Barry Westling

Hi Mike: Generally I believe that if a teacher can keep the students attention, and at the same time obtain and retain the essential material, they're doing a good job. I'm sure you can appreciate that humor is a strange animal, in that each one reacts a bit differently to humor (arn't their comedians you don't care for?). So I think humor is great, in doses that season a lecture or presentation rather than dominate it (unless it's a class for comedians, and even then, there is a lot of theory and science that goes into professional comedy). I like… >>>

Hi Mariann: Clinical is almost always an exciting experience for students. It can be a challenge to reduce anxious students from feeling so stressed they can't think. I think this is partly due to their (false) belief they arn't prepared well enough or know the material expected of them. Clinical can be overwhelming. Yet, by breaking down what is expected, demonstrating and making the students feel comfortable and welcomed in their new setting can contribute greatly to fears begining to diminish and being replaced with confidence and the excitement of experiencing the variety of resources the clinical site provides. Regards,… >>>

Hi John: PPT can be a very powerful tool, but it can just as big of a distraction too. Poorly planned PPT's that don't inform can't compensate by appearing as a big bright image on the screen. I think the best PPT's are those we create ourselves. have 5-5 main bullet points, a colorful bcakground with contrasting font color, and perhaps some images (photo's, charts, or graphs added for variety. The worst PPT snafu I've seen is teachers who simply read the slides. It would be better to present a couple of points and then discuss in more detail with… >>>

Hi John: I always have to begin with the premise that there is a body of knowledge in a given subject, and the teacher is among the individuals selected to transfer that knowledge to the students. Of course there are many varied resources, media choices, learning aids, and instructional helps, and these tools facilitate the transfer process. I think we have to rememmber that with media, especially electronic media, these are tools only, and should not be the focus of the class. PPT is a great example where it can be overdone to the degree that students lose interest. "The… >>>

Hi Darlene: First off, I agree with you that, although the publisher may have included slides, they rarely are dramatic, colorful, or interesting to students. Sometimes, they're nothing more than dull outlines of chapters. The answer is to create your own slides allowing you to add your special touch, include the information you want, import photo's, graphs and charts, and design the information to fit your class time or schedule. You can plan summarized bullet points with 4-5 main points per slide, then digress from the PPT and get into more detailed discussion with your class. I'm sure they'll find… >>>