Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Mark,
Keep up your efforts to "connect the dots" for your students. You are right about the rewards to come if they will put forth the effort currently. Bring in guest speakers and share your life experiences so they will see that everyone in the field has to have the basic skill sets if they are going to progress and be successful.
Gary

Mark Outzen

Guilty as charged. I teach a foundational course (Medical Terminology) to students who (for the most part) have no experiential basis to which they can apply the content. It's LOT'S of memorization and practice, like learning a foreign language, and it won't really be meaningful to the students until they get further along in their program. As the instructor and an experienced clinician I know how critical this is, but trying to see it from the student's perspective (empathizing), I see a lot of drudgery. I give examples of why it's important and how the terms are used in real life, but at the same time I'm thinking "Just get through the course, learn the basics, and you'll learn what it all means as time goes on."

Dr. Melanie Clark

I appreciate this tread because I also have said this before. I didn't think of this statement in the context you described until now. It is a great eye opener and learning point.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Gregory,
It seems like we all have had such a professor. It is sad that instruction like this is out there. But, at least we have models in our background that have shown us what not to do.
Gary

Gregory Frank

I had a college teacher who would give the class difficult assignments and then always say "knock it out!" as if that was wise or inspirational. It made the classwork seem like drudgery.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Charles,
You got that right. It is easy to blame others when you don't succeed at something. So instructors need to cover all topics in the class so the students know they have been given the entire course content.
Gary

Charles Svec

Yep - and then it will come back later when a student fails a test or certification, and the response will be that "my instructor said this wasn't important". Each topic covered should have some relevance to the course and program.

brian markman

No such thing as this statement in a learning environment, there should be no hierarchy to the information, just a clarification as to the different settings the different subjects would come up more or less. Variety helps to solve a multitude of problems, and I encourage that fact whenever seemingly unrelated information appears in the curriculum.

Elinore Leach

David-you are so right! Its something you dont even realize that you say. thanks for the insight! its all about our presentation-we need to be excited and passionate about learning-no matter what we are working on!

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Bonnie,
When I have been assigned such courses I try to take the content and look for ways to make it interesting for me to teach and the students learn. I try to create learning communities, play games and strive for student engagement so we both can benefit from the content and the instructional approach.
Gary

Bonnie Schetski

Thanks for admitting this. I as well have been there. Does anyone have suggestions on how we can get motivated to teach topics that aren't that interesting to us as instructors, like the Middle Ages?

Bonnie Schetski

Thanks for admitting this. I as well have been there. Does anyone have suggestions on how we can get motivated to teach topics that aren't that interesting to us as instructors, like the Middle Ages?

Abigail Whitaker

I am so guilty of this and never considered it to be a bad thing until now. Thank you for the eye opener - I will be more aware from now on!

Adrian Mayer

You are exactly correct. Lets get through this can be a problem, but can also be part of a bigger problem. In the quest for increased income, I've seen instructors take on to many classes and they can not possibly invest the time needed to coach and motivate the students.

Unfortunately, this type of lets get through this is intentional and can only be corrected by supervisors noticing either through student concerns or lack of participation of the instructor at staff meetings, etc.

James Burke

I must admit that I have done this too. Hey, we all get tired!!! I try very hard not to do this and it is rare, but it does happen.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi David,
Good advice for all instructors. Thanks for the reminder.
Gary