Student who lose focus
Engage conversation about the class lecture with all student in the class. Motivate the stduent to become proactive with the class lectures. Feedback helps let the instructor know he/ she is making some progress with all the students, especially the ones who lose focus.
Good evening, Michael! I agree with you that offering our (often expurgated) accounts of our own difficulties can assist student to see that there’s an end to the college life (at least the standard round of book learning and test taking, knowing that we’re always engaged in learning every day). I wonder, though, whether our own experiences find a responsive chord in contemporary students’ experiences.
I have often heard (within the last ten years or so) from students that their lives are vastly different than someone who may be a Baby Boomer or a Gen Xer. Maybe it’s because today’s students are so wrapped in technology that they can’t see that older folk and faculty went through the same crises in life (getting a job, deciding to marry and have children, etc.) even though our technology consisted of things as antiquated as typewriters and snail-mailed resumes to company HR offices instead of instantaneous services. I dunno….
How exactly is a twenty-year-old’s life so radically changed from that of someone who is now sixty but once was twenty? I don’t want to challenge students who make the claim their lives are different and more difficult since that would be confrontational at least, but how do I overcome this claim? I want to overcome it because doing so would help today’s students see that their problems can be surmounted. Ideas?
I have had a challenging life myself. I use personal stories as to how I overcame difficulties. Of course not too personal, but insightful and relevant.
Hi Mark,
As instructors, we have to be our students biggest cheerleader. Our students need motivation from us, and we should cheer them on each day.
Patricia
I try to encourage the student by showing them the results of their efforts. Mentor programs from upper classmen and success stories help to rekindle the motivation that made them atten int he first place.
STUDENTS SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED TO DISCUSS THE REASONS THAT THEY ARE NOT FOCUSED ON THE COURSE. THE STUDENT SHOULD BE GIVEN MORE ATTENTION AND ALLOWED TO EXPRESS HOW THE STUDENT CAN BE SELF - MOTIVATED OR BE MOTIVATED BY THE INSTRUCTOR
