Barry Westling

Hi Gerry: This is a great example of the need for being prepared and ready way before the student (or patient) arrives. In your case, it seems like the opportunity for role modelinig and demonstrating best practices would be ideal, and paramount to the student's training. Trust, confidence, competence, professionalism all promote respect for the teacher, the students classmates, and future patients. Here, we have an great inroad to demonstrating role modeling and it's impact on good patient care. Regards, Barry

Hi Joseph: Sure, like a trial run. If the goal is to measure learning, I don't see why we can't be creative and do a pretest to see where students are strong, and where additional work may still be needed. Regards, Barry

Hi Aylee: We teach classes and hope students understand. But, we know, there will be various degrees of performance. So, another form of teaching is meeting one-on-one with students to instruct, give help and assistance, and also encouragement, support, advice, and the ability to listen to the students's needs. Regards, Barry

Hi Aylee: Also, pretesting can compare beginning vs. ending student progress, preparation for a give test or final exam, even the teachers effectiveness at presenting a topic. Regards, Barry

Hi David: Very true. Students are not likely to feel comfortable asking their instructor a question before class if they observe s/he running around, making last minute copies, shuffling papers, etc. That's chaos and I don't think many thrive in that kind of environment. We owe our students the benefit our full attention, and for class, fully prepared and ready to go on time, but if we're just on time, we're probably late in a preparation sense. Regards, Barry

Hi David: Too bad about the Excel grade sheet. But more important is the relationship and connection a teacher can make by visiting with their students, encouraging, caring, helping, sharing - all tenets of a teacher that is interested in the successfulness of their students. Regards, Barry

Hi David: Good point. Many adult students have doubts about their ability to succeed. Sharing performace frequently addresses that they can be successful, and lets us offer support and encouragement too. Regards, Barry

Hi Aylee: Relevance should reflect what's contained in the course description that contains student learning outcomes (SLO's), learning objectives, and daily lesson plans. You're right about trying to keep it interesting and understandable. A teacher could have the best curriculum, but if they miss their target audience, they've achieved very little. Regards, Barry

Hi Richard: Great. It's important to try to find what works best to try to reach and teach your students. Sounds like you've made the best of what resources you have. Also, getting students into discussion groups helps develop critical thinking, independence, trust in their knowledge, and confidence about their learning. You can have the groups summarize key points, and make clarifications (or corrections) if they're off a bit. But this kind of learning assists retaining information better than having it fed to them and memorizing facts. Regards, Barry

Hi Lisa: Your plan makes sense. It's true, our need for flexibility, tolerance, patience, discipline and support are needed at various times. Having an accurate perception of how we think and act can help us deal fairly and reasonably with all the different personality types we're likey to encounter over time. Regards, Barry