What they Want is What I Wanted!
A very important message was sent here in the form of "think what you would want for yourself and then deliver it to the students" or something on that line. I'm a firm believer in this. Even though I'm now an instructor I'll always consider myself a student. Lack of sound information, and lack of truly caring where one of the factors I felt affected me most as a student. I've always felt a lot of instructors work on the "show-off" mode rather than the "show-me" mode. I want someone interested in teaching ME, rather than showing off to me what they know. Motivating my students to me starts with pride. They need to feel a sense of pride for what they're doing and they need to feel accomplished not by me showing off but by them doing it themselves.IT WORKS!!
I can relate to the fact that you can't make it "fun" or "interesting" for some students. I used to always think that you had to be able to please ALL the students all the time. Once I realised that that is impossible and that I will never be able to please all of them, it makes it a little easier to deal with.
We also have to remember that having a class full of students where every student passes all the time is unrealistic. Just wish that sometimes those above us would not forget that.
David, well stated. The reality here is not one size fits all when we talk about teaching and learning. You as an instructor need to constantly learn new theories in teaching and learning and your students will each have a different path of delivery they will require to assist them in their learning of your course materials. Also important to learn from your students as they have much to teach those of us willing to observe and listen.
James Jackson
I can totally relate, when I went through school there were curtain subjects that i wanted out of a specific class. Now that I actually teach one of those classes I have been able to include some of that information I wanted to learn about in my own class. However, as I have seen, sometimes no matter what you do there are always students who think they aren't learning about what they had first thought.
Trying to contemplate what would motivate me or how I would like to be taught (i.e.) receive information plays a big part in how I conduct my courses. I have found that when a student feels that they are in a comfortable learning environment, they tend to take in information in whatever format that works best for them. Making a student feel comfortable to ask any variety of question on whatever topic you may be discussing is how we get good constructive feedback from our students that we can then use to adjust our teaching style to the style of the learners in our classroom.
Im on the same lines as you because i was once a student here then became an instructor. I have seen many different teaching styles and like you said "alot of them like to show off what they know." See I feel that if you want them to retain anything you are going to have to relate on what they know and don't know and feed off of that. You have to make the class fun and at the same time make it interesting which for some people it is very hard.
A good point,I think we need to remind ourselves from time to time. The student already knows you are more knowledgeable with the subject matter so there is no reason to show-off. Keeping things simple, and to the point, are the way to explain the subject. When a student feels a sense of worth they want to continue learning. We have to keep many learning styles motivated so we all succeed.In our subject matter.
I can't agree with you more Luz , it would seem to me when I notice an instructor conducting himself in that manner it makes me wonder if he has lost site of the main reason he is hear in the first place. And that is to allow a student the opertunity to make his own mistakes in his learning so he can through feedback solve problems correctly rather than have some one who is there telling him that he is wrong in order to make himself feel or look superior to others. Not good !!
Very good point and I think we all need to remind ourselves of this from time to time. The student already knows you are smarter so there is no reason to show-off. Keeping things simple and to the point and always explain why. When a student feels a sense of worth they want to continue learning. We have to keep many learning styles motivated so we all succeed.
