How to avoid common mistakes?
Be on time. Be prepared. Be organized. I have fallen short with each of these elements at one time or another. After 7 years of teaching several related courses to prepare students for our specific industry, I have made many mistakes. But if it is one of the essential elements above, it is more serious than any other mistake I have made. Sometimes my demo is not perfect. So what? I tell them that it is not, and tell them why. And during their production, I watch over them to make sure they are working toward not making the same mistake I did. It is always nice to have a perfect demo, but it just doesn't happen every single time. So I strive to work on the main things that will help me avoid mistakes: timeliness, preparedness, and organization.
Hi Edna,
We will continue to have mishaps as long as we teach. Simply continue to work on timeliness, preparedness, and organization.
Patricia
Organization is the key to success.The students are going to want you to exemplify what you expect from them and when you are unorganized you have no control.
James,
Nicely said! Practice what you preach--be organized. Lead by example!
Patricia
I always try to prepare for every question that the students may ask. I do this by investigating the things that I do not understand.
Casey,
It's amazing how some questions are repetitive from grading period to grading period, and there are some questions that simply have never been asked before. As an instructor, you have to give an accurate response, and if you don't know, I've even had the students to research the question. I play the game card--that's a good question, let's research it for extra credit as homework tonight, and invariably someone always comes up with the correct response during their research. This tactic is amazing, trying utilizing it.
Patricia
