Hi Scott,
Like the way you have laid out your approach. I think you are going to do well with your students. Your extensive experience puts you in a position to bring the real world into the classroom for your students. Showing them how they need to be flexible and willing to observe and learn from others is a great career skill for them to have.
Gary
Hi Gary,
I will soon be starting as Respiratory Therapy Clinical Instructor with students who will be in a clinical setting for the first time. I plan to draw from my 12 years experience in the field and show these students that there are several different ways to perform various tasks. This of course is dependent on factors such as the personalities of the therapist they are assigned to, institutional differences, etc. I will tell them to keep in mind that just because a therapist does something different than how they learned in school, it does not necessarily mean it is wrong. I plan to model the correct way to perform the task to the students initially and have them discuss with me some of the variations they have noted.
As an instructor, I model professional behavior everyday. If I promise to have an assignment graded on a certain date, I follow through with that commitment. I respect my student's time by arriving to class, prepared and on time. I conduct myself in a professional manner at all times during the workday - even when I am not in the classroom.
Knowing your subject, manage content and process, showing students that you love your subject.
Motivation is a key factor- to help them see their progress and to show them that you care as an instructor
Showing up on time and prepared
I try to do this by beginning and ending class on time, dressing professionally, being a good listener as well as speaker during class, and responding quickly to student concerns. Hopefully students will pick up on these examples and use them when they get into their career fields.
Hi Virginia,
The professional component of teaching is critical. You are doing a great job of setting the stage for your students. They, as a result of being in your class know what a professional in their field is like.
Gary
As a role model my students will observe how I am a model by coming to class on time, dressed professional, speaking in a calm confident voice. My students will also observe that I am confident and competent about the subject that I am teaching. I hope to portray the vision of professionalism so when then are at their new jobs they will do the same.
Uphold attendance policies and teach for all learning styles. Have the students look at school time as on the job training and teach them to be professional at all times.
An instructor should evidence by conduct,dress, presentation, discussion, etc. all aspects of professionalism that are expected in an employment setting. Often the instructor is the first real contact the student has with a professional at this point in their career.
Hi Monique,
Excellent point. The soft or career skills are as important as the content skills. If the students don't know how to get along with others, dress and show up on time they are not going to be successful in their careers. We need to introduce and reintroduce them to these skills often throughout their educational sequence.
Gary
I think that it is very important to model soft skills for students. I teach students who are at varying points in their professional lives, and I find that the students who are very near the beginning (1-3 years post high school) tend to need the most help with these skills. I believe that my being on time and beginning class on time as well as dressing professionally, exhibiting professional conduct with students, administrators and other teachers, and using appropriate language in the work place is a good model of soft skills that will help students to succeed in their chosen career field.
Hi Peter,
Absolutely. Instructors need to wear clean neat attire that models the career area. It may be a business outfit, scrubs or uniform. This helps to show the students how professionals in their field dress.
Gary
Motivate them to become successfull
Demonstrate good organizational skills, start class punctually, and respond to student questions and concerns respectfully.
Yes, I do. In the medical field or Allied Health instructors most times wear labcoats over scrubs or street clothes. If the students were going on an anthropological dig then jeans and boots would be appropriate.
If nonspecific,then I think business casual, clean and pressed is appropriate.
Do you think that instructor's attire should be based on what they are teaching?
To be successful in the workplace our students need to be exposed to successful behaviors. Some of those we, as instructors, can model are:
- proper business attire
- Attendance and punctuality
- Preparedness - lectures, tools, etc.
- Attitude: respect, tolerance, congeniality
The best way I can model behaviors that will help my students to succeed in their career field is to model great time management. I can do this by always being on time and sticking to my lesson plans and syllabus.
