It's good to refocus to make sure you are clearly and effectively relaying the message you are teaching.
Dewayne,
Good for you. Keep that energy flowing. As long as you are excited your students will be excited.
Gary
Learning should be a continuous improvement project. In order to complete the loop you need to continually eveluate your goals and objectives. This evaluation should seek to make improvements and incorporate methods for early detection of classroom issues. REFOCUSing on learner objectives will also help you to look at changes in student learner needs.
Instructors often get into "ruts" and need to change things up to keep the focus where it should be and keep the students interested.
We need to refocus to keep ourselves as well as our students motivated and excited to learn. It helps us to realign with our purpose of helping individuals to grow and achieve their goals.
I have not experienced any slumps lately, I am highly motivated and eagerly anticipating my next class session.
So that students will not sense boredom and a desire to not attend class. Instructors need to excite themselves about what they are teaching and students will then become excited because the instructor has spoken in manner of fun. Listening to someone who does not enjoy what they are doing could cause a sense of lack for education for the students.
Think back over the previous mod and identify your successes and your challenges. While you should spend some time thinking about both, concentrate on the successes. You will have greater success improving upon what you do well than focusing on what you did poorly.
Absolutely, we all need to take the time and really assess why we are teaching and how we can make the students classroom experience more exciting. If I am not excited day one of a course the student are not going to be. When instructors like me have taught the same classes over and over we can get boring. We must stay excited and find new ways to excite the student about learning.
When instructors are no longer enthused or excited about the course(s) that they are teaching, students are able to detect it because the instructors have nothing positive to say about the course; nor do they put a lot of time in planning. Therefore, the class becomes boring and the students are no longer interested in coming to class. Students begin to feel as if it's just a waste of their time. When this happens, instructors should reflect back on when they first started teaching and how excited they were to enter their classrooms each day. Instructor should realize that if bordem, lack of interest, etc. sets in, this is the time to REFOCUS. Recognize what it took to make you successful in your achievements. Empower, know your strengths and begin to utilize them. Focus, concentrate on the best way to present materials to the class. Objectivize, when teaching and daily and personal matters in life have gotten you off track, get refocused so that you can return to bringing learning into your classroom. Commit to achieving your goals and objectives as an instructor. You owe it to your students. Unburden, you are not perfect; therefore, don't try to project that image in the classroom, just be yourself. Surprise, by mid-start, if you notice that your class is getting bored, incorporate a few "surprise" techniques.
If instructors don't take time to refocus, they can get overwhelmed. Instructors get "bogged down" with low test scores, poor discussions, etc. When they get this way, they loose the enthusiasm they once had for teaching the course and that comes out to the students. If the students feel that the instructor is no longer enthusiastic about teaching, then they may stop coming. Instructors need to be refreshed just as students do to keep their mind focused on what they need to do and to keep the students engaged in learning.
REFOCUSINg helps the instructor to stay excited and enthusatic about what he/she is teaching. Losing focus can cause the students to lose focus and not want to continue their education. I have heard some students stated that if a person is not happy with what they are doing then they could not motivate another to take on the same field. I do feel the same way as the students. Passion and excitement brings others to want to try that particular career field.
Selma,
Good point because REFOCUSING benefits both students and the instructor due to the enthusiasm that is brought to the class.
Gary
Natasha,
This is a good method to use to get feedback from students leading to course improvement. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Gary
JH,
Good point and one we need to keep in mind as we plan each class. We need to strive to be fresh and excited about the content we are sharing in each and every class.
Gary
When instructors take the time to REFOCUS, they help keep the students motivated and excited about learning. It can also help to relieve boredom and stress and help both instructors and students leap forward with a new burst of energy.
We all need to refocus at some point or another. Even machines wear out sometimes. It is good to refresh ourselves. We may even learn something new while refocusing.
On occasion we become very comfortable with the curriculum of a course. In an effort to keep things fresh and keep the students engaged you may want to offer a 5 point extra credit opportunity. For example, ask students to write anonymous 2-3 paragraphs on how they would improve the course. This will give you, the instructor feedback and allow you to refocus on the areas that are specific to the culture of that particular course.
Instructors may find that they lose the ability to communicate and teach effectively if that do not take the time to refocus on the task at hand.
An instructor can become distracted and loose focus. When this happens communication is impaired.
