Barry Westling

Michael,
Yeah, we can always get better through recognition of weaker areas, and be willing to diminish their impact with our instruction.

Barry Westling

Michael St John

Knowing how I am as a person will invariably influence how I perceive myself as an instructional leader. As the module pointed out, we cannot necessarily change our personalities to be better instructors: We must recognize both our strengths and weaknesses in our behavior to understand our optimal teaching style. Since I am passionate about subject matter (i.e., writing), I know that my enthusiasm is a strength that will permeate the interests of my students. It is my strongest card to play when instructing in the classroom. However, I know that I can be slightly lax in disciplinary action sometimes--my jovial nature working against me. By recognizing this weakness, I can better hone strategies in how to tighten up my instruction to improve without risking my enthusiasm in the classroom.

Barry Westling

Hi Mark:

It is a good idea for instructors to occasionally ask themselves "am I prepared"? If the answer to that is "no", that unpreparedness will undoubtedly manifest itself in the classroom in front of the students.

Regards, Barry

Mark James

Preparing to manage your class helps to prepare you as a instructor. By doing a 360 degree self assessment, understanding your self and your students and organizing according you are better prepared to manage our class and the setting.

Barry Westling

Hi Margaret:
Truly, if we come off too intense or authoritarian in the beginning, it may serve to intimidate the student and close off an otherwise open line of communication.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Kenji:
This is always a good idea. Academics can be a sensitive issue with students. In general, human beings will undoubtedly feel more comfortable to talk about these kinds of things in private, which you've described in your post.

Regards, Barry

Margaret Yarborough

I ran into problems in when I first started because of my military and police background and also growing up on a different coast from where I am teaching. I learned to relate that to the students right away, understand how this could cause some conflict, and then show my softer side right away.

Barry Westling

Hi Greg:
Self evaluation provides an opportuniyty for honest, self improvement.

Regards, Barry

kenji terawaki

Talk with the srudent in a seperate location than the class room ( office ) sometimes help to find out what really happening with his academics progress

Barry Westling

Hi Sarah:
Maintaining discipline, or let's say managing class control is one of those activities that has to be acted on by teachers periodically. I've told students, "I don't like to be a policeman, but I know how". And sometimes that's the case, even to the point of stopping class and escorting a student out of the room. Occasions such as this are rare and often do not end up positively for the student.

Regards, Barry

Sarah Ramsey

So true. It's difficult when you aren't able to be as flexible as you would like and you have to take the "drill sergeant" approach but sometimes in order to manage the classroom it is necessary.

greg harris

If there is no self evaluation then how would you ever become a better instructor? I had a boss tell me once,”If you are not messing up then you are probably not working. “

Barry Westling

Hi Robert:
Sometimes a teacher wll not recognize there is i waeker area that needs improvement. In this case, they should be open to feedback that may offer some indication such as student evaluatios, classroom observation, supervisory evaluations, etc.

The more difficult part is being willing to make a change once a need is identified. Change is hard and the teacher has to be committed to seeing improvement for real cange to occur.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Delbert:
Stephen Covey says to "seek first to understand, then be understood". Good instructors are always looking to improve, and I've learned it's a lifelong process, a journey without a final destination. But without a willingness to change, that teacher will not be helping their students to capacity as they should, and as the students expect.

Regards, Barry

Robert Soriano CHEP

So you can focus on your strengths and work on your weaknesses.

delbert brewer

By knowing my strengths and weaknesses I can work on those areas which need impovement. I can also develop my strengths to a greater degree.

Barry Westling

Hi David:
Well I think to a degree, we are all composites of these instructional types described in the module. Usually one dominates. That's where your class survey might reveal something you can't see.

I believe it's only when individuals recognize needed change from within is there any hope of real change outwardly. It's like we have to have an epiphany, or revelation, or awakening to make our hard heads wake up to the blind side we can't see.

Nonetheless, with our education, training, experience, and desire, most of us are able to perform at least satisfactorilty. But take an instructor who really bwants to improve, and they'll do whatever iot takes to gain a better understanding of themsels, and then, be willing to make the needed changes in order to achieve progress.

That's the kind of teacher I want ti aspire to be.

Regards, Barry

David Wengert

I do not see myself in any of the described roles. I wonder what a class survey would say.

Ronald Altmann

You have to convey information to the class, but the final goal of education is to impart knowledge, and that is more than just information. Where the information "fits in" to the world that the students are living in, and to the world that the students want to move toward, is a critical part of keeping a classroom awake and moving onward through the content of a course. If you don't understand how you (as the instructor) "fit in" with the information that you are presenting, and how you "fit in" with the people to whom you are presnting it, then it will be hard for you to help your students convert that information into knowledge.