To be effective you need to be organized. I teach a class in the evening. I always arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of class to prepare the room. This allows me time to get the room ready and greet the students has they enter class.
Nazi,
We help our students the most by being the best we can with our experience, training and education, and as in this post, solid preparation.
Barry Westling
I believe in the same structure in class. The Instructor is the prime example for the students to watch as their leader.If the instructor is unorganized then the students begin to pick on that habit.
Amalia,
You're right, part of our professional persona is based on the student's pereception of the instructor's readiness. I believe when we are ready, organized, and prepared, that can only help make classes run smoother, flow better, assist students more, and give students a full measure of instruction (that they have paid for, by the way).
Barry Westling
Len,
More acitivities, variety, creative methods that alter the traditional delivery of course content all add immensly to the students appreciation for their instructores effort, and benefits them with better retention and overall performance.
Barry Westling
It is important for the teacher to be prepared for class because the delivery of the material that the teacher would like to show the students would be understood by the students more efficiently. It would also make the teach look more professional and like they know what they are talking about. A teacher who is unorganized may be portrayed as sloppy or someone who doesn't take the matter seriously. Therefore they would be regarded as unprofessional and the students would feel like it is a waste of time to learn things from that individual.
There is literally no aspect of your class or teaching that will not be positively impacted by being organized and prepared for each class. In the most fundamental way, being organized simply allows you to facilitate the basic, minimum expectations of teaching. One cannot effectively lecture or teach without preparing a lesson plan, power points, or some type of educational outline. Also, as pointed out by the course material, being prepared is a sign of respect to students...that you respect their learning, that you respect the facility where you teach, and that you respect the profession you are representing. Finally, by meeting these minimum expectations through class preparation, you can then seek to fully engage students by expanding on the material and learning strategies.
Eunita,
I agree it's a good idea to "fess up" for those times we aren't eactly sure of an answer. It's really no surprise that students are more forgiving when they see sincerity and honesty, much more than an instructor trying to wing it to save face.
Barry Westling
In orer to teach effectively you must be well prepared to teach. Even when you have all you ducks in a row, something will come up and you nedd to be prepared to give and answer, even if it I don't know, so lets all look it up.
Dorian,
Right, and our students will notice when their instructor is not fully ready to facilitate a class.
Barry Westling
It is important for the teacher to be organized so they stay on task whiling teaching.
Darlene,
Sounds like this was a good exxperience for you. For sure, without a plan, arrival at the destination is less likely to occur.
Barry Westling
Vallorie ,
Many students really have no post secondary college experience to base exxpectations. I believe we have the power to control how students view their classes. And if we don't, the students will create their own standards, which are not always the best ones.
Barry Westling
Denise,
We all have strengths we can bring to the classroom, based on past work experience, training, and education. Yet we still need to be current with the general topics we teach, and of course the daily topics.
Barry Westling
Tawana,
Incoming students usually have a diminished view of what professionalism is all about. We have an opportunity (and duty) to try to bring them up to speed in the short time we have them in our classes.
Barry Westling
This term, I was required to make a complete set of lesson plans for my class, as well as Powerpoint presentations, quizzes, and exams, and put it all into a binder. this, I found, is helping me to teach the class again, because I don't have to go back and try to remember what I did the first time. It frees me up to work on other things.
In my 8 years of college teaching experience, this is the first time I have been requirefd to turn in lesson plans!
It is important because this will give students a sense that they are going to enter a learning environment.
I believe that if we are not versed in the subject and/or organized when we arrive, we can't possibly instill confidence in the student.
Organization shows professionalism, it shows the student they can rely on you as an instructor to be a role model and competant educator.
Rich,
Yes, most of us are instructors in vocational or career specific courses. We have a duty to emulate and demonstrate what we expect of the students.
Barry Westling
