LaShonda,
This is such an important thing for students to know and become familiar with. The more they learn how to work with others the better. Most all of us will be working with others at one time or another in our careers. We all need to learn how to work as a team to reach a common goal.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Pauline,
Thank you for sharing this support with us. This is a great way to keep the students moving forward in the course and it helps the student mentors develop their leadership skills. A positive outcome for everyone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I always demonstrate TEAMWORK. I teach them that there's no "I" in teamwork but there's "WE" in teamwork. Teambuilding is incorporated in class so that the students can work with each other. I constantly change the groups up each time. I think it is very important to be able to work with everyone. At least attempt to work with everyone. I give each group feedback on how well each group performed.
I have student mentors in my class. If somone is out sick I pair them with a student mentor to get them back on track. This gives students a chance to make them a part of the class. To be a student mentor they need to be enthusiastic about the subject matter and be caught up in their own work. I have many students that strive to become mentors.
Daniel,
This is a good way to encourage student input and feedback. You are right about taking their input and considering how you can use it to improve the course and letting them know you value their opinion even if it isn't possible or feasible to implement their suggestions.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Listening to their suggestions and trying to implement them into your lectures shows that they are a part of the class. If you do not agree with their suggestions a least acknowlege them and say why you can't use the suggestion but give an alternative as to what you can do.
Jennifer,
I do to and my students really have fun during these review times. Also, I get a very clear picture of how they have retained the material through the answers they give during these games.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Paula,
This is why I use a lot of small group work in my classes. The results are great not only in terms of production but the human interactions as well.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In some classes for review before tests we use games like jeopardy to reinforce the material. This also helps students to learn to work as a group to discuss answers and come up with a group decision. It can get competitive but I believe it deinitely helps with retention of the material.
Getting them to work as a team on a project with others they may not interact with normally.
David,
This is good advice for instructors to follow because these strategies will get adult students involved and invested in the learning process. The results are going to be engaged learners and expanded knowledge acquisition.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Working together in small groups is imperative.
Also adult learners like to have some control - so giving them a voice in things like classroom expectations and in the set up of project rubrics can give students that feeling of empowerment. If students feel like that have a voice in the class, they are more likely to be active participants in the learning activities.
Maurice,
By planning such a discussion in a way that gets every student contributing you will have achieved your goal of total student engagement. These are fun and very informative sessions that benefit each and every student.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I believe a few strategies for making students feel apart of an class would be having the student engage more into the class basically have classroom discussion so that each student are familiar with each other and this will eliminate having a problem talking in front of the entire classroom.
Kim,
This is a great way to get students interacting with each other and your introduction activity gives them information about each other so they can talk about something besides school. This helps them to create a network of support for themselves as this is such a need for adult students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
On the first day, I give the students a brief introduction to me... background, professional training and experience, etc. Then it is their turn. Each student comes to the front of the room and gives: 1. name, 2. work history, 3. explain why they are going into the profession and finally, 4. If you really knew me, you would know that .......
I interact with each presenter during or after their presentation. If they are frightened, I coach them through it. I also acknowledge something positive in what they shared. This SINGLE activity is the BEST thing I've ever used to help the class 'gel' from the first day. It also has a significant impact on retention in the long haul. Students often say at the end of the semester, this is the only class I've every taken at this school where we actually talk to each other both in and OUTSIDE of class. We talk in the halls, on the bus, on the train, at the coffee shop, etc. They really feel like they belong.......
Theresa,
Sharing these stories are what keeps the students engaged and excited about the material.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Mark,
Networking is a part of career growth so we need to work at expanding our network every chance we get.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I encourage interaction - have them tell me experiences in their daily lives that might parallel the topic we are discussing
i agree. Even after they graduate I strongly encourage networking.
