I think that sel-evaluation is very important in further developing, refining and enhancing your instructional style. As a new instructor I am constantly reviewing my previous class lectures to assess my strengths and weaknesses. My goal is to use this info to improve my instuctional style.
Carl,
Respect and rapport are two essential components of successful teaching. You are bringing both to your students throughout the course meetings. This creates a supportive environment for student learning and cognitive development.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Micki,
You bring variety, engagement and interaction into your classes. This is very important if you are going to maintain student focus throughout the classes. Thank you for sharing your strategies with us I know they will be helpful to us all.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Most of us have worked in our fields of endeavor for many years, and as for me, I want to pass on what I have learned, not just from the book, but from real life experiences. This has helped me gain some respect, I have been where they are going and I know the tips and make them aware so they won't have to learn the hard way.
You also must earn their respect and trust. Trust that what you teach them will help them in their job. Respect that you want to pass it on to them so they can eventually get to the level of expertise we have accumulated in our work.
What I try to address with my students is team work professionalism, and the different learning styles of my students. This is accomplished by evaluating my class as a whole and setting up a plan which will better facilitate the learning capabilities of my students.
On day one I ask each student to share why they are enrolled in the field of this choice. I then congratulate them on their individual choices. I then will ask each student to write their name on a sheet of paper and have them put what style of learning is best for them, hands-on, etc. I give them a little bit of my professional background and why I do what I do for a living. During lectures, I smile and look each student in the eye more than once during my facilitation of the class and call them by their names. I feel if I can learn their names, they will feel that I really care about their success, which I do! I walk through the classroom during my facilitation instead of standing in one spot or just sitting. If I'm moving, they will need to follow me if they don't want to miss anything I might do or say.
Marla,
Stories from instructors help to make the course content relevant and students like to hear the different ways situations can be handled. Good motivators as well.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
ZULFIKARALI,
Good strategy to make the activities relevant and practical for the students. In addition, with the rotations you are giving them opportunities to learn how to work with others, an essential component of a successful career.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I like to share my past professional experiences with my students. They enjoy hearing the stories and it also puts them at ease.
In my classroom I have many types of learners. (Visual, hands on, and auditorial) Therefore, I try to include all types of learning in my class. I use many pictures, diagrams and videos for the "visual" learners, lecture for the "auditory" learners, and perform many demonstrations and pass around objects of interest for the "hands on" learners.
I am a new instructor in the Clinical ultrasound scanning lab where student participation is crucial as each student has to actually scan their classmate. The challenge is that the students come from varied backgrounds ie mix of male/female, different cultures, ethnicity, etc and they all have to scan each other to get their practical experience. One way that I handle this first explaining to them the importance of team work and cooperation from all. The students do not get a choice to pick their partners..we do a draw, and then all students rotate so that for each lab they have a different partner. There was some hesitation initially, but all students have accepted this to be fair to all and seems to have really worked for me. This also allows the students to share their experiences with each other.
Melissa,
You have outlined a comprehensive and developmental professional development plan for yourself. I think these items will enable you to retain your personality and instructional style while gaining a clear understanding of how you want to conduct your classes and the behaviors you expect from your students. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Also, being comfortable with the instructor is important. This opens the door for the student to ask questions and discuss concerns.
I think it is important to get feedback from students to help tweak classroom instruction. Sometimes it is hard to look at yourself in the mirror and find faults. I think students are probably more willing to be honest in a survey than co workers who may not want to hurt your feelings.
We have all had instructors that were ill prepared and I believe we were all short changed on those days. I agree that preparation is key in order to increasing the cailber of education we deliver ot our students. In addition it also helps us as instructors to improve as well
This is true,making students comfortable can allow students to ask important questions and not feel intimidated and lose out with important information.
I think being comfortable around the students is important. If your comfortable they will be too.
What techniques can you employ to further develop, refine and enhance your instructional style?
The reading provides several steps that an be taken to further develop, refine, and enhance one’s instructional style.
• Know yourself. I enjoy letting my students have fun in class. I want them to learn, but I want them to do so in a relaxed environment in which they enjoy the material and each other. In generally, I am animated and laughing, and this carries over into my teaching. Reflecting, however, I worry that my style is too relaxed. I get along with all of my students and am very approachable, but my boss suggests that I am too lenient. He would like me to be more like him, speeding through the material and closely monitoring the students’ activities. However, that’s not me, and the reading suggests it is important that a teacher not force him or herself to be something s/he is not. I would have a hard time suppressing my high-spirited attitude.
I could, however, get better at following up with both the school’s and my own classroom policies. For example, I often let uniform violations slide without warning, and I sometimes do not mark people down for late work, although I probably should. In part, this is because it is very hard to keep up with assignments when they are coming in late due to absences. I could probably stand to better motivate students to come to class, perhaps by giving pop quizzes that cannot be made up. I do not monitor students’ computer usage during class as my boss does. My theory is that they are adults and understand what they need to do; however, something I read recently suggested that this is not always the case. Finally, I am usually rushing and fail to start class right on time.
My next step is to make an action plan with these and other items I need to improve on. It would serve me well to consider the next point – know your college – as well as the other advice from the reading.
• Know your college. I have been working at my college for over a year (1 year, 3 months), yet I have never read the catalog nor the student handbook; I simply haven’t had time. I will make it a priority to read these books and uphold the policies and procedure therein. Any questions I have will be directed to the Director of Training. For example, I would like to begin to give pop quizzes, but I need to know if this fits in with the school’s culture.
• Know your students. The reading also suggests my instructional style needs to reflect the needs of my students, considering their experiences, academic successes, motivation, and competencies. To address this goal, I would like to give a needs assessment to my students at the beginning of each quarter to determine their strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, I would address those skills needed to do well in that particular course – math, reading comprehension, writing, etc.
• Know your subject. I have a background in aviation. However, only about one-third to one-half of what I teach focuses specifically on aviation. The remaining subjects (trucking, railroad, emergency response, etc.) are new to me. Although I have gone through some training and have done a lot of reading, I still would not consider myself well-versed in these areas; I know only what I need to teach. I would like to study more on these topics so that I am comfortable answering almost any question that students may have. As I had little mentoring when I began this job, I will review the master syllabi to determine what I need to study and what needs to be taught. As I am learning the material, I will think of ways in which I can be more effective at teaching the topics.
• Know your colleagues. Unfortunately, it is difficult to do this because there is only myself and my boss running a program that funs from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Due to my personal responsibilities, it is difficult to get to work early, but I am sure that I can make it happen a few times. Although the other instructors at the school teach different subjects, it would still be a good idea to sit in on some of their classes, if nothing else to learn tips on classroom management skills and adhering to school policies.
• Know your past. Finally, I will reflect on the instructional style of past instructors and determine what worked and what didn’t. I will examine the pros and cons of each style and adopt the tactics I feel will be most effective in my classroom.
Catherine,
Good way to find balance for all of the different personalities you have in a class. Variety in instructional delivery helps to keep the students engaged.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Since the rules are very well defined, teaching is the perfect place for introverts. I like to use a combination of role playing, lecture, and audio/visual aids in the classroom.
