what is the line between building rapport and crossing personla boundaries?? the line is thin and often hard to manage at times

i teach massage and hands on while explaining material seems to work best for me and my students

in my experience i have often felt intimidated with teaching students older than me. im 30 and some of my students are sometimes 20 years older..anyuone else have this problem??

Hello: I teach at an intercity career college so most of my students have issues outside of the classroom that are serious to them. Their life style is not what we would call normal to us but it is to them. We have to find ways to keep the studen motivated to achieve their goals and stay focused on them all the time. The drama that is in their life can change at any minute and they will try to drop school in a New York minute. We often hve student appreciation to help keep their mind on school and that they belong here.

This training was valuable in learning strategies to improve student motivation and confidence in the classroom. Specifically, learning about constructivism to help boost security and relating course material to student career fields to illustrate value in the course and support autonomy.

Does anyone have tips for students who desire to develop rapport with a student from another country. I have a student that has had difficulty developing rapport with a student from Europe. As an Instructor, I have tried to pair the students, however, the student from Europe constantly snubs the other student

It is very important to identify students with learning disabilities. There are various types of learning disabilities. Some students have problems in focusing, others have problems with reading, temperament, and some are hyper.Some students are slow as compared to rest of the class. I have seen students who take a lot of time to do a job but given the time they do a better job as compared to most students in the class. Dealing with such students is a major challenge. I would like to invite suggestions for how to deal with such students.

Adult learners I have found enjoy working in small groups on projects in and outside of class. They bring rich experiences that they can share with other students. The projects must have a framework and there must be a opportunity to share of information with others in the class. The engagement of all the students in active learning is essential to their growth and education. The most important element that come from this kind of strategy is the critical skill development of working well with others as they will have to do in the working world and that is what employers are looking for their employees.

The idea of giving many quizzes and then allowing the students to drop 2 or 3 is a great idea. It would allow the student to choose to make it to class on time. Provide the student with control of the situation, but not be so rigid that the student gives up. Great idea.

It is very important to understand the needs of your students, we must always adapt to many different levels of knowledge a student may have. This is very important in order to achieve a good positive outcome.

so much differance with adults as most of them are changing jobs and know how important it is to get the information as it is power. they also may have a family already and have to provide for them as well.i feel teaching adults is more empowering for them and they tend to appricate it alot more then the young ones.they thurst for the knowledge that is going to help them make thier lives easier and that makes my job that much easier. audie toney

It is imperative that instructors respond and provide feedback to students in a timely manner. If not, students will develop anxiety or worse might decide to drop out of the class. If we expect students to complete all classwork/homework on time, then instructors should be immediate in their response times.

There are times when an instructor can be asked a question that he/she does not know the answer to. Instead of admitting to this fact, they try to avoid embarrassment by making up an answer that may be invalid. We must understand that teaching is an evolving profession and it is fine to make mistakes and admit inconsistencies in knowledge in a particular field. The best response should be: "I have no clue; however, I will be happy to check on that for you after class."

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that the classroom should be treated as a workplace, the instructor as the boss, and the rules of the course as the expectations of a student's chosen career field.

The role of an instructor is to impart knowledge in the classroom and not hold a student's hand. However, this is easier said than done. For example, I keep shifting my Late HW policy each quarter because I have yet to find a "sweet spot." There are times when a student does not complete the assigned homework and cannot provide a legitimate excuse. In such a case, I make sure to constantly remind them that the homework is worth a large portion of the final grade and that it needs to be turned in ASAP. This is me now playing the role of a babysitter. How can I expect a student to learn the consequences of tardiness if I give them many chances? I must take this advice and stop babysitting students.

I have found that sometimes a syllbus narrowly confines the interaction between the instructor and the student. "Why do we need to know this?" says the student. Adult students are acutely aware when there are items in a class that are there to fulfill some requirement other than simply acquiring the knowledge in the course. This always causes conflict, which I can mostly resolve, but I would prefer (as the course states) to have the student guide what they will get out of the course.

I've found that adult students really crave that personal attention from an instructor who really wants to help them succeed. Succeeding to an adult student is typically not an abstract concept like it may be to a traditional college student, adult learners want to know how the material will directly impact what they'll be doing in the work place. An instructor who ties real world scenarios to the concepts being taught in class is much more valuable to the adult learner. The bottom line is knowing the needs of your customer and then delivering on those needs, they're paying a lot of money to take the classes so making the learning practical is typically what they want.

absolutely, students need to know that we care and will support them as much as we can in their learning process

fear is a very good topic on adult students. I have experienced this in the classroom and directing the student on their real life experiences and applying it to the learning process helps out tremendously

No matter how correct or incorrect a student response to a question, their effort to respond is an open door for the instructor to respond. First I point out the positives or the correct line of his/her thought process. Even if the response is incorrect the instructor can lead with additional questions and turn it into a group discussion. This gives in my opinion the original student the feeling of leadership in the discussion since they were the first to make the attempt to repond. I find it makes them more secure in the classroom and more willing to continue to stay involved and motivated.