It definately is needed when you are a new teacher beginning a new career. For me it is about coming from the business world and stepping into the class room. Culture and career switch. Loving it.
Donnalyn,
So true. If we do not bring enthusiasm to the classroom it is for sure the students won't. We need to be passionate about our field and the opportunity we have to share it with our students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Joseph,
Good point and one we need to remember each time we prepare to teach a course. We need to seek improvement every time we enter the classroom.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Because if we become bored with the subject the students will also be bored. Being excited about a subject makes the subject more entertaining.
Refocus is a need to dictate whether something becomes a distraction during the course, which provides an effective real world fact that helps instructors to get back on track as quickly as possible.
David,
Being a life long learner is one of the requirements of an instructor. Seeking new information, techniques and strategies should be a part of the professional development for each instructor. Staying current as you say also helps to motivate your teaching as you bring this new information into the classroom.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
have this same problem. If try and remind myself that this is all new information to the student and they are looking to me to help them understand. By researching new areas of interest that pertains to the course work, or current events, I am able to breath new life into a somewhat flat subject.
Rebecca,
Good point. By virtue of being an instructor we signed on as life long learners. If we don't want to be such then we need to get out of the teaching profession because we will not be current in best practices or our field.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This is why instructors must be lifelong learners. Some instructors may not necessarily work in the field anymore and need to keep abreast of the ever changing concepts.
Christopher,
Good point about the need to revisit success once in a while. It is easy to forget about what has been accomplished so to revisit it renews personal motivation and enthusiasm.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think it is a good idea to help students and instructors re-visist their successes. Success breeds success. I have not done this in the past as we are a faced pace school but I will work on taking time to "REFOCUS". Especially on the accomplishments part.
By refocusing instructors keep themselves from burning out. They get to reinvent lectures or activities and bring that enthusiasm into the classroom. Making thier classroom a more enjoyable environment for all.
Dennis,
I agree and if we don't stay current we are doing a dis-service to our students and our profession because we are not bringing our best professional expertise to the classes we teach.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Instructors need to stay fresh and current.
Students that were in the palm of your hand yesterday can be worlds away today if you are giving them the same old boring content. If they detect a loss of focus on your part, they find other ways to occupy their brains.
By using the "REFOCUS" tactic, this allows an instructor to relfect on current events and material in the class room giving them a break from the "usual", and an oportunity to clear the mind and refocus on what is importaint and why they are their to begin with.
It's good to step back and take a breather every now and then!
Janet,
Good point about how to stay fresh in your content and excited about teaching. We need to continue our professional development so we can offer our knowledge and experience to help our students move closer to their stated career goals.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Jean,
Loving to learn is an essential part of being an educator. We need to continue to grow and expand our knowledge so we can increase our effectiveness and help shape the future careers of our students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
If you do not take time to look over your course objectives and syllabus and change it up you will become stale and just wander through the course and not motivate the students. Students need to be motivated in your class to succeed.
Because you can get stale. If you are teaching the same thing all the time, you can forget how excited you were the first few times and how important it is to "shake" things up, by creating new study guides, showing a different video, or doing something unexpected. By doing these types of things, YOU are also relearning and refreshing yourself, so your topic can take on new life.
