Barry Westling

Susan, It's true. But really, all students want their progress known so that they can understand where they are and what they may have to do to make changes before it's too late in the term to make a difference in their grades. Barry Westling

Cynthia, Great! I think students benefit from pretesting but you're right, the instructor gains more in making needed adustments to their instructional plan. I have found that most students don't mind my pretesting (because I tell them it is not a graded test). Barry Westling

Susan, I agree -- review and repetition are among the important ways students transfer short term memory into long term memory. And I think most individuals rely on the auditory and visual senses, even if one is more dominant. If we're creative, introducing other senses into the instructional plan can only help the learning process, and probably make it more interesting as well. Barry Westling

Cynthia, Most instruction that has a practical application (labs, skills, clinic, extern) reinforces learning and helps cement the theory into the practical, especially as it relates to the work setting. Barry Westling

Susan , I think all instructors who regularly journalize realize that they benefit some initially and some ovcer time as reflection, planning, and interacting with past classes leads them to present fresh material (or same information in a different manner). Barry Westling

Janie, Yes, in order to create the forward, positive flow, we have to know what is on, what is next, how time has passed, and how much time is left, and so on. Barry Westling

Jonathan, Yes, and by doing our prep work, we're better able to handle the spontaneous dynamics that occur on any given day in most classrooms. Barry Westling

Cynthia, I can relate to your comments. I call this scanning or keeping my radar tuned to how students are responding to my instruction. If needed, addressing spontaneous questions or occurrences requires a different kind of preparation, that of extemporaneous preparation in order to keep the class moving along, avoiding getting derailed into some unimportant diversion or distration. Students appreciate my keeping on track. Barry Westling

Antonio, I just believe that as instructors we have a dual role. One is to teach and develop the skills and knowledge required for their careers. The other is to inform our students of their progress towards this tremendous objective. Barry Westling

Antonio, Yes, education, training, work experience, work ethics, and commitment to doing our best all contribute to prior readiness. And the culmination of that is when it comes together, day by day, changing lives in the classroom. Barry Westling