Creating a positive learning environment
I think it is very important to make the students feel that they can succeed and pass a course and to be successful they have to be in the class and together the instructor and the student can achieve what the students thought was impossible at the begining of the quarter. Making the students believe that they can do it is the half the battle.
Hi Cindy, Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree, so much of teaching revolves around the relationships that we form with our students. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Making the class fun and getting to know them quickly seems to be key. It also lets them get to know me.
Hi Jodi - Absolutely! When we create relationships with our students they are able to relate to us and trust us. It makes the classroom much more comfortable. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I agree that getting to know your students, helps them to really believe they can succeed. I see that when I know their names in a short amount of time and know a little bit about them, it changes the whole learning environment. This is certainly helpful as well when they are not doing well in class. I believe that when the Instructor is positive it sets the pace for the whole class.
As a "newbie" instructor, my hat is off to all who come up with these wonderful ideas. Hope I borrow some of them to have a successful career. A lot of medicine is taught by visual or hands-on training and so I tend to only think about those styles. so with christina's permission I would like to borrow her idea. I'm of the generation that were taught alot by rote or you went to lectures, endless at times and you read endless chapters in books. It seems that the younger kids are more attuned to tactile things, their I-pods for example. Anybody thought about designing a course to be listened to and respond by text on their mobile devices? Just kidding of course. Mindy
Hi Christina- I agree completely - Taking the time to get to know your students before each calss means a lot! Best wishes - Susan
I really enjoy the first day and taking time to have a conversation with the whole class. I feel without this time bracket where I am sharing trivial information about Movies, books, and day to day life, the students don't relax. Then being less anxious about who I am and if they will get along with each other, really helps loosen tension and get us focused on the task at hand.
