Not arriving to the classroom before the students come in shows that you are not prepared for the class and the students will not have any high expectations for the lesson to come.
Salvatore,
Yes, and lack of adequate preparation will produce the opposite -- lower morale, disinterest, and potentially lower student learning outcomes.
Barry Westling
It sends the message to the students that you are serious, ready to teach and will be respected.
Salvatore,
Yes, it's true, we create subtle expectations based on our actions and behavior. Even if our students are sometimes less prepared or compliant, we have a duty to be ready to give our best every class session.
Barry Westling
You need to get the respect of the students for them to trust in you. When you are disorganized that is the first sign they will have that you may not be ready nor capable of teaching them the subject matter. Additionally how can you then require them to be organized and prepared to learn when you have demonstrated a lack there of.
April,
Trust, respect, and credibility are essential to assuring the best class dynamics, and an organized, prepared instructor has the best chance to achieve and maintain that level of morale.
Barry Westling
Instructors should be prepared and organized for each class to portray professionalism and not lose credibility with their students. They should also have a plan B in mind should things not go as planned.
I agree, otherwise you are caught off guard and lose credibility with students.
Jenny,
while it's easy to say "prepare with more than is needed", the practicality of that is sometimes a challenge. Having good backup plans can serve nicely to fill extra time remaining, or used as an alternative activity to keep the flow and interest of the class.
Barry Westling
I have often found that when I am not p[repared in the manner I would like to be I tend to blow through the material. In doing this I probably don't have enough planned after the activity/lecture to fill the rest of the time period.
Dave,
Yes, and much of what we do depends on the trust, confidence and respect students have for their instructor. Coming to class unprepared (except in the rarest instances) will not contribute to these student sentiments.
Barry Westling
Robin,
Right! It's always a good idea to have more materials and planned activities ready than there will time for. I do this by making sure the "need-to-know" material will be covered by one method or another.
Barry Westling
If the students see that you are not prepared or that you or disorganized they may doubt your ability as an instructor. Especially when you first meet them, there is no second chance on a first impression.
I completely agree. The speed and interests of the class can change depending on the students. I've found that having extra activities already planned to help students explore the topic from another angle or to get more in depth in case they are struggling with understanding the material can be very helpful.
Sean, I love the idea of color coding! It seems like all day I am handing out handouts and they do all look the same. It also seems like this might prevent them from losing the papers too. I will give this a try.
Jennifer,
Sure, we can be role models even when we are just doing our job.
Barry Westling
Jeff,
Yeah, I caught this participant-entered topic post a number of years ago, but short of deleting the entire group of connected threads, it must remain. Good eye!
Barry Westling
Students that see an organized and prepared insrtuctor helps them to be more organized and allows them to focus more on gaining knowledge.
"Why is it important for an instructor to organized and prepared for each class?" should be "Why is it important for an instructor to BE organized and prepared for each class?"
So their students don't call attention to their mistakes :-)?
A lesson I continue to learn!
save time show student that are organized
