I try and find ways to show my students how they will use the information I am presenting when they are done with school. Sometimes students roll their eyes at things, when this happens I tell them about a personal experience with the topic we are discussing. I have had graduates come back after they have been out in the real world and tell me how my personal stories helped them to deal with situations more clearly.

For the first day of class I try and dress professionally, but I don't like to look too intimidating. Most students are nervous enough during the first day of class, they don't need to see a big scary instructor in front of them too. During the first day of class I share something about myself and then ask each student to share something too. I usually do an icebreaker before diving into the workings of the course. This helps to introduce students to each other and see who they can relate to.

In my teaching I try to list things in the course addendum that will help students to be able to utilize their skills to their full potential. I also talk about having confidence in the classroom and assign project for the students to boost confidence.

I like to integrate multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and essay questions into each of my assessments. This way, I feel that I appeal to each different type of test-taker, as well as test the information in a variety of ways, which allows me to get a very accurate view of what the student knows and does not know.

I have many years experience in my field and many times the couse book is to me sometimes miss leading in the way that I have found to be more successful. Would this be going somewhat a miss or just add to the instruction?

At my school there is a student that all the instructors find to be 'difficult'. He thinks he knows everything and is constantly challenging his instructors, which often disrupts the class. At first I found this student to be difficult myself, until I noticed that whenever I agreed that he was right about something he didn't interrupt again for about half an hour. This gave me an idea, and from then on I tried to ask him questions periodically that he would be likely to get right, and this has kept him engaged in the class and no longer disrupting the flow of discussion.

I first wrote my name on the board and what I perfered to be called. I wrote the course name. I shoke each one of their hands,and introduced myself, and asked their named. I then asked each one about their goals and what they hoped to achieve with this course.

These ideas covered some good ground, with the different types of tests showing different advantages and disadvantages. Writing that great question is satisfying and ultimately helps the student! One thing that should not be forgotten is the readability of format, not just content. That is, using white space effectively, having proper indenting, readable font size and type, and not crowding the margins. These are often forgotten and can result in just as much frustration as a question that's worded poorly.

Does anyone else find test-writing fun? Writing a good test takes a lot of time but if you can write an effective one overall (not to mention fun questions throughout), it is strangely fulfilling. (Especially when the students seem to have fun taking it ...)

I had a situation on a new job where, teaching the last class before graduation. The problem was that I had to fail a student in this course. At that point I was suddenly labled as the professor that "failed the senior". The next semester the class I was teaching was so nervous and fearful based on the semester before...how do you go about changing that label? How can you make a good impression when you have already been judged?

This has been a significant part of my development as a teacher -- developing class discussion that is more focused on the student rather than on the specific information I have preopared for class. I don't feel like I'm quite there yet, but I can see how my questioning has involved more redirection, more wait time, less specificity. It takes a little more work but the results have been highly worthwhile.

It is our job as educators to meet the needs of our students; esspecially those who cannot access the material without help.

Enjoyed looking at all your comments

This stuff sure will help me reach more students.

I often focus my exams and evaluations on content application not rote memorization of terms or concepts. In order to demonstrate that they have understood the concepts I have covered I ask questions related to the material and ask my students to relate it to their own experiences or career goals. This works as an excellent way for me to get to know my students aspirations more personally so I can better tailor the educational experience for them. However, I am finding it difficult to find a balance between grading for content of the essays and being distracted by lack of grammar, spelling, and basic sentence structure. I started the term more lenient and have become increasingly more nit-picky about the aforementioned things. My problem, I am finding, is convincing my students that knowing how to structure an essay or even write a coherent sentence is important to their future careers, which are mostly hands-on trades. Any suggestions?

I teach creative individuals who are attempting to become working artists. I have found tests based around skill tasks to be the best method of assessing understand of the core techniques they will need to use every day on the job.

I have found that early and often assessment have yielded the best student outcomes.

I love using this technique in class, keeps students engaged, on their toes, and away from Facebook.

What a revelation! Used information about Kinesthetic learning to help a student understand a concept in class. The topic was how to move objects in a 3D space. One student was having a difficult time comprehending the lecture, but when I used some cubic blocks to demonstrate, and invited him to play with them, he finally got it. Very cool stuff. Thanks for the information.

One must ensure we address every learning type to ensure all students are being instructed and giving the same opportunity to succeed in the class.