Vicky McEwen

The Stress SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)tool focused on helping you to understand your unique strengths and weaknesses in the way you manage stress. It also helps you to identify the resources you have available to you, and points out the consequences of managing stress poorly. It is a powerful technique for understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses, and for looking at the Opportunities and Threats you face. I see it as a way to organize your list of stress factors. This tool can be found on the internet.

Instead of having essay exams I do jeopardy with team participation. The students enjoy the competition. It forces them to organize their thoughts and present the appropriate question. Many of them have said they have been able to put together concepts and system functions much better.Each team of 5 students (6 topics)has a set area to come up with the answers and the other teams take turns answering the the question. I enjoy it because the students ask much harder questions.

If the teacher procrastinates with grading and returning calls, students complain.Hopfully the teacher improves in these areas. The side of procrastination that really concerns me is Student proscrantination. Many of them put off doing what they know is a priority because of demands that are driven by others despite the unpleasant outcomes this may bring. Does chronic procrastinators stop themselves from achieving things they're capable of and fall short on career goals?

Thank you for your insight. In looking at the overall impact on retention, I seem to have identified that the school hours interfer with "salary making times for many of the students and they are under great stress by trying to work and go to a short full program. Even with the lighter syllabus time for it all isn't available and retention is very low. Fortunately, I have the option of adding days and having shorter class time per day or doing different time classes.

Are students more easily motivated by having early classes - say 6 AM to 2 Pm or by having classes begin at 8am? What is the "best learning time" as a means of promtoting motivation and retention. Differentiating between the physical aspect and the psychological aspects of the learning climate- what are some of the stressors assocaited with early classes or late classes?