It shows the students that you are and expert in your field and you are leading them by example.
Michael,
I think color brings energy to most everything. For organizing, colored tabs or folders help to quickly locate a specific file. In MS Office calendar, colors help track meetings, tasks can be organized, and emails sorted by my own preferences and priorities. Sort of like icing on a cake, a little color in materials given to students brings a little more life into otherwise drab handouts, worksheets, and illustrations.
Barry Westling
I like the use of color for lots of things to help me stay organized. I often use different colors of folders or labels or paper in order to keep things separate and organized. I can really see how using the different colors for handouts can help the students also.
Annette,
Being ready can mean a lot of things. But the instructor who has taken time and effort to ready themselves will see results in their students performance.
Barry Westling
Herman (Lonnie),
Good point. Adult learners can act like juveniles at times, but as consumers, they also expect competent instruction that is directly applicable to their program of study.
Barry Westling
It shows that the instructor is ready to teach and is organized.
Aprilan,
"Failure to prepare is preparing to fail", as the saying goes, summarizes the worst outcome from not taking our job duties seriously. An organized plan will yield best results.
Barry Westling
I've found that students are easily distracted, if you are prepared and ready to deliver material it will set the tone for learning. The adult learner does not want their time wasted.
It is important for an instructor to be organized and prepared for each class for a number of reasons.
There is a limited amount of time for each class. Organization and preparedness allows the maximum use of the minimum time.
The instructional materials (ie worksheets, handouts, outlines) are used to aide in the learning process. Failure to come prepared with instructional materials hinders the students ability to learn the objective.
The student is expecting a certain quality of education. To meet this level of expectation certain things are required from the instructor. Organization and preparedness helps the instructor meet the students expectations.
Lydia,
Boy that's true. Based on past days when I was less organized compared to days when I have gone to great effort to get everything ready, it makes so much difference in my ability to organize the day, my thoughts, being flexible, and better engaging students based on my knowledge where I'm at in my planning.
Barry Westling
Kendall,
I agree. It should expected an instructor would properly ready themselves for a class (every class) without having to be prompted to do so. Students expect us to be prepared, even if they are not. It may be true that some students may pick up the habit of preparedness. But even if they don't, our responsibility is to be ready and organized for class, arriving early, gathering resources, and available for the students as they arrive.
Barry Westling
All instructors should be prepared for class. It sends a positive message to the students that you are organized and prepared to for class and ready to teach. I make sure myself and instructors in my program understand the great effect organization has on the way your classroom will go for the day.
How prepared an instructor is for class, I think, shows how much they care about the class and the material. Not being prepared says that the material is not important enough and that you don't really care and in turn the students will have the same attitude. As instructors we are setting an example of how we want our students to be. If we want them to be prepared, organized and entheusiastic about a subject then we should do the same.
Sheri,
Organized materials and resources lead to an organized lesson and delivery - they seem to go hand in hand. It's really a self management thing, one of the points you refrenced in your post.
Barry Westling
Tracie,
I think being in class on time and prepared should be an assumed responsibilty, no one should have to tell an instructor this is expected. Students do expect their instructors to be there, ready, and fully prepared.
Barry Westling
An instructor needs to be organized in order to conduct a class efficiently, demonstrating knowledge of the content, show time management and be able to address any concerns/issues that students may have.
Instuctors need to lead by example. This includes showing up for class on time, and being organized. The students will follow suit which will help create an effective learning environment that is student centered, and outcome based.
Randy,
Planning for all sorts of unplanned events just makes good sense. I find my organized classes run smoother, and I'm more enthusiastic and ready for these sessions. I also like to be available for my students, and having open time available assists me with this opprtunity to personnaly connect with my students.
Barry Westling
Charles,
Interesting comment, and it's true that the students trust and respect for their instructor is enhanced (or diminished) based the degree of preparation and organization of the instructor.
Barry Westling
You should be organized and prepared to teach because this preparation sets the tone for the entire class. Students will instantly be in a better frame of mind to learn once they see their instructor appearing calm, collected, professional, and eager to begin the lesson.
Also, if you walk unprepared into a class, you will be walking into disaster. Nothing promotes good classroom atmosphere as a well-structered lesson plan. In addition, you should have more material prepared to teach than you will probably actually need. Nothing is more awkward than ten minutes remaining on the clock and nothing to teach. Besides, what you don't cover in your lesson plan you can always return to your next class period.
