Steven Sinnott

I've noticed that there is a tremendous overlap in the critical thinking process and that for conflict resolution.  It will definitely help in leading into the topic of conflict resolution from critical thinking. 

I'm amazed at how many of these topics we touch on in our Essentials for Success class.  The different types of intelligence and how knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you approach a problem is heavily stressed in our class.  This course has definitely given me some new ideas on how to approach and emphasize this area, though!

The thing that stood out to me the most is that discipline can be trained.  While many students will find the task a bit burdensome at first, the more they are required to use this in school the easier it will be for them to apply the process in their daily and professional life.

When we teach our Essentials for Success class we emphasize evaluating the source your information is coming from.  The topic presents this as something to be used when doing research in school, but it is good to point out that this process should also be used in daily life. With the amount of "massaged" messages being broadcast it can be hard for students to critically analyze information if they are not practiced at it.

Active listening is best!  I always try to repeat the questions my students ask me.  This serves two purposes: one, it makes sure that I understood what the student was trying to understand (and sometimes it clarifies this for the student as well!); two, if there are other people present who might need to hear the question it ensures that they are able to hear and understand what is being asked. 

Sometimes simply re-phrasing the question can help the student realize where they are going wrong or make the topic simply click and then they don't need an answer. … >>>

Hi all, 

    I've learned that several factors come into play when dealing with retention issues for adult learners.  One major factor that I see here where I teach is the set of outside responsibilities the adult learner must cope with outside of school. Many of our studetns have jobs, families and other tasks that must be completed; and, while we can't remove these responsibilities, we can make efforts to show them that the attitude, behavior, and problem solving skills we cover here can help them in these daily tasks as well.