Your Spoken Word
I have found in my Document Processing/Word/PowerPoint/Spreadsheet classes that the first most important part of learning is developing two-way communication. I try to get to know my students as soon as possible--which means their interest inside and out-side of school. If they participate in an event I try to attend and then mention something positive about the event in the next class session. The students really appreciate me taking my time to attend most of their events. I also try to apply every learning experience in class to their interest which really helps the students see the purpose for learning the subject matter. Always say everything in a positive manner helps the students to feel good about themselves.
Greetings Mary Jane,
I completely agree with you. We must learn as much as we can about our students to help keep the topics interesting. I do icebreakers at the beginning of each class where I ask about their interests/hobbies, passions/ purposes in life, what is success to them, long-term/short-term goals, best methods of learning, and for fun I would ask if they could combine 2-3 animals which and why. The animals are a representation of their personalities. However, the icebreaker is my way of learning more about them to help with the formatting of my class.
