Analogy of classroom to business
I have found that it has been effective to compare the classroom setting to a business setting. When students are consistently late to class I ask them how would this behavior be handled in a business environment? When students do not hand assignments in on time I ask them, "If you were a manager in a business and one of your subordinates did not complete a project on time, how would this impact your business? If a presentation to a client was not prepared on time, how could this impact your relationship with the client?" I feel that making this analogy helps the students apply their actions to a real world setting.
One of the tricks I will have to learn is just how much to reveal to them without scaring them! It probably helps if your personality is basically a positive one. That goes a long way towards letting them see that to be successful in a profession, you need to develop a positive, can-do attitude. It all starts from the top!!! Mindy
Hi Melinda,
Good comments in the forum. You are doing a great job in this course with your responses. Also, your comments are right on target about the need to develop appropriate soft skills in relation to their work skills. Keep building the connection between your instruction and their future so they will see the need to develop their communication and personal skills in relation to their future.
Gary
Hello to all in this thread. I am fairly new to this type of format, so I hope I'm doing things correctly. I am starting out in the role of instructor in a more formal classroom setting after having gone to this same school 5 years ago for development of a new career field. I'm very excited to be back and to give the students insights from a daily clinic prespective, as I work 8-5 daily in a small clinic and then come out to school to teach the evening class. I see so many younger people in clinics and a lot of their behaviour with others makes me cringe! So I like the idea of relating the classroom activities to job activities. I feel that it is very important to have students see how the things they are learning in school will be applied and hopefully help them avoid pitfalls to their getting a good job. Mindy Smith, RN
Hi Thomas,
I really like this approach and use it with my students as well. I teach advanced courses so my students are going to graduate at the end of my courses. They are ready to step into the work world and they have to understand that the rules there are different in many cases from education. So the more instructors, like yourself can create a business like atmosphere the easier the transition is going to be.
Gary
I always tell my students to treat the classroom like it was a job such as be on time, dress appropriately. I let them know how important it is to prepare now for the professional world to be brought in the classroom. not only is it important to be on time for class but that is also making a statement to me letting me know that they feel that their education is important and I could possibly give a recommendation for them in the near future
