Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Making field trips and guest speakers a part of instruction

Hi Brandon: As a guest, we would hope the guest speaker would be willing to defer to the teachers wishes. One way to handle this is to demonstrate you're in charge. Discussion beforehand is vital. When the speaker arrives, ask them them to sit until you're ready to introduce the next "activity". You may introduce the speaker and state the exaxt points you've discussed beforehand in your introduction. Also, you can ask the class to give the speaker their attention, and rather than interrupting, you'll moderate questions at the end. Questions are an important component of the guest speaker experience,… >>>

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Selecting instructional media

Hi Natalie: Current events do add a degree of validity to the topics. And it only takes being alert to the many resources that supply us (bombard us) with related information. When students get to discuss and add their opinions, I think that adds more too. They may be off target a bit, but a good teacher can provide corrected information while not calling attention to correcting the student. How? Just don't correct the student. Instead, just give your version of what you want the students to remember and remind students your version is what tests will come from. Regards,… >>>

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Selecting instructional media

Hi Chastity: Variety with media and instructional methods add so much to classes, such as you're doing. Variety keeps the brain working different parts, and keeps the interest and attention of students better. There's so many choices, it really takes thought, time and effort to carefully plan what the teacher thinks will best assist in conveying the subject matter the best. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Informing students of status in course

Hi Kristine: I think very frequent visitations with students is very important. Besides grades and points, there's also the "how to improve" and suggestions for optimizing the remaining days of class. It's also an excellent opportunity to share positive thoughts, encouragement, offer support, and show that the teacher genuinely cares about student successfulness. Also, it builds trust and strengthens the teacher-student relationship. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Using pretests as planning tools

Hi Kristine: If students know their going to take a test, but not receive a grade, they'll probably welcome the opportunity. Outcomes include comparison from beginning of term to end of term, instructor assessment of their teaching, making adjustments if needed, preparing for major tests, and assessing performance of different teachers, among other benefits. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Making field trips and guest speakers a part of instruction

Hi Chastity: I agree - guest speakers bring a special kind of knowledge and learning experience to the classroom. Good speakers can motivate, inspire, and energize a classroom full of students. When a student begins to visualize themselves in the work setting, for many, that sets off an amazing internal drive to do better in order to create a better future for themselves. Not too many class activities have that powerful and meaningful outcome. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Selecting evaluation methods

Hi David: You've oulined your system very nicely. Thank you for sharing. The challenge of two teachers is interesting. Interrater reliabilty (the degree to which two or more teachers will arrive at the same grade would be an interesting survey. You could compose one using a likert scale, based on a rating of 1-5. Yo might want to look into this methodolog since you are practicing it based on school policy. You might be surprised what you'd find. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Using pretests as planning tools

Hi David: Great reason for chossssing to do a pretest. We are the subject matter experts (SME), and we became that through education, training, varied work experiences, certifications, and life experiences. We couple these with a passion to teach and provide the resources to deliver, and you have a formula for success. As you say, the students have not had the benefit of these combinations of success-directed pasts. It's only natural that we would want to know where our students stand in their understanding. Also, reading some of the other posts in this forum provide numerous other great reasons to… >>>

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Goal of educating students

Hi Curt: Great!. Provide a foundation. Make it applicable to a career or set of skills. And convey the importance of lifelong learning. I've said in the past, "do we want someone who 10 years experience, or one years experience 10 years in a row", implying there has been little growth since school days. Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Discussion Comment

Selecting sufficient course content

Hi Curt: Great methodology! A well written course with objectives and learning outcomes provides a framework for analysis and an opportunity to develop a strategy to segment the needed leaning into bite size portions. It's a bit like a budget, which is really only a orojection of what might be. But as you well state, things change, interruptions happen, student questions are more abundant (a good thing), planned discussion time takes longer. I suppose having more rather than less is good, but optimally, good planning and experience with the class minimizes over or undershooting our daily lesson plans. Regards, Barry