I try keep up to date on the latest trends in the automotive industry and incorporate some discussion on those topics. During our discussions I will point out the similarities in basic theory to past trends and how it still apllies today.
Thank you for the recommendation. You are right that we as instructors need to keep ourselves current & well informed in regard to best practices in education. And yes, please revise your course content & keep it fresh!
Ryan
I am not teaching right now; I am a librarian. But, when I taught, I found that every year I had to rewrite my lessons because of things I had learned during the year. Some of what I learned was what excited the students and what left them dead. I spent a lot of time reading books and articles about teaching and education research. It is said that no subject is researched more than education and yet no area has changed as little as education. It seems that too often teachers (especially in public schools) find it is much easier to continue doing it the old way than to try something new. I took extra college classes in learning styles, active learning, and teaching learning-disabled students. I am of the opinion that every child, even the brightest, is learning disabled when they don't understand what is presently being taught.
A movie that made an impression on me, which I showed sometime during every college course I taught, and which I firmly believe every instructor should see at least once a year, is Rick Lavoie's "How Difficult Can it Be." If you aren't familiar with it, it is about teaching learning-disabled students, but during the class being presented in the movie he showed how easy it was to make even the smartest person feel stupid.
Great Teresa, glad it was helpful! I think we all tend to fall into that same trap. Yet if we continue to look for & incorporate new ways of doing things, we can then have a larger toolbox from which to pull.
Ryan
Michael,
Thank you for the reply. I've found it helpful to have my courses in mind while I attend the professional conferences. Then I can think about the new information & how I want to deliver it at the same time.
Ryan
If I find something that works I tend to use it over and over until it quits working, instead of always looking for a new way to facilitate learning. This offering has stimulated new ideas and I intend to give them a try.
Dr. Meers,
That is quite the challenge. Most of my classes are small enough, that I assess and gauge their personality types. I can then match my sharing of knowledge to the style that best suits this class. I have been teaching over thirty years, so the learning more about the topics can be done at forums, professional development and general reading and studying. Hope this helps.
Michael Wilson
Great strategy & you're right that real world examples are very powerful with our students.
Ryan
As a culinary instructor I believe in the constant search to understand the material at hand in a way that I can more easily incorporate past experiences into the material, and hence making it more interesting to the student. Providing concrete examples of real world situations in which the student might be able to incorporate the lesson. This engages the student because he/she can better project himself/herself.
