Hi Christina,
Great to hear about the ideas you liked and are going to try in your teaching. Setting the stage for each class meeting is important to get the students focused on what is going to happen that day.
Gary
By getting to know myself and what kind of abilites I have and also what areas I am not so interested in helps alot in developing a style. For instance I love musicals, games and dancing so that would be a way to encourage the kinesthetic instructional style. What kinds of activities can you think of that might fit in here to help students learn using music or games is what I am asking.
I can further refine, develop, and enhance my instructional style by staying current with the marketplace. Students at our career college need to be prepared to enter the workplace and excel from day one. Scanning the environment to make sure that new trends and ideas are continuously being presented to students is one way to ensure that they are prepared to excel.
Listening to students is another way to enhance my instructional style. Students offer a wealth of ideas and often share their own unique workplace experiences. Building on these experiences with course enhancements is a great way to increase their competencies with immediately applicable new skills.
Embracing new technologies and incorporating them in my classes is a way to keep developing my instructional style. Online learning has undergone major technological advancements over the last 5 years. Using the new technologies in the online classroom gives students an opportunity to have a hands-on learning experience and increase their own technological abilities. This gives our students a competitive edge in workplace.
Thank you. I can make more of an effort to stay on top of new developments for my course topics in addition to current events.
Good to see your comment!
I think some teachers flourish in the unpredictable and others struggle. Part of teaching is being able to tap dance at a moment's notice!
Depends on the subject. Right now it is doing the MaxKnowledge course! For adjuncts we pay them but in reality what will I do if they don't do it? I have to tap into the desire to be a professional,have interesting followup discussions in faculty meetings and our in-service.
I believe in motivating people intrinsically. It has been proven that neither the carrot nor the stick work in the long term.
Hello-
I can make further efforts to offer more of a variety of activites in the classroom and change the sequence of events other than a standard lecture in order to engage the students and avoid them turning into "passive spectators".
Thanks,
Renee
I love the unpredictable classes! Just keeping up to date on current issues and trends, while being open to all possibilities makes for a great class. I have been very lucky with respectful students so we can keep classes open and comfortable. We may find ourselves off track, but it has created some great bonds in my classes!
One way that I use to enhance my skills is observation. I am currently enrolled in several classes that allow me to observe various teaching styles. By observing I can incorporate new styles into the way I teach. By putting myself into a learning environment, I can better relate to the student's experience and modify my own style in ways that will enhance my own student's experience.
Christina
What techniques do you use to motivate your faculty members?
Jim
My instructional style is that I like to make personal one-on-one connections with my students. They each are individuals with individual problems, experiences, and knowledge. It is the "experiences" that drives thier knowledge. That is how we learn. We take something we "already know" and compare it to that "new thing". Knowing where students are coming from, helps me better provide them with material that will facilitate learning.
I no longer formally teach but rather train and motivate faculty under my supervision.
To further develop and refine that task I do research and create my own training sessions for faculty such as classroom management, assessment, etc.
No only is this good for visual learners by the nature of the questions the instructor is preparing students to learn which I always emphasize to my instructors.
Frequently instructors dive into the day by saying "Ok....we were on p 10...." rather than setting up the learning field with questions, examples, metaphors, etc. I really like the ideas you presented.
Hi Frank,
Questioning is a powerful teaching technique. It gives students a chance to share what they know and expand on what they don't.
What do you do to insure that all students are engaged in the class discussions?
Gary
Hi Jeffery,
You are going to be fine as a new instructor. It is ok to have a case of the nerves as well. They come with the job. The reason I know you are going to do well is that you shared a very important comment and that is you now realize that you have been a teacher all of your life. Take all those things that worked well when you were working with crews and incorporate them into your classroom. You are a subject matter expert working on becoming an instructional delivery expert. You know what you know and will soon have a number of different ways that you can share what you know as you teach the courses. I wish you the best in this great new career.
Gary
having the class engage in learning from themselves by asking questions, or by me posing a question to insure the class is followoing the lesson.
Is excited, fun, with a variance in voice, able to interject real life senerios..
I have been in the field working all my life. Now with this carrer change of becoming a facilitator, I am really out of my comfort zone. I can recall my last school that I went to and remember the Instructors that I learn the best from and start using the ways they used to reach students that I can infuse with my personality and go from there along with continuation of my own training. The one thing that I have to remember is that I have been teaching my whole life and did not realize it. When I have been in charge of a crew or helping new employees get situated or have my plan of attack turn into reality. I am very excited and nervous at the same time as I want to become the best I can be and reach my students!!!!
As many have already stated, I believe that you must have a passion for teaching and seeing others succeed. This passion will then drive you to do the things necessary to further develop your instructional skills and refine your methods of teaching.
I am brand new to the world of teaching, but have had past experience facilitating student groups and supervising staff teams and I feel these past experiences are greatly assisting in structuring my instructional style. I have taken the approach with my students of being authentic and honest about my "newness" to the institution and the classroom and invited them to learn along with me on some components of life at our institution. I have seen a positive reception to this honesty and openess of my instructional style thus far in my class.
