Students love hearing about their instructor's practical experience in their field of study.
Hi Lucille,
I have experienced that every lesson will not be all fun and games. It appears to be like real life, fun happens from time to time, but we still have to keep ourselves going. As the instructor I continue to have a ton of energy and make everything apply to the real world to keep the excitement alive throughout.
Patricia
I find that a lot of times the textbook has a "do this and trust me" approach at the beginning. I prefer to go slow and do each step and explain what as well as why. I start the term with a lot of energy and excitement and the first few lessons are fun for the students. When we get into the stuff they have to work at they aren't as excited.
In my beginning computer class we do things like draw our director using Paint. In my Prep Math Class we watch Schoolhouse Rock and I give them worksheets from 3rd and 5th grade math workbooks as extra credit throughout the term. My Visual Basic class loves the beginning chapters because all they do is make pictures appear and disapear. Next comes adding variables and thinking and they aren't crazy about that.
Does anyone have ways to hold or continue the beginning excitement for more than the first couple of weeks?
Hi Deborah,
I have realized the marketability that is involved when a student is bilingual. Students who are fluent in both Spanish and English have several advantages when trying to find employment.
Patricia
Hi Diane,
Students enjoy hearing about our personal experiences/stories as they apply to the course content.
Patricia
I always get them to relate the content to their world. In my field of massage therapy every person/classmate/instructor/family member/coworker you come in contact with is a potential client. They explore content always relating it to their world. In addition identifying what they bring to the table (no pun) as employees of their current workplace can show how the skills they already have can be applied to this new career. Customer service is translated into client centered therapy. Application is key. In addition, teaching a few small massage techniques for relaxing the body can be a great motivator as they already feel empowered with hands on knowledge that they can use right away. Focusing on correcting misperceptions about our industry, highlighting the many benefits of massage, massage in research studies as well as the importance of knowing the anatomy and physiology of the body helps to up the professionalism of our industry as well as help them to feel that they are going into a profession that truly can help someone else with their touch. They often comment to me that they had no idea how many benefits massage had how they thought it was just rubbing on someone.
I teach ESL. My students need to be able to read, write, and communicate in English in order to be successful in their other academic courses. My students get excited when I talk about how the skills I am teaching them in reading, writing, and speaking will improve the quality of their lives and allow them to succeed in their other courses. My course will allow them to achieve the goals they have already set for themselves by coming to this country. Then I tie the content to the skills they need to succeed.
Let your students know about your experience in their field.
I try to make my course relevnt to things that are happening in the world. We talk about current events and also about new procedures and medicines. I remind the students that they are learning these things to pass on to their patients when they are out there working, and also it will help them keep track of their own health care as well. This gives them a really good incentive to come to class.
Hi Roy,
Students enjoy hearing about our personal experiences/stories as to how they apply to course content.
Patricia
Hi Marina,
Students need to and want to know how the knowledge is applicable to the workplace.
Patricia
By describing how the course content can be used in the real world. I give a lot of life experiences that I have, where I worked and where the content can be used.
Show them how this knowledge may be applied to practical situation and the lack of it may harm potential clients and their carriers.
Hi Cheryl,
Having fun while learning is luxury for all. Laughter is healthy and is good for everyone. Almost everyone knows the importance of computers in today's society. Computer students normally come in either with a great sense of excitement or fear, if they have never worked with computers.
Patricia
Hi Ty,
It is sure to generate excitement from the students whenever the instructor shows a passion for the field/subject matter. Personal stories/experiences are awesome to share with students to promote a sense of excitement/motivation.
Patricia
In the kitchen environment, I like to demonstrate the traditional ways of doing things and taking it a step further and showing them an alternate way of doing it while achieving the same result. It gives them a chance to see that there are many ways to accomplish the same goal and to find which method works for them and make it their own. As cooks, we create works of art that are devoured after we complete them and then do it again with the same result. My use of humor combined with the passionate way I talk about food has translated well with the students that I have taught. Engaging them through their personal food experiences and relating a lot of the curriculum to those experiences has been another successful practice since I began teaching.
I have fun!
Laughter and learning should go hand in hand. You're never too old to laugh and have fun!
I teach mostly computer classes and always try to demonstrate how relevant the material is to their future.
Hi Christopher,
Whenver we can bring real life into various concepts that are to be taught, students tend to get it and really appreciate it more.
Patrica
I use real life applications to demonstrate why the subject pertains to them. I do use some "captivating" examples. For excample, to start off the physics class, I put up a brief video of the Tacoma Bridge collapsing about 50 years ago to illustrate that the principles of physics are all around us, sometimes with dramatic outcomes. As we are a healthcare program, I do always try to illustrate the "what is in it for me" part. I try to illustarte how forces act on muscles and bones and that there are scientific principles as to why people get better or get hurt. It is sometimes challenging with physics as they see little effect on the wave theory principles as it applies to them.
Hi Trina,
I like the active learning portion that you try to include. I am sure your students participate readily in the reading assignments because they never know if you are going to have them perform or not.
Patricia
