Student Retention
I just taught a course on Insurance Billing and Collections and the biggest complaint was difficulty with retention. The textbook contained alot of information and that was frustrating to them. I suggested to my students to break the studies into sections. I told them to make sure to have good notes from the lecture and every night to review their notes and try to read the section in the text which corresponded to my lecture sot that they wouldn't find themselves reading the whole chapter the night before class. The could re-read their class notes and skim through the book. The class found this very helpful.
That's a great idea when you're teaching a complicated or data-intensive subject.
You could also ask them to quickly review with each other (small groups of 3-4) what was covered in the prior class. This keeps sometimes keeps the foundation work fresher.
I consistantly use the q&a everyday. For the most part my class is a hands on situation except for mondays which is all night lecture. So I try the question process through the rest of the week. Also at the end of each night I try to use a situation that was presented to me in the field that pertains to that weeks lesson so they can see what they are doing can/will be use to solve problems in the real world.
Student retention is possible the hardest for me at my school. We have to relise if a student is having a problem and try to get them to come forward with it and then find how to help. Whether it is a housing issue,finances,transportation problems, roomate or just housing problems. Also jobs that overlap into class time for over time or the other shift was late. Trying to make everthing came together and help the student is like a second teaching job. But with out my help there would be a lot more students leaving campus.
Retention and placement are the keys to success for career college. May be students are facing a lot of problems on their life. But to improving their life style they have to complete their course, which they are taking. First of all, they have to love their profession, courses and school. If they find any difficulty, they need to contact with their instructor or their best friend. They should make notes on their understanding ways. It will helps them a lot.
your retention problems seem minor as to the ones we encounter in our school. We have to deal with problems like dad sent him he does not want to be here so everything is a problem. or I was told school or jail. Then there is the front office that does not seem to want to work with you.
Hi John,
Sounds like you are in a tough situation. The advice I would offer is to remain the professional you are and try to reach each student, knowing that for some that is not possible. I know when I taught in a situation much like yours my goal was to reach as many as I could and try to encourage those that really wanted to succeed. I was always pleased with the results of the few that went on to make something of themselves. I tried not to let the lack of front office support impact my professionalism as I wanted to be honest with myself and know that at the end of the day I had done all that I could to be a good educator.
Gary
I agree with you John, we have students that just came out of jail or prison and have such an attidude, and we don't even have books for them to take home so we can't tell them to read or study unless they're in class.
