Nancy Reeve

Reply to Cecy Aguilar's post:  I like that you added the student belonging in the classroom.  I have had instructors who didn't care who I was or even knew I existed.  They did not take an interest in me as someone who wanted to learn what they had to teach.  In my previous job as a clinical instructor in the hospital, I had the opportunity to get to know my students, who were the new hires on the clinical units.   I had the greatest pleasure seeing them grow, and always pointed out the progress they made.  That made them… >>>

The review of writing course objectives and syllabi was very helpful to me.  I had not thought of them as a road map for the student, but they truly are a means to a destination.  Both the syllabus and course objectives were the way I kept myself on track for my MSN courses online, but I did not think of them in the way this course has shown me how vital they are to learning.  

The instructor should be a role model for the student and basically, "practice what you preach."  It's also important to care that the student learns and find ways to enhance their learning.  I like the story about the law professor who has a favorite case every day.  This method energized him and his students, and surely improved learning in his class.  I have found that bringing reality to the classroom in stories from my career tend to be good ways to teach exactly what the student needs to learn.