1)I can make sure I am proficient in the new technologies that our colleges uses for online classes. (For example our new Communicator system.)
2) Reach out to the students so they know I am concerned about their performance in my course and that I want them to succeed. It doesn't mean I'm going to make the course easy. They are going to have to work hard. But I want them to know I am there for them when they need help.
3)Learn from my mistakes. If something didn't work well, I need to think about how to more effectively deal with that situation in the future.
4) I always have fun when I teach. I want students to see that, becaues ideally it would be great to get the students interested in our material and in doing well in that course.
Excellent point about understanding what each student needs to learn from a course! I teach mostly accounting courses, and I tend to assume that everyone wants to be an accountant! Thanks for the reminder on this very important topic - it will help me immediately refocus my efforts on helping students see where a course will help them, regardless of major.
I agree, seeing the change in students is hugely rewarding! I was lucky enough to have bosses and teachers who really cared about my learning and about my future, and I try to pay that forward.
When I get the same question repeated from multiple students, I know the topic must be a tougher concept or I need to clarify it better going forward. So by reflecting on commonly asked questions, I can enhance my instructional style going forward.
I try to make sure my students feel comfortable discussing any difficulties they are having with the course so we can remedy it and make revisions. It is so rewarding when they get excited about what they are learning and I take note so that I can bring more of those experiences to the course material. I also get involved in outside course-related material to keep up to date but the experience I get with each classroom is invaluable.
I love what I do and I can't imagine doing anything else. I want others to feel the way I do and be as excited about my chosen industry. I take continuing education classes from industry leaders and I bring these new skills back to the classroom. This helps me stay competitive and also helps my students to understand what is expected of them in contemporary terms.
I am relatively new to teaching, having taught one course as an adjunct faculty member last fall. I have realized, through taking this course, that there is ample opportunity to find new ways to improve and develop instructional style through on-line seminars and live instruction offered by the college where I teach. I look forward to taking better advantage of these courses this spring. Sometimes a person (me)incorrectly looks at those courses as if they are meant for other instructors.
I also teach a computer class, Microsoft Office 1, and one of the things that I enjoy the most is seeing the progress that students make throughout the course. Some come into the class not knowing a thing about computers or the programs that we learn and when the end of the quarter comes around to see the accomplishments that the students have made and to see the confidence that they have gained really makes my job worth while and makes me want to continue to teach.
When I first began teaching I was not very good at it:) I was unorganized, didn't know the answers to many questions and was not prepared for what was coming my way.
Through trial and error and a lot of professional development offered by my college I think I have become a very good teacher. I also keep very up to date with what is changing and emerging in the medical field and update my courses to reflect this.
It is also crutial to know your audience. Students today communicate differently than they did 10 years ago. It helps to learn new ways to communicate with them in ways they can understand such as facebook, instant messaging and twitter.
I think that a great idea, what have you learned that has been most helpful from the improve class?
Keith Steege
One of the things I would do is to keep reviewing student reviews after the class and see what areas of my instructional style they liked and which areas they didn't. It's an area that need to keep on improving over time.
I think you have to identify some of your strengths and weaknesses. There are lots of different styles of instruction that can be effective. You must identify those that you are comfortable with. Our own past instructors can serves as models for us and help us to identify instructional styles that do not work. Once we have identified some of the styles we can complete professional development activities that help us to refine our instructional styles.
It can also be beneficial to sit in on other instructor's classes to see alternative styles. I sat in on a colleague's lecture the other day and picked up on several things that worked and some that did not work. It is a different perspective when you sit with the students instead of being up front.
Open ended questions are a great idea as it allows the student to have the change to discuss all of their points of view without a "right and wrong" response.
In my college we do a great many food demonstraions.The challenge is to accomplish these demos in a timely manner.The concept of multi tasking is key to successfully executing the recipes. My personal style is to lecture and demo at the same time.Students are then expected to duplicate what I have demonstrated. I'm concerned with my time management skills. I would like to find the perfect alarm clock,or some type of silent buzzing device that can help me with this issue. Rehearsing my demos seems to be one answer I've been experimenting with lately,so I can streamline some of my lectures and steps.
You can go on to further your own educational needs via continued education, go to events to simply watch and learn the speakers(what works vs. what doesn't), and ask those around you what their doing...
I like using a variety of activities. I'm an adjunct faculty member teaching a 3 hour long class one evening a week, so I certainly can't lecture the whole time. I like finding a variety of videos and class activities to break up the pacing. I think I'd like to work on some more complicated group projects, like having students do some research and present back on what they learn. There are enough computer workstations available on campus for this to be fairly workable, I think. Need to prep them on what to look for first, though.
One thing that I have started and find useful is taking improv comedy classes. It keeps me light on my feet and able to adapt to any situation with ease.
i do multiple points of instructing , for exsample i use whiteboard , overhead and i move around the classromm as i lecture, which keeps the students attention for a bit longer as if i would be stationary
I completely agree Anne. I often have the same problem but what I do is prepare for classes at least 2 weeks in advance and that really seems to help.
My instructional style is friendly, interactive, entertaining, informing, and professional. I love to do hand-on activities, yet I believe in using the English language to its best advantage. It helps that I have a "gift for gab!" To refine my professional style, I would like to -- for once -- start the quarter with all of my material completedly oganized for the entire 10 weeks rather than look at my Course Outline and do revisions the night before or an hour before class starts. That is part of the dilemma of being a serious working artist as well as an educator. You find yourself 'serving two masters' at times, or feel 'torn between two lovers.' Sharing that with the class sometimes is one of those honest ice-breakers that can make you more human and believable, however.
