Personal contact one-on-one with students
In the university in which I teach our "terms" are 10 weeks' long. I have been contacting students who are not progressing as is expected weekly. These contacts are via telephone. During the contact we discuss what may be happening in the student's personal life that might be interfering with school. Then I ask the student what he or she might be able to do to "fix" that to the extent it does not interfere with school. I am wondering whether anybody has any suggestions as to a different or perhaps better approach. Thanks!
I think it’s good to talk to student asking the students why they are not able to achieve from the class as they would be expected. I do know that every one of us have personal problems in every stage of our life. Some may be very serious or some depends on how you see the problem (may be a small problem and seen by some as a big issue). Very serious issues I can understand a relative or friend is dead, or the student itself is having major health issues, or a very close friend or relative having major health issues etc. After all the bad time is passed the student is lost and ends up with time management issues. Discussing with the student and helping them to plan and focus to complete the course successfully will be really good and helpful for the students.
But here we have to take a judgment if the issue is really serious due to which the student is not able to do well with the course. Or it could be the student is not taking time to prepare and study the class or the student find or may be feeling a reason by themselves to take things seriously and is not able to focus on studies. But the student seems to be doing very well with social interactions and in student lounge spending more time on other activities.
I do come across students telling their personal reasons why they are unable to learn or do homework, sometimes I think the personal reason is not that big issue in life that the student did not prepare for exam or test or did not do a project or homework which they know weeks before hand.
A mentor and an advisor for each student will be great to have in a college/school. So that the students can approach their advisor or mentor about their issues. I think the advisor and mentor s will know how to have a controlled and structured conversation with the student to analyses the issue and how serious the issue is with the student. The Advisor can coordinate with the teacher and should always monitor the grade of the student and interact with the student at least 3 times for each semester. This way the student problems will be known at the initial stage and the student will get timely advice and support to be successful in the course.
Professor Bon Coer,
First I would like to give you a round of applause for going beyond the call of duty to call a student and pose a very good question. Students must understand that their employer will expect them to mange their personal lives. This is a requirement of careers today and those that are good at this will remain employed, in economic downturn. This is a reality. I have found that students can handle personal matters best with school if they employ good time management techniques. I took the time management module for professors. I use the idea of listing the time wasters and catagorizing them into A, B, and C priorities and the five most important things to do list. A simpler method is to list all the stressors and catagorize them by things you cannot control and need to manage, things you can engage an authority or trusted friend to help you with or get advice, and things that you can get rid of that someone else can do or they are really not related to your goals. This way the student is less overwhelmed by things that really are not connected to their goals that they of course may need to attend some of CTU onlines goal setting live chats to get help with this skill. I also send emails to students on live chats that help them with skills that I discover they are lacking that are posted on the home page.
Your colleague
Wanda
I also teach in a college with 10 week terms. Between the midterm and finals classes there are not many days to complete the course objectives. We have a few ELL students in each term and I'm finding it difficult to give them the complete attention that they need and that I would so much like to. The ED202 ELL course was quite helpful. Anyone who has taken that course that would have any other suggestions ? Thanks!
Hi Professor Bon Coeur,
I think the personal touch is always the best approach. You definitely have a handle on approcahing at risk students early and involving them in a potential solution as well as the issue at hand. If we can help our students develop a plan of action under such circumstances, there is a buy-in and much higher level of motivation (as long as the "issue" is not just an excuse). Thanks so much for your comments on this!
As educators, I feel it is our duty to provide as much one-on-one assistance as is possible; after all, most students will argue that "we are all paying the same price for our education", so why shouldn't I get personal attention...... I tend to agree, and I gave myself the goal of providing a minimum of 2-5 minutes of personal instruction during every class period to each student. Of course, some will require more than that allotment; at that point I always have the student see me after class and we have a more tailored conversation to that students' particular needs. This has helped tremendously with retention for us!
