I think being supportative and honest is the best thing you can do to foster success in an educational setting.
Hi Laura,
This comfort is the foundation for the development of respect and rapport. Learning will be greatly enhanced as a result of the students knowing they have a caring instructor leading their learning.
Gary
It is extremely all student feel comfortable with their instructor, many students feel a caring instuctor is a good instructor.
Hi Hope,
Good points about how to encourage and support students. I like your saying. It really sets the stage for success.
Gary
I think feedback is the key. Letting them know how well they have done on an assignment lets them know where they stand. Communications is also a key factor with students. Letting them know you are here for him in an educational way helps a lot of the older adults who come into this thinking they can not do it, or they have been out of school for too long. We have to keep motivating our students and making sure they know we are behind them pushing them to the moon. I always tell my students "Shoot for the moon, if you miss you will still land among the stars"
I find that encouraging students to form a network of classmates to use as resources throughout their studies, is a great way for them to stay connected and focused. The first day of class I pass out a spreadsheet for all the students contact info. I allow students to fill it out with their program, phone number, email, days on campus and if they are interested in joining a study group. I advise them to fill in only the information they are comofrtable sharing with the entire class; it isn't meant as a way for me to "bug" them but rather as a means of connecting with classmates. After every student gets a chance to fill in the appropriate information, I photocopy it and provide each student with a copy of their fellow classmate's contact info. This way if they are absent from a class, or want additional study partners for a quiz or exam, they know who to contact and how.
I encourage students to simply dive in and give it a try. I speak with them about the fear/procrastination correlation and reinforce the fact that the classroom is a “safe†place to get their feet wet and build their skills and confidence for the workplace. I try to focus on the right approach rather than the right answer until they are ready for the next step.
Hi Eric,
Great benefits of using student groups. Thanks for sharing these with us. I am sure that this will help other instructors to decide to use student groups based upon the outcomes you listed.
Gary
I try to encourage students working together for a common goal. During many of my lab exercises, I divide students into groups. By having students working together in groups, 1) students will assist other team members (in areas like computer skills), 2) students can recitate my lecture material to other teammates in an easier form, 3) by assisting others in the group, students are helping themselves re-learn the material, and 4) students develop comraderie which will assist in later projects or other classes.
I agree that conducting an ongoing SWOT analysis is a very effective tool in assessing your class.
I also agree. Clarifying expectations of assignments and course work is extremely important and allows them to more easily accomplish these goals.
I believe you must identify strengths of each of your students and then work to help them play to those strengths. I teach cost control and accounting for food service operations and many of my students are very fearful of basic math. I work to find out what their fears are based on and then try to apply their strengths to getting through.
Soliciting lots and lots of feedback from my students is the way I find works for me. If you allow students to not be involved in class discussions, they will!
I actually like to remind my students that shcool time is about making mistakes and learning from it, trying to approach all type of situations to come up with the best scenarios.
Hi Daniel,
Good approach. This knowledge acquisition process keeps building on the foundation that you are creating with your students. This helps the students get settled into the course and realize that they can have success if they will put forth the effort.
Gary
I find that students have an innate fear that education is this huge complex task that few people can do well at. To counter this fear I focus on principles more than I do on the specific details. By focusing on the principles it allows me to emphasize how simple basic principles are and once the principle is understood, I begin to fill in the details of the subjects. I find that students are open to this approach because even if they are struggling with the details they have confidence in their understanding of principle.
Hi Monica,
This is a good way to create a comfort level for your students. They learn about the expectations of the course while getting to know the instructor and other students better.
Gary
I empathize with students and hear them out. I find out what is holding them back from achieving success. Together, we define what is holding them back and then discuss ways for them to achieve success. I maintain an open door policy and encourage students to call me or visit me at my office.
One of the things I have done in my classes is send out an email a week before the class starts.
In the email I outline the course, and ask students that have any concerns to contact me so I can help them.
Then on the first day of class in addition to the typical syllabus presentation (etc.) I outline expectations for them, tell them what will be covered week by week and have a first day getting to know one another session. Students introduce themselves, where they are from and why they are here as well as any other information they are comfortable sharing. Then I do the same and share my personal info with them. In this way I try to build a peer to peer support group as well as present myself as a resource for their challenges.
tutor students is very important,also give examples of how other students overcome whith that kind of problems
