Helping students reach their true potential.
How can we make our students realize their true potential.
Ms. Lora, Teachers can help their students reach their potential by aiding them in the discovery of purpose. Young people in particular often do not have a well-defined worldview that affords them the clear path in life they desire. During instruction, challenging ideals, ethics, and behaviors (civilly) will put them into the position to defend a point-of-view or behavior. When considerately done, the instructor's challenge will be answered with the student stepping closer to realizing their goals.
Hi Sheri,
Correct. You have outlined the foundation needed for career success. Once they have worked through the SWOT they can see more clearly a vision of their future. Then it is a matter of support, effort and motivation to achieve it.
Gary
Hi Gary,
Students have strengths and weaknesses, as an instructor you need to help students also see the opportunities and threats. This will help build self confidence and self-esteem.
Helping students understand & recognize their SWOT,they grow on a persoanl and professional level which let's them achieve their true potential.
Sheri
Hi William,
This is what instructors have to do. They have to "read" the flow and pace of the class so they know when they can spend the time in interaction and discussion yet cover the needed content.
Gary
Hi Christopher,
If you are going to use learning groups with your students you need to assign the students to the groups and then have them remain in their assigned groups until they complete the project or the course. If they are allowed to move around in their seats to work with whom they want then you have lost control of the class and this will make it difficult for you to manage the behavior of the students.
Gary
Yes there is certainly time to allow this interaction but it is usually far less than I would like, again because of the pace of the course. This is something every instructor / educator has to tackle at some point in their career, by understanding the students and how well they are doing in the class, I am more likely to open up these activities because they understand the material well enough. This usually is closer to the end of the class when I have made it through the parts that I must cover in great detail.
William
Hi William,
I really like collaborative learning because of the social aspects of teamwork. Is it possible to have anytime in class where the students would work in groups to solve IT problems. Can you create teams and have those teams do work on projects that you have done in the past so they know what the outcome was once they have developed their own proposed solutions?
Gary
In the past i've tried to push working in teams or partners on review days as well as lab time. During the course i do have the students switch seats as to be able to work with other students rather than get comfortable with one partner.
Hi Gary,
I am interested in doing some collaborative learning, but I am having trouble finding where I can do this, the classes I teach are geared toward IT and therefore are extremely fast paced. Should I speak with the school to give me more time (which is unlikely), or ask the students to do it on there own. I think the students would be alright with this idea but them actually having the time to do it would be another story.
Thanks,
William
Hi Rebecca,
What are some questioning techniques that you use to get the students find the answers for themselves?
Gary
I also find that if the student looks for the answers to questions themselves instead of asking and me giving them the answer they retain the information better.
Hi Nancy,
Good plan for making the course content "real" for the students. This way they see their future through the eyes of someone that has been there and been successful.
Gary
All of the comments here bring up interesting aspects of this issue. One more tactic is to take time to help the students see the relevance of the course in the context of their career. Those with little experience in their future field sometimes don't know why the class is so important, and naturally don't apply themselves as much as they would if they saw the importance of the information to their future success / safety etc.
Nancy Andrews
that is a great idea! Having students learn on their own does increase their selfconfidance.
I usually make my rounds in lab and comment on the positive results they are achieving.
I agree Gary,
I remember when an instructor I had given me one little encouragement that meant the world to me that he saw in me the ability to do the work that I was doing and that the major I had selected was the correct one.
So a little encouragement goes a long way.
Tony
Gena,
Firstly, we have to understand that there will be some students who only want to do the bare minimum to get through school. Full potential may not be a part of their vocabulary. It will depend on several factors; but mainly it stems on what was learned at home. Getting to know our students can help us to target their motivation or lack there of...once a relationship is established, you can then assist them in understanding that motivational patterns can be changed and improved which will help them on their way to reaching their full potential.
Keri
Hi Kelly,
Collaborative learning is a very good learning tool since it really helps the students to retain the material. Having to work to learn the content the students store it in their working memory for later use at a much higher level.
Gary
Hi Gary and all,
When I am in the classroom teaching science, I like to have the students try to get though the material first without my help. This sometimes gives them the confidence that they were able to understand it before I explained it to them. This build confidence for the subject matter and motivates them to explain it to their classmates. This in turn promotes collaborative learning. I enjoy the process of helping students reach their potential.
Hi Jenni,
You have made a good point about praising students. They need to know when they have done well on a project or activity. It helps to build their self confidence as well as helping them to see that they can be successful in the course.
Gary
