Vanessa Hamilton

Our Generation Y students ability to reason is far less than the Generation X abilities. We need to understand that they are computer savvy and the don't need to reason, everything they need is on google. We need to revamp or teaching strategies and test giving skills for this group.

I usually mark questions in the book that I'm going to use for the next class.

It was good to brush up on the learning knowledge again.

This lesson gave me confirmation of how well I have been doing as an instructor and also allow me to add some new things to my lesson plans. There is no such thing as not getting information because we have been teaching for X number of year. This is my 16th year teaching and I'm still picking up notes and ideas from other instructors rather we are teaching the same subjects or not; I figure out how to make it work in my field.

The first week of school, have the student go to each facultyand staff name on the paper and have them sign their sheet every morning. Students should have at least five signature on their sheet. The student should address the person by name and say good morning. If the student do not address you by name, then the student have to address two other people to make up for that one.

During orientation, having the students introducing themselves to each other is a great idea. Also have the first instructor the students are going to meet attend the orientation so the students will be familiar with him/her on the first day of school. On the first day, give the students a scavenger hunt list and have them go to some of the facultyand staff for signature. This will help them to familiarize themselves with the staff instead of being afraid or intimidated by them.

Find a word game sounds great as a class electricity game.(Use the ten main words in the electricity chapter, place them around your department and other departments that uses electricity and have the student find the word, then add the definition to the word when they get back to class). The person with the most correct answere win a small prize. You will be surprise to find how hard students will work for a sucker.

To ensure students success, try not to be more of a friend than an instructor. That line is easy to cross when try to gather information to what the students need inside and outside of the classroom

I always over plan my lesson plans with activities so my class don't end until its over. After ever section i.e., 204 I will have and activity if the students shows difficulties with the section taught, If they don't show difficulties then I move on to the next section and have the activity after ever two hours. I read in one of my psychology books that the mind can retain 2 to 2 1/2 hours of information at a time; so I turn work into play to give the mind a thought break.

I had my questions about retention, but I didn't know how to form them into words to ask. This training has answered all of my questions. Now when I have a question, I know exactly how to form it to get the proper answer.