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Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

"Pair-think-share" technique

I used the pair-think-share technique in my criminal justice classes, I found the sharing was more in depth and insightful after implementing the technique. Additionally, short quizzes prior to a major examination; was appreciated by the students. Seemingly, giving them more confidence in preparing the major examination.

Motivating Your Students

encouragement

Keeping Your Focus on the Students

Hands on keeps them focus

General Strategies for Student Retention

Make it interesting!

Understanding Student Characteristics

This is being able to relate to the student!

Teams

In my 4 years of teaching at a Career College, I can count the number of times I've had my students work in groups. Now that I have taken this course, I am excited to try it out toward the end of the term. The old cliché of "two heads are better than one" comes to mind. If I am able to put students together in small groups, I believe they will be able to motivate each other in different areas where another group member may be lacking. As a result, the best possible outcome should be obtained through a planned group effort.

Great demonstration makes for great retention

I had a great professor in college who, in introducing different kinds of public speaking projects, actually performed the introduction in the method. It was a great way to get an example of how the project should work. And it has stayed with me for 20 years. Now, when I have the opportunity to demonstrate a skill as I am teaching, I have found that it works far better than describing the skill and then moving into a lab to work on a project. Showing is better than telling in many cases and then, the hand-on practice just supports the demonstration.

Cultural understanding of competed work

I work in a field where projects can be technically completed, but are not "finished." For example, a student might edit a film, but the final work doesn't flow well. It can be hard for students to understand, particularly students who come from non-US culture. In some cases, I have students who feel that once they have completed the basic requirements for the work, they are done. And the project should never be touched again. In film, that doesn't work... as the film could be terrible. How do I approach a student who has grown up in a culture where they don't understand the nuances of the art of the work and only understand the strict outline of requirements?

Reinforcing negative behaviors

I had a great teacher who told us to "Never reinforce a negative behavior." I wonder what people might think about this as a blanket statement.

Motivating

Was a good course. Many good conversations here already, thank you for sharing. Something I've implemented this semester to engage the students, provide them influence, or control, choice and feel personally involved is to allow my class to select a committee to determine homework from the days curriculum. It is a committee of 3 so there is a tie breaker. Each class the nominated have to be selected from those that have not yet been selected. They seem to really enjoy it. Creates conversation and so far, enthusiasm and engagement with a high return rate of quality and timely results. My students are part of our creative schools and it seems to be very popular and quite successful. I look forward to implementing even more tactics from this lesson to increase my effectiveness.

motivation of students

Educational psychology has identified two basic classifications of motivation - intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation arises from a desire to learn a topic due to its inherent interests, for self-fulfillment, enjoyment and to achieve a mastery of the subject. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is motivation to perform and succeed for the sake of accomplishing a specific result or outcome. Students who are very grade-oriented are extrinsically motivated, whereas students who seem to truly embrace their work and take a genuine interest in it are intrinsically motivated.

motivating students

Teachers have a lot to do with their students' motivational level. A student may arrive in class with a certain degree of motivation. But the teacher's behavior and teaching style, the structure of the course, the nature of the assignments and informal interactions with students all have a large effect on student motivation. We may have heard the utterance, "my students are so unmotivated!" and the good news is that there's a lot that we can do to change that.

keeping students focused

below are three ways that you can encourage students to get on the right path to staying motivated. Encourage them to think positively. Reinforce for them that there’s power in thinking about what they do well. By creating a mindset in which they focus on the positive and tell themselves they can work to improve upon their areas of weakness — instead of focusing on the things they don’t do as well and becoming discouraged and less motivated — they’ll feel more inspired to work harder. Remind students that motivating themselves is their responsibility alone. If they work hard to attain good grades, it’s because they put in the effort to study and build on what you’ve taught them. If they didn’t give it their best shot, blaming anyone else won’t change that. Tell them that persistence pays off. The attitude that they can work through any challenge by keeping at it will make it more likely that they’ll see progress toward their learning goals.

student retention strategies

1.Explain how classroom lessons apply to everyday life. Show each lesson’s relevance / application. 2.Let students know they are missed when they don’t come. 3.Help your students identify a specific goal for attending your class. 4.Research shows that adult students with a clear goal are more likely to persist than those without. 5. Students need to “see” their progress. It must be measurable to them: portfolios, pre/post tests, test scores, written evaluations… 6. Employ a variety of instructional methods to reach all students. Research shows that group work and discussion generates energy and enthusiasm leading to great participation. Do class projects! 7. Build self-efficacy/confidence by: recognizing their progress, celebrating their achievements, and presenting models of success.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is associated with curiosity, exploration, spontaneity, and interest…extrinsic motivation is associated with undertaken to attain an end state that is separate from the actual behavior…determined by some external contengency such as good marks or the avoidance of negative consequences.” (Muller, 2004) Adults are motivated by some external factorcs, such as promotions, salaries, and pressure from authority figures. Learners who are intrinsically motivated, therefore being interested leaners: •are more content in their learning processes. •acquire knowledge in a more differentiated and more coherent form. •show a long-term retention of what was learned. •apply their knowledge more often than others. •show higher academic achievement. •perceive themselves as more competent.

Talkers in the Classroom

I am an instructor at a private college and often have large classes of 30 or more students. I struggle with talkers a lot in my classroom and want some ideas on how to handle this. I have tried a few things but am open for suggestions.

Adult learners and externship

Though I appreciate the experience and ability brought to the classroom and field by my more mature students, I sometimes feel that once they get out in the field they can be hesitant to take direction from younger superiors. Since my field is healthcare it can be a real problem, as some of the older students "plant their feet" when being directed by younger peers. How do others handle this situation?

Objective

How do you go about stating objectives?

Topcs

what can one do to make tough topic understandable?

Focusing

What helps students to stay focused and alert?