problematic students
i have a problem sometimes with students who work full time. the have conflicting hours with work and school. Any suggestions that have worked for any of you?
I have this problem to sometimes. I pull problem students aside to ask an important question about time management and priorities. When I put them on the spot like that they seem to step back and think about the situation a little more. They ultimately realize that education is more important then anything going on outside of the classroom.
Hi Cheryl,
They have to be extremely discipline, and they need great encouragement from their instructors. I have meeting with these students to discuss time management, and based on their schedule, I come up with a game plan to help them handle both school and work.
Patricia Scales
Please give me some ideas on how to help with students with full time jobs and school and sometimes have conflicting hours with school?
I too run into this problem where the student blames the school for their failure to do well when it is really that they are not in attendance.
I have found it difficult to accept the performance of students that is below their abilities. As an instructor, I get discuraged when I see so much potential but the student continually fails to bring their A game and settles for their C performance. I have a hard time learning how much to push toward the A performance when the student is very happy with being average.
I believe many instructors of adult students that work all day have run into this problem. I have found it to be helpful to break the course session up into fifteen minute segments. Even though the material is the same it is shared in different ways; by repeating the information in different ways students seem to retain the information. And it is a way to assess if students are understanding the material. I try to locate a article related to the topic of the day or request students to bring in a article to discuss as a class, once I have completed my powerpoint presentation I do a quick jeopardy type game to assess where the students are at the time, in addition to asking them to share their experience with the topic. By keeping students focused and interacting with each other reduces the boredum and problems in the class.
I to have this issue with students. The worst part about it is when they don't attend class they want to blame the school and myself for there lack of attendance. I had a case last term were a student had three days to go before graduating and he was drop from school because of attendance. His whole argument was that rule changes and and the lack of caring for his needs was the problem. I talked to him on many accounts giving compliments as well as notifying him the issues at hand. It made me feel as if I was not doing my duty, but how do you get someone to show up for class when all they expect is for me to give them a passing grade when attendance is keeping that student from passing?
Hi Travis,
I have no magic formula. We try to work with the students as much as possible, but I have seen students grades suffer from this as well as having to drop out of school.
Patricia Scales
