Organization
Being organized is part of the role model perception students should get and model
Hi Jacqueline,
Students appreciate their teachers they perceive as organized and prepared. This suggests they are serious about the classes their teachers are involved with, and have take the time and effort to be ready for class. Role modeling, yes - but just as importantly, effective in their instructional capacity.
Barry Westling
I agree, being organized sets a good role model for your students.It allows the student to see the advantages of be organized.
Hi Michael:
One thing instructors should consider is the message it sends the student if we are consistently disorganized. It may result in a loss of credibility with the students, and the student becomes less interested and motivated in learning from you.
Regards, Barry
Hi Rebekah:
While this may not always be practical for every learning environment (like perhaps massage therapy), some instructors find it helpful to create an outline, and follow it during the course.
This may be especially helpful for newer instructors who are not yet ready to try other things in the class on the fly.
Regards, Barry
Hi Wilbur:
The nice thing about working from a prepared outline is that there is almost no way to come across disorganized and subsequently send the wrong kind of message to the student as a result.
Regards, Barry
Hi Lolita:
A general comment about disorganization - if instructors come across this way, it may send the wrong kind of message to the student. Something along the line of "I don't care enough about your learning to be organized for you".
Regards, Barry
Hi Crystal:
You are describing a really strong point - if instructors come across disorganized, we may send the wrong message to the student, something along the lines of "I don't care enough about your learning to be organized for you".
Regards, Barry
I am also pretty disorganized as a general rule. Because of this, I give myself a lot of time before each class to assemble everything I need. Sometimes this involves quite a lot of stuff: handouts, notes for myself, DVDs, etc. I always have more materials and ideas ready than I can actually fit into the time that we have.
I am organized in my head when teaching and always see the big picture and end result/goal for the lesson but have on occasion relied too much on my plan in my head. I tend to have many teachable moments in class so I must follow an outline that is written down as well. I have been using a reflection method of jotting down what worked and what didn't as a tool for improvement and it works great.
In addition, as an instructor of massage therapy, I would not be setting a positive example of displaying the planning that takes place for the weeks appointments as well as the treatment plan for each client which also involves a great deal of reflection as you assess and determine what you will do again or do differently the following massage session.
I tend to work / teach from an outline. Once I learn the different attributes of my students, I can adjust the content "flow" so the students have a chance to absorb the understanding of the content.
I am organized by nature but I have learned to sometimes leave more room for improvisation. By letting go of some structure, I have created opportunities for more open-ended teaching strategies.
When students tell me that I am so organized I tell them that I am by nature extremely unorganized,but because I am aware of that fact I work at being organized much harder than most people I know. It seems to make them feel hopeful. I think many students that say they are unorganized just accept it, like a personality trait, when it really is a skill to be mastered.
