As a certified teacher from Pennsylvania and a mother of a student who was diagnosed with an auditory memory learning disability. I can tell you from personal experience that many factors can be attributed to how well students perform in the classroom. It is the teacher primary objective to ensure that everyone student in the classroom has an equal chance to learn and achieve the lesson's learning objectives. By the way, I am so proud of my daughter because she is now a teacher and has overcome her own disabilities and is actually certified to teach learning disabled children!

Students from different cultural backgrounds bring their customs and value systems into the classroom. From an instructor's viewpoint, all of the language variaatins and slang are important to consider especially when students are required to communicate in classroom participation and on essay types of assessment tools. All students should be heard as long as no one ethnic group is claiming superiority over another.

Amazing how you can have those styles all rolled up in one class.

I believe that when grouping students together it is crucial that you ensure that all students are assigned roles and contribute as equally as possible. Otherwise, the group dynamics will not allow for student engagement in the activity.

As a computer applications instructor, I find that it is necessary to roam about the room to not only ensure student comprehension of the computerized process, but to keep all students on the task at hand.

I find when I teach Medical Coding to the Medical Assistant students I get a better response by working in a group. I usually have 5 to 8 students in a class. I will sit at the same table with all of the students. We will all work on the coding assignments together. It's interesting in the coding field how we come up with the same answers but found it in different ways. The students really get involved with the assignments. I usually give a new assignment and I would be coding it for the first time. The students find out how coders in the field look up codes.

I do ask questions in my courses. But, I can see where I can improve on my methodology of questioning. I can see how asking the specific 3 characteristics of these three styles of questioning can tell me what is going on in terms of learning in my class. It can lead me to know what is going on with my students. Are they understanding are they not. It also allows students an opportunity to express their thoughts about the subject matter. I love that questioning is truly a Contribution... I like that... That makes sense and is so true. I learned some wonderful techniques such as: The open ended questionings and the closed question that drives home the point. WoW! pretty interesting. I am going to use some of these techniques my next set of classes.

While reading through the Preparing to Teach section, I realized that although I followed most of those steps when originally planning my course, it will be beneficial for me to re-do them from time to time. This will make the material seem more fresh, and I will be on the look-out for better resources to aid with teaching.

I have not had many student that don't like to ask questions. I find a way to get all the students to want to be involved.

I would have not thought about the different learning styles til I stared teaching. My first maybe second week of the quarter I can tell what kind of learner my students are. So then I do my lesson planning around that. And it changes with every quarter and every class.

Every professional knows that the price of excellence is planning. I believe preparation and planning are more important in teaching than in any other profession. I view a lesson plan as a program of action, procedure, and content arrangement. I evaluate every lesson plan I use and I don't consider any lesson plan immune to to my thinking up ways of improving it.

I think the idea of students evaluating themselves is brilliant. Of course, this will only be a factor in my final grading of the group projects but I think it's a great way to ensure that students are participating and contributing to the group.

As a culinary instructor I really appreciate the point about floating through the classroom. This is essential to meeting individual student needs as they have varying levels of skills throughout their time at culinary school.

As instructors we will consistantly be on stage. I can walk down the hall and hear my students repeating to others almost word for word what I've said. We are role models for the student.

I've got no problem assisting students with learning challenges that do not disrupt the class. Many can be worked with without anyone else knowing; extra time, tutoring, and in some special cases verbal exams. Personally, I prefer a professional to handle man of these issues. I think they require more intuitive knowledge, and maybe time, that I have when I need to devote my instruction to the average of the class. My two cents...

I believe that students being behind others in comprehension reduces the overall effectiveness of the course; it certainly slows down the pace and increases boredom in acheivers. I think it is much better to recognize these issues; whether it is english as a second language, or poor reading at the appropriate level is a detriment to the overall class. I believe this issues should be recognized early and in many cases referred to remedial study. I know this can be embarrasing to many "Phd's"; but, the overall intent is to ensure they perform and that the overall class is not held back for one individual. Not too popular, I'm sure...

Some people simply do not want to be involved in a group. For whatever reason, the, "touchy feely" of it becomes objectionable. I find this situation difficult to overcome and in some cases simply have student that will not actively participate. Is this an issue of mine?

I like the idea; although, I must admit it makes me uncomfortable to watch myself - much like listening to myself. I still think that a self-restropective during your drive home is a great way of determining how well you interacted and you were received.

Since all students do not learn in the same way, it is important to adopt a teaching style that effectively addresses each learning style. Most of my class agreed that they are kinisthic learners, however, I, as the instructor must decide what materials will be used to facilitate learning. The majority of textbook materials are gearned towards visual learners. They have powerpoints. To help the hands on learner, I usually have an assignment to go along with the powerpoint so that students are not just sitting there in a daze.

My biggest struggle was when I got off schedule from my syllabus. I could have gone through my entire syllabus as scheduled but I recognized my students struggling with the pace. I must admit it through me off quite a bit. I know I made the right decision and I think my students got the most out of what was taught.