Retaining memory is key to succeeding. It's important to have them come up with ways they can remember the material that was given to them. Having them recall a past experience can help them better understand what is being taught to them.

It is very important to know your boundaries as a teacher but to remember that not having any good rapport with the students can be a bad thing. The students need to know that you ultimately do care for them and that you do what them to succeed in life. Eye contact is important. Showing them that you are listening with head gestures.

I feel that it is important to actually LOVE what you do. Students will be more attracted to the material and may learn more. Making it fun can vary from going outdoors and learning about the topic to doing classroom assignments pertaining to the topic.

Being a clinical instructor I get a variety of different age groups. Through this topic I learned to better understand that adults may have a harder time with grasping the info due to them not being in school for a while. I will need to be detailed in what I teach with each age group.

It can be difficult for me to not interrupt when listening to a student complain about the challenges they face. When I first started I would want to talk about a time I had blah blah blah. I quickly learned though that the reason the student was talking to me wasn't necessarily for advice. Most of the they time the wanted to vent their frustrations and feel a sense of someone's listening, as well as receive a little encouragement. I found the key is to remain neutral, and positive.

I have found that when I share personal stories, pertaining that the field in which I teach in, really motivates my students. Being a chef instructor, I truely enjoy telling my students of both the victories and failures that I have experienced; it's almost like sharing war stories. They become very motivated when they begin to place themselves in my shoes, then we all discuss on what I could have done differently. Thoughts??? -Gabriel

Teaching about cars typically will hold attention for a while, but as students start to drift away, I will increase the enthusiasm with a personal experience and that will help reel their attention back on topic.

If I have a class project I like putting students into small groups. I find they seem to find a comfort zone.They dont seem to have as much of a peer pressure inviromentand get more accomplished. Mike Murrill

As a math teacher, students often cringe when they come into class. They feel like they will not do well. The most important thing to do is to make them comfortable in the class with the human factor and make sure they know they can always ask for help. It is important for math retention to explain to students how they will use the math in their career field. I find the more you make the math relatable to their career the better they will have an understanding of the material.

I went from teaching middle school students to adult learner. It has been one of the hardest transitions I have made. I find that adult learners have more excuses of why they can't do something or why they can't be in class. When I started I used to allow them to make stuff up but I was quickly exhausted from chasing ADULTS down to complete assignments for my class. I now have a policy that while I know they have a lot going on, if they miss class, the only way to make assignments up is to bring in a valid excuse (dr note, etc..). I feel like I'm back doing middle school attendance. How else can I handle this situation so I don't have to chase after them to get the work made up?

I find that student 40 and older can be self motivated, but younger students expectations are that the instructor tells me, shows me, and then does it for me, and i get the grade. They think that there is a short cut in everything that needs to be done. Unlike a video game, where if the die they have a reset button,we have to express the importance of there actions injuring someone at the end of the job.

I will put students in groups of 4 and put one student as a team leader. Ever other lab I will rotate the team leader within the same group. Each week I will mix up the students into different groups and start all over. This will encourage the students to get to know one another and be able to adjust to different types of personalities. When doing this I have seen the students gain confidence they need to do when working in the automotive filed and in life.

Many of our students may come to us with English language deficiencies. There are many excellent resources and agencies that will provide us with materials and assistance in our effort to offer quality instruction to this learning group.

I have been an instructor for 12 years..motivated students are what makes me enjoy my job. I also am a supervisor at a hospital and the motivated students in my classroom have also proven to be the better employees. The students who are completely opposite..requiring a ton of supervision, never volunteer, need prompting to start a task, no attention span, poor attendance are the students that I would never hire as a supervisor in my field.

listening to the students an what they have to say shows the student that you care about what they are saying

There are some students with personal problems and they use it as an excuse not to come to class or show up to class 1hr late for a class that last 1hr 50mins. what can i do to help them to catch up or to make the effort to get to class earlier or something? help

I was very interestyed in participating in this module. I think that the activites referenced will be useful in many of my classes. I am looking forwrd to incorpotating your suggestions.

I've struggled at times, remembering students names, this is something I plan to work on.

Some very helpful information about communicating with students, as well as adult learners, applying communication techniques.

I teach the beginning course at my school for most of our programs. It is basically a student success course, coupled with a professional development aspect as we are a career college. One of the topics we discuss at length is the idea of the comfort zone. We typically define the comfort zone as the familiar, the situation where you feel calm with no anxiety. While listening about security, this idea kept popping in my head. I tell my students that in order for them to become better and achieve their goals, they must get out of their comfort zones and stretch themselves into something new. While saying this, and doing many things in class to get them out of their comfort zones, I also work hard to make sure that they feel secure enough to branch out and venture outside of themselves. So, my question is, in what ways do you, as instructors, toe this line of getting them to do something new and different, while still helping them to feel secure in what they are doing?