the instructor
for the students success the instructor is very influencial,therefore the instructor needs to be an expert at his/her field, needs to have empathy,enthusiasm and clarity.
Heather,
With the information you are sharing with them you are bringing the human factor into the classroom. You have experienced and lived the very same things they are going through so you do understand. Many students don't believe their instructors have had a life previous to teaching so they can't understand the challenges they are facing. We are all former students ourselves or we wouldn't be where we are now. Good points thanks for sharing them with us.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Some of my students are right out of high school and others are in a second career and they both have a mixture of excitement and trepidation about entering the healthcare field. As an instructor, I want them to know that I will be their guide, mentor and 'coach' as they navigate the path from the classroom to the workplace. I share with my classes about how I felt as a new healthcare graduate and my concerns about skills and handling new responsibilities. The students discover that they are not alone and that their instructor has experienced many of the same emotions as they have. I want to create an environment for learning in my classroom, but I also want to create an environment where encouragement, confidence and enthusiasm for the future is generated.
I fully understand your statement, (this has happended to me). I just in the field at the age of 17. Am a younger teacher and some students feel that am not a "good" teacher because of my age. However I do have many years in the field. I have shown these student respect and gave them the room to grow and the information for them to be successful. At the end they change their mind and repected me as their instructor.
Hi Judy,
Good point about certain students. There are always that know they know for sure they know more than you know. In fact they are the first to tell you that. I always just smile and move the class forward and before they know it they are finding they have to work at the course because I have shared something new that they don't know. Isn't that amazing?
Gary
VERY TRUE, BUT YOU ALWAYS HAVE SOME STUDENTS THAT THINK THEY KNOW MORE THAN YOU JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE VOLUNTEERED IN THIS FIELD, IT TAKES THEM A LITTLE LONGER TO UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU, THE INSTRUCTOR, ARE COMING FROM AND WHERE THEY, THE STUDENT, ARE GOING.
JUDY
Hi Lisa,
Good point. For many students the instructor is the first person they have met and worked with that has experience in the field for which they are training. They are using that person as a model for what they can expect when they are in the field themselves.
Gary
