Barry Westling

Ali, For sure, there's no substitute for the invaluable experience a varied working past brings to the classroom. Barry Westling

Gayle, We can and should be prepared for every class session. Students want and expect their instructors to be ready. Barry Westling

Ali, We've all been to school, and have probably experienced an instructor who may have been knowledgeable, but their delivery was awful. Students may tolerate it but are not likely to learn as much. Barry Westling

Sandra, Sometimes, concepts and lab can't fully create a complete understanding - that's where a good field trip or interesting guest can help fill in some gaps. Barry Westling

John, Students rely on their visual learning sense a lot. And with short attention spans it's important to keep a smooth, seamless pace with variety, even if that involves returning to prior media (i.e., back and forth between white board and PPT, for instance). Barry Westling

Wendy, I find asking a lot of questions helps define where students' prior knowledge resides at any given moment. Barry Westling

John, Yes, students look to their instructors for guidance and expect competent instruction. As knowledgeable as one might be, appearing unprepared can diminish the perspective the students have for their instructor. Barry Westling

James, I do something called checking for understanding. As I present a lesson, I go just so far in the lesson before stopping to ask specific questions of specific students. If most students are answering correctly I'll move on. If more than one student cannot answer, I back up a bit, repeat, review, or revise the point and then again ask questions, and so on and so on. In this way, I go only so far before getting a feel that students are generally understanding and won't be lost in the next or upcoming lesson points. Barry Westling

James, Yes, the pretest format can be as varied as the limits of imagination. The results are what's important and useful for the instructor. Barry Westling

James, Great! Media choices are so abundant, our selective, creative, responsible decisions can make the difference in providing a smooth lesson or one that is less than wonderful. Not something we should take lightly. Barry Westling