guest speakers a part of instruction

Hi Heather: Motivaing and inspiring! It's great when you can get a roomful of students to sit up and pay attention to everything the presenter is saying. That can happen with guest speakers. What's cool is some students may only have vague ideas about what they're studying for. Clarity can be improved through this activity. And that can ignite the desire for a student to work harder and realize improved performance based on their hope for success in the work setting. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Using a teaching journal

Hi Gladine: You lsted a common and a less comm use for using a journal. Not all teachers use them or find them useful. But to those that do, they can be invluable resources of ideas, comments, thoughts and feelings, outstanding or pitiful student performance, interactions. There's no one right way to use them. But looking back, (for me, 30 years in the classroom), reflection, growth, analysis, and improvement can be observed through comments and inspired teaching moments. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Organized and prepared to teach

Hi Roger: Being orgainzed is kind of a state of mind. I refer to preparation and delivery as the the four "C's": * Coordination (to select the materials, media, teaching aids, copies - whatever is needed to make the class ready, interesting and enjoyable learning experience. * Competence (preparing the lecture, lessons, redaing and reviewing what is to be taught, to be that teacher - knowledgeable in all aspects of the lesson * Confidence (Deivering the material feeling assured, boldy, with passion, excitement, and a genuine honesty; students will detect when the teacher is being artificial or unnatural in their… >>>

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Using pretests as planning tools

Hi Elizabeth: Pretesting is just a tool that can help understand the general classs knowledge and assist the instructor in planning or making adjustments in order to place emphasis where it'll do the most good. Besides written, another approach may be to compose a list of questions that contains some or all of the course objectives and related topics. Then the teacher could read a question to student A, then ask the class to give their opinions about the answer. After discussion, the teacher would go to the next question and next student and repeat the process. Although more time… >>>

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Making field trips and guest speakers a part of instruction

Hi Elizabeth: What students can potentially gain from eithr or both of thes experiences can be very powerful in creating a new desire and vision for the hope of a successful caeer and a better life. These offer an opportunity that's not available in the classroom setting. Sometimes, information the teacher has hammered into them gets validated, and that reinforces their trust in the teacher and may make for a better learning environment afterwards too. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Informing students of status in course

Hi Kathleen: I believe most students want to at try to do their best and informing them where they stand can help reinforce that drive and convey areas they may need to work on. Whether students are doing well or not, the kind and caring support we can offer in addition to the grade information can contribute a lot. Encouragement and expressing genuine interest can motivate some students who would otherwise be discouraged. Regards,Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Selecting evaluation methods

Hi Earle: This is a good idea. A variation is to incorporate several methods of assessment in one test, such as multiple choice portion, essay portion, matching portion, true and false portion, labeling portion, worked problem portion, and so on. By adding some variety, it gives more opportunities for studnts to demonstrate what they've learned. All evaluations should ccurately measure the degree to which the student has learned and met the course learning objectives. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Awarding extra credit

Hi Earle: My opinion is extra credit is an activity that awards points for grading purposes more than assigned for learning purposes (although both can exist). If it's important for students to know about the subject matter, it should be included in the regular course curriculum. But there may be times that adjustments can be made (dropping the lowest quiz score or a variable point bonus question on an exam). Innappropriate uses are those where slacker students want extra points to boost their grade due to failed or missng assignments, or just general poor performance. That's not fair to other… >>>