I have to admit, I need to do better with planning. That is my goal while I am on break. Sometimes I feel as though I am "flying by the seat of my pants" and that's not fair to the students. Mind you, the subject that I teach, oral communications, is a fairly easy one and a class which does not vary all that much from one semester to the other, but it can be more challenging and that is what I hope to accomplish by the time I start my next semester.

Of course, as the material points out so clearly, you are who you are and to be someone else will work as well as wearing a small glove on a big hand; not a good fit. However, you can, as I call it, "channel." And what I mean by that is, like the text material points out, emulate a former teacher of yours that you admired for whatever your reason may be. For example, there are two that come to mind for myself: my third-grade homeroom teacher and my 11th grade social studies teacher. They were both very different personalities, but sometimes I can see myself acting like one or the other when I teach; it seems to work out for me. One of the cons (sometimes, anyway) for me as a recent college graduate, and former non-traditional student, is that I tend to find myself identifying with my students rather than with the other educators at my campus.

Do you feel that diversity can also be students form different generations?

How can you pick up if a student has a minor learning disability?

I have a few Spanish speaking students and when I give the students time to work together, not in groups but as a whole, a few of them collaborate in Spanish resulting in leaving some of the students uninvolved. How can I eliminate this without any disrespect to the Spanish culture? Thank you for your much needed advice, Sincerely, Tammy Gorman

Choosing the appropriate encouraging words is slow going at this point. I'm not negative by any means, but I catch myself using the less appropriate words all the time since starting ED107. I've noticed a difference when doing it right. Any tips for while I'm thinking before I speak? DD.

I prepare all i can prepare for the class but things always change.

I often like to sit on the desk to show I am relaxed and confident about teaching/lecturing.

After all the time spent preparing to meet my class on the first day, I still feel a little nervous. My most concern is making a great first impression as an instructor of quality and integrity.

Because student do not see relevance. In spite of the fact that they use it every day, each class is a challenge to make it interesting by relating the topic to a real word experience. I do that through my own background as an engineer and the use of TED and YouTube.

Fortunately our classrooms are equipped with video projectors connected to a computer. This allows the import of a variety of presentations. And teaching math requires keeping the students engaged at all times.

Most students hate math and can't find any useful purpose. Ignoring of course they use it every day and the technology they have would not exist without it. I use TED discussions to engage students and have asked them to prepare papers on famous mathematicians. These provide good discussion and have increased interest.

I love to teach and impliment a variety of delivery methods just wondering if anyone has some great websites or ideas tht I can muse and impiment into my classroom.

I feel instructors should help students reach out of their comfort zones. Students should explore all learning styles. Helping students become use to various learning styles the student will be able obtain a greater benefit of all training settings.

I have a great deal of trouble remembering my students names I have approximately 40 new students every 6 weeks and sometimes I find it very hard to remember their names. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can remember their names better?

As a student myself I find that when the syllabus is a bit wordy I'm reluctant to read it, I sometimes procrastinate. Is it ok to make the syllabus simple and to the point?

I teach electrical so we use code book, hands on wiring I go over the codes and then go to the lab and do wiring on what they have learned from the book. We also take them out on field trips were they use what they learn.

I use color to convene information i.e. to draw the eye to follow a path I found that color has helped several student grasp concept that have eluded them in the past

I let the students know the rules the very first day and that if your late/unprepared - that put you at a disadvantage and disrupts the rest of the class - i explain that what you do in class is like practice and when you get a real job you will do the same thing i.e. late to class late to work: show up unprepared for class you will show up unrepair for work -- also this is not high school! in today world, you do either you will not have a job!

I teach in an LVN nursing theory and skills lab combined. my biggest problem are students who have had some skills lab background as CNA and think they know it all they are more hindrance than help and lead some virgin students down the wrong path way. any suggestions