Barry Westling

Hi Kyla:
One idea to "train" the student to have a comfort level with asking you questions would be to have an activity where they have to do that. During that activity, you can reinforce their comfort level by offering small rewards. A piece of candy, or something that psychologically suggests to them "see, it's good for you to ask me this".

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Crystal:
That's a really positive spin to put on that particular subject. And it reinforces the concept for that group of people that they will be treated like adults.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Nicola:
That's always a challenge when students may lack some of the basic skills to succeed in a class.

One technique some instructors use is to promote forming groups outside of class that join strong students with less strong ones. This serves to give less strong students another perspective from their peers.

Regards, Barry

Barry Westling

Hi Francine:
That is a big problem to overcome. Some instructors have found that regardless of the problem, getting students together in groups and having discussions about the content is helpful to reinforce the learning.

This might offer one solution the problem you're describing.

Regards, Barry

Kyla Snyder

I've noticed that in my classes the students would rather seek clarification from fellow classmates rather than ask me a question. I've told them time and time again that if they had a question not to hesitate to ask because if they were unsure of something, odds are someone else is too. I've said that their question and my answer or our solution could benefit the entire class; however, it still doesn't seem to work. I've been allowing them to discuss questions amongst themselves and then jumping in when it appears that they're still struggling.

Any suggestions on how to better promote open communication in the classroom so they feel more comfortable sharing their questions with the rest of the class?

Barry Westling

Hi Jennifer:
You CAN lead a hourse to water and assist them in drinking. Students may feel like they're imposing.

Regards, Barry

Crystal Cottle

I have a class of young students, right out of high school. It has been very hard for me to get them into the mind set that they are in college now. They have been challenging but they have been improving, since I have not treated them like children. I had one to ask me if I had ever failed a student, my reply was "no, they failed I just averaged their grade, they failed themselves" I told them that the ones that knew they were failing needed to step it up.

Nicola Plowes

Here in Arizona, the high school system is very poor- so many incoming students have really terrible basic reading and writing skills.

I think another issue is that students have very little practice reading and writing outside of class- and what practice they do have is limited to 1. texting (which is colloquial shorthand) and 2. reading magazines and adverts.

Many students find it really hard to read through an entire chapter each week.

Francine Fox

I have students that at this stage they cannot read very well nor understand what they can read.