I know it is important to have the students bring their outside experince in to what they are learning but sometimes the student goes way to far in the experince that other students do not want to hear.

I have a couple of students in my class that need constant positive reinforcement in order to be actively ingaged in class. What do you think is the best way to back off a little so they will still be involved?

No student wants to be in a class that is boring!

What do you do when they get lazy on you?

Sometimes I find it very challenging to have a student in my program whom I know don't want to be there?? What do you say?

Students that have not been in school for more than 10 to 15 years have a hard time getting out of old habits and in the grove of new ones. What are some things that we can suggest to them for help?

Sometimes it is very hard to make both parties feel comfortable when the other think that they are talking about the other. When they are only helping one another out.

Many students are returning military veterns of diverse ages and relating their military experience to classroom experience is a tool that enables the vet to adapt to civilian classwork.

I was pleased to see that after completing this module, I felt that I already possess many of the qualities of an excellent instructor as described. However, one area I feel I can improve upon is clarity. I often feel like I dance around the point when I answer student questions or am easily side tracked. I will definitely use some or all the techniques described in this course to keep myself more focused.

I really liked the idea of this module focusing on personal story sharing as a supplement to instruction. I feel I share a lot of personal stories with my students (I teach career development and customer service) and that I am able to make points while keeping my students interest better when I share something personal. I do find that I sometimes adjust personal stories to make my my points rather than being entirely truthful. However, they better fit the learning objectives after my subtle tweaking.

In my current teaching position most of my students are older and fit perfectly into the model of an adult learner. However, I occasionally get students who are of traditional college age and expectations. I feel like I lose them a little because they do not approach the work or class with the same mindset that the majority of my class does. I also feel that my younger students receive less of my attention because they are often more technologically savvy and need less help. Should I feel guilty about this? I always receive positive feedback about the class from traditional aged students but I am not sure that I am reaching them in the way I want to.

It is important that you get to know each of your students. My first day of class I do alot of bonding techniques so that all the students will feel comfortable whether young or old.

In many of the courses I teach, I have found that dividing them into a midterm and a final is not necessarily conducive to student retention. I tend to have quizes more frequently, dividing some of my courses into thirds or quarters, and, in one instance, giving a quiz every week. This tends to make it easier for me to keep my focus and the students to keep their focus.

I think having the students relate their life experience to their feild helps them to connect and appreciated what it's going to take to be successful and how what they have already gone though can help them.

I teach career development at a career college. Because I am the first instructor most of the students have, I have incorporated a lot of student retention theory into my courses. Part of my teaching style, both to achieve my classroom objectives of creating a safe and effective learning environment, and to foster a sense of inclusiveness for the students is to have a strong interpersonal connection with my students. However, occasionally I wonder where to draw the line when asking students to share their personal and valuable experiences and insight. I want to use the valuable life experiences my students enter the classroom with in a productive way, but I don't want it to just seem like a social session. Any suggestions?

I really think it is very inportant for instructors to stay excided and motivated about teaching, if we as instructors lose our zeal and excitment our students will lose their and that defeats what we are trying to do. Yes sometimes we do get worn out but we have to refocus and power ourselves back up to their goals.

I find teaching adults to be most enlighting most of the time because they are very attentive to what they are learning, they ask questions, do research, and try to get the most out of the class, and as an instructor that make teaching the class very exciting.

A key to sucess in any class is to feel like the teacher cares. They must know the students and notice when more help is needed. Sometimes students are scared to ask for help. If the teacher can anticipate the needs, the students will feel motivated to work at the material.

As instructors we would like to think that our adult learners would be self motivated but most of the time thats just not the case, we have to be ready to give lots of support, encourgement, and motivation not to mention praise and reasurrance to help them reach their goals.

Expecting success,developing a community of learners, placing a value on learning, can aid in keeping your students motivated.