I go to every graduation and watch the students, families, and friends celebrate the students' success. How do you recharge your batteries?

One way I like to start a class with a new group of students is to ask them why they chose this particular field/career - in my case, Interior Design.

The one idea that has been most successful for me is have the student write on a 3X5 Card...Why did I select the Blank Program...about half way throught the course...if the student is having a problem I get together with them and show the student their card and ask if something has changed in their desires. How about yours?

I am also interested in the understanding of lack of interest, time management skills, etc... versus learning disability problems. How do instructors deal with situations like that?

Using contemporary media examples (such as films and commercials) allow me to reinforce concepts within a familiar platform. This helps students retain course concepts as they start to recognize the active role of these concepts as they are demonstrated in popular forms.

I have found that asking a student exactly where the want to end up and connecting all future tools and learning directly to that outcome helps students focus on the prize one project, one class, one quarter or semester at a time.

You can Involve students in project subject matter selection as long as the chosen options meet project and learning requirements

Supports the human aspect

Adding proffessionals as project of techniques facilitators or project critique assistants has proven to be an enthusiasm and motivational plus.

What are some other ways to get out of a class slump/rut?

By providing students with the opportunity to assess each project, could this create an atmosphere where students will question their assignments? Could this be detrimental to achieving course objectives?

Issuing surveys on the first day of class awards me with information about students' career goals, experience in the subject, and personal interests - all variables that help me to develop a successful learning environment.

How can an instructor discern between a student's inability to grasp a concept or general lack of interest in the subject?

By bringing in former graduates who are working in their prospective fields as guest speakers or critics for final projects, we can show our students how the relevance of their learning.

If you continue to keep taking classes and broadening your education, you will observe effective ways to change up your routine of teaching skills, that you can incorporate into your teaching style.

A way to get new students to feel like they are part of a community could be to get them involved with extra curricular activites that would be beneficial to their learning experience.

When teaching a CAD class where there are varying degrees of pre-existing competencies, is there an effective way of assisting the most needy students without making the other students feel like they are waiting for them to catch up?

Instructors in a Career College setting need to establish an employer/employee relationship.

One method I uses is what I call shadowing. As mentioned in this topic some of these students come from harsh background and have never worked in a professional environment, so they have fears and anxiety. Probably at times wondering, "what am I doing in school!" Shadowing is used basically in Professional Development or another business course. I would call one of the local high schools, county court house, or any professional environment. Call and schedule an appointment for 1 hour. Your class is to sit with a professional in one on one. The student may ask questions, walk around with the employee and take notes. Then afterwards you might want to go eat somewhere or back to class and discuss what they learned. It is a very rewarding experience to both you and the student. They come out saying, I can do this too! If you need more information, please write to me.

Sometimes the administration needs to be refocused. How do you do it?