Mel Henderson

CAT activities seem to be an interesting formative assessment approach as well as a gauge for where the students are with content learning without the pressure of a graded exam. They can equally be a good way to measure the effectiveness of the instructor.

Asking questions can open up the student to new learning but it can also be a good way to shut down discussion and further attempts by the student to engage. Questions must be handled appropriately. Must be respectful. Use questions to expand on content and understanding, not to show how much you know. 

It is important to not only know the individual learning styles of the students, but also to be aware of my own style of learning, because it is through my own style that I will tend to teach from. Makes sense. Had never thought of that. It is important to incorporate all 4 learning styles into the classroom and to alwasy be aware of those who are struggling with the delivery.

I need to remember that the average attention span of the adult learning is less than 18 mins. By keeping lecture segments to 10-15 mins with discussions, demos, and learning activities, this will help to keep engagement and motivation up. Each individual learner also has a specific learning style and the instructor must vary the teaching approach to accomodate all learners. 

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about creating community. If I expect my students to be client-focused when they are practicing, then I need to be student-focused when they are learning. By modeling the behavior that I expect of them, they can see what it means to be professional and to practice what we as occupational therapists preach. 

Come prepared, come early. Display professionalism. Never try to prove that you are the smartest person in the room, there is alwasy someone smarter. Convince them that you love your subject and convince them that you love them. 

Most learning occurs outside of the classroom. It is when the student has opportunities to apply the knowledge they gain, that is when real change and growth happen. 

I really have appreciated all the great ideas for various types of instruction. I especially got some good ideas for interactive and independent instruction techniques. I'm excited to implement them. 

I think that comprehensive literacy skills are no less important for the vocational or tech student than they are for the academic student. All students need to learn to think critically, problem solve efficiently, and create solutions to real-world problems. Newer and virtual technologies increase the complexity but also increase and improve access.

Newer technologies brings with it the need to critically appaise its contents and to do that, students need to develop solid critically reasoning skills. One way an instructor can help to develop these skills is by using the Socratic approach.