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Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

learning styles

since there are so many styles, it is best to use the three main types and integrate those methods to your teaching style delivery, i.e, mix it up in order to reach them all and see which ones light up under the 3 styles.

class preparation

Last semester, I taught a nursing program to 20 students. 10 were LPN's. Before every class, I would plan everything out, do a powerpoint presentation, give handouts, review for tests, have post test reviews. No matter what I did, the students would go to the Director of Education or the Director of the Nursing Program, and complain. They didn't like their assignments, or their test results. They would come in late and sometimes walk out of a class for no reason. My question is: what do I do if I have practically no support from the Directors?

Retention

What is the most challenging problem facing student retention in your organization?

How to be a good teacher

Being a good teacher can be the most rewarding and exciting job in the world. However, being a teacher who doesn't work effectively can be stressful, painful, and exhausting.

How important is your homework

They are just as important as your test grade.

How important is your homework

They are just as important as your test grade.

Assess Prior Knowledge

What are some of the ways that you assess students' prior knowledge of a subject on the first day of class?

Body Language

Part of active teaching is body language and facial expressions. Simple nodding of the head with some arm movement can enforce the importance of a point to be made, or, credence is given to the importance of a point. Smiling then can further underline group approval of the point being made.

Introduction using a short story

I usually have students tell me a short story about themselves that relates to one of the objectives of the course. This helps me to remember the students' names and the other students enjoy hearing a story which gives a more in-depth picture of their classmates.

Maintaining students interest

Practice question/answer lecture technique to involve whole lot of students

Students with short-term memory

I teach Math and some of my students have said "I get it when you're teaching the class, but when taking a test I'm lost or freeze up." I give alot of examples in class and homework for them to practice, but I still get these responses. How do I deal with this and change their attitude to a can-do, no-problem before taking an exam, particularly the Final?

Applications

Just a note on applications. I have found that in 38.5 years of teaching that the rate of student appreciation of applying the subject learned is inversely proportional to the complexity of the course. That is in many extremely difficult, complex and challenging courses, students will often get engaged just because of the difficulty of the material. It is in the basic courses where students often have to take it just because it is mandated or a "gen. ed" course using applications can increase interest, show relevancy, etc. Therefore teaching a basic easy course should inspire us to do even more applications.

Course Outline

Some students follow the Course Outline to the letter. As a former student, I relied heavily on the Course Outline. In my preparation for my 4th quarter of teaching, this is what I plan to focus my efforts as far as mapping out the class.

Teacher as an actor

An Instructor 's personality should be magnetic and leading the class.

Establishing Milestones in your syllabus

Establishing Milestones in your syllabus

Lab instruction

It would be nice if the course had more emphasis on clinical lab instruction, we do not have auto nor shop training for our students.

classroom dilemma

The class I am currently teaching is of 5 hr duration. I use to have problems regarding student engagement. I am fully aware of the attention span of an individual. However, I try to navigate around this by doing mini-lectures. Afterwards, we will discuss a case study pertaining to the topic which is very much an interactive exercise. I find it to be working much better this way.

introductions

Introductions are excellent ways to calm the nerves when starting a new course. I found out that students feel great about themselves whenever they are given an opportunity to share something about their lives that the rest of the class are not aware of.

Plan and prepare

I definitely try to plan and prepare for my class. It begins with coming to class at least 10 minutes before the schedule start time. It also includes reviewing important concepts you are planning to discuss in class the night before. It helps with delivery and better prepares you to answer any questions that the students might have.

Questions

What is the best way to have students ask questions to not feel afraid of asking.