John Chronister

Blog

It is unlikely that our instructional paradigm is compatible with the structures outlined in the material as our students attend class 30 hours a week and a lack of adjunct faculty to implement and administer this type of program. Some thought will have to be dedicated to this.

John Chronister

Blog

Stress Reduction

I would like to hear more real-world techniques for coping with stress.

John Chronister

Discussion Comment

Sincerity

While it is important to recognize the diversity of students and respond accordingly, I believe it is equally important to maintain the same basic persona for every student while offering the correct help/mentoring/coaching for their unique situation. Being a chameleon, drastically changing into something different for every student, may help the student in front of you, but it is possible for others to observe this behavior and deem you a phony-baloney.

John Chronister

Discussion Comment

Contingency Plans

With every new class we encounter new challenges. I find it helpful to have several back-up plans for every part of the course that I am teaching. These plans are developed over time as you encounter many different groups of students. These should be written down until the different approaches and techniques become second nature to you. When one approach does not keep my students engaged or motivated, I can move seamlessly to plan-b or plan-c to keep the students involved.

John Chronister

Discussion Comment

Student mentor

These are just ideas and suggestions as of now.

John Chronister

Discussion Comment

Student mentor

It was mentioned elsewhere in these threads that it would be great to have and instructor assigned as a mentor to each student when they enter school to help them throughout their time with us. Although this would definitely put more of a burden periodically on the instructor, it would also help get things done. A facilitator assigned would be nice, but it is my experience that when people from two departments (education and financial aid for example) interact on a daily basis, they become familiar with each other, and we know what that breeds. This would just add another… >>>

John Chronister

Discussion Comment

Follow up

Sometimes we send a student to get help and the help is not there. There can be many reasons for this including the students own demeanor (attitude). The point here is that the student may come back to class and complain quietly to his friends or not say anything at all. We need to follow up with every student that we send for help to make sure they did indeed get the help they asked for. By following up, we show the students that did get help that we give a hoot and the students that did not get help… >>>

John Chronister

Discussion Comment

Let the students know what is available

A powerful point I picked up on in our training here concerning retention is that we need to let the students know that we can help with more things than they may realize. I have started, once a week, to let my class know that if they are having any kind of struggle (financial, personal, transportation, housing etc.) that we have many resources here at the school for them and they can contact me privately before or after class to figure out who to talk to or they can go to student services and let them know what their situation… >>>

John Chronister

Discussion Comment

First Day Activity

In most of the classes that I teach, we have many training aids. I like to set several of these on the desks before beginning the first day of class. As students come in and I am meeting-and-greeting, taking roll and putting together my seating chart (I am lousy with names) they can pick up and touch and hold these in their hands and this will spark a curiosity in most of the students. I will then briefly discuss each part and let them know at which point in the class we will be going in-depth on each part. Another… >>>