Because they can relate to what you are trying to teach. It draws them in.
I also enjoy sharing previious life/work experiences with students, it helps them to relate to instructional content.
It reenforces their confidence in their ability to succeed. It also allows them to organize the material they are learning in ways relevant to themselves and their context.
I agree , it really helps my students understand the field that they have chosen as their future profession.
When adult learners can discuss their life experiences in the classroom, it makes them feel like they have something valuable to share with the other students. I find this especially true if the students are older students, compared to just-out-of-high school students. Their life experiences prove that different things they've done in their life can help be a foundation for what they are studying at the present, and younger students can learn from that.
Relating a students's life experience in the classroom helps the student to identify what's being taught with something they know or have done. Students can better relate to what's being taught and feel a scense of accomplishment.
It helps them to understand how what they are learning will help them out in the field that they will be applying this new gained knowledge. It helps them to realize they will be successful.
Adult learners have more at stake than early, younger learner (or at least adults seem more aware of what's at stake). They want to see results quickly. I find that adult learners grasp concepts more easily if it relates to their own experiences. Most of the time it's not too difficult to draw a comparison between what they've acutally experienced and some concept from a text that packed in all sorts of "academic language."
I don't hesitate to remind my students that language can be used to help understanding or hamper understanding. And while academic text writers don't intentionally try to use language only other academics are comfortable with, this is indeed sometimes the result.
It's not that students don't need to learn the terminology or language of their career field. They just seem to understand in more effectively if it can be represented in the language they've grown accustomed to in their own life experiences.
I think we all use our life experiences in the classroom.
Not a class session goes by that I cannot relay an experience to them, whether good or bad.
I agree that the bad ones are just as important as the good ones, in that it gives you an opportunity to impart how you overcame something that they too will surely encounter.
I also pose "what if" situations for them to give solutions to; this is another great way for students to express how they would use their life experience and personalities to handle different situations.
Using life expereinces in the classroom is one of the best forms of retaining information in my opinion. If a student can apply a life example to a concept learned in class it shows that the student understands.
Marcia - very well put!
So important that life experiences be part of the academic learning process.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
It reinforces success and is an aid for partical application of course content.
I like to tell my students about my experiences while working in the field. The good, bad and funny. They enjoy the stories and it also shows them that at one time I was where they are now. The students need to know that even though we are there to teach them now we were once in their shoes and we understand difficulties and struggles. Students respond well to knowing that I am not just a teacher, but a human being as well!
This is very important, many adult learners are often reentering thw workforce in a similar but perhaps different role.
I enjoy sharing my "war stories" or "kitchen nightmares" with my students. I also share my victories with them. It brings the human element into the classroom. I often have the students mention they enjoy my candid approach to teaching.
Using life experiences help students understand the consequences of their actions and change their perspective on life and work.
I have a lot of field experience and I'll usually relate my experiences to the text or lesson and how it worked or small changes that can be done to help in diagnosing.
older students often feel intimidated by younger students, since the younger students have been in a learning environment more recently. recognizing the usefulness of their real life experience kinda levels the playing field between the students and often enables bonds to form between different age groups.
Almost everyone likes to talk about themselves at some point. Most people have some pride and sense of accomplishment about their life/work experiences and sharing them helps them validate themselves and gain confidence in the classroom setting. It also shows that you respect them and what they bring to the classroom.
I think the answer to this is two parts. First it helps the student to relate what they have done in their lives so far to what they are trying to learn now. This can give a sense of accomplishment to the adult learner. Second it helps the younger students to understand content and how it relates to "real life" not just education.
