Jorge,
Great way to set the stage for development of rapport and respect with your students. You are helping them to realize that you are in the field due to your love of preparing food and that you want to share your knowledge with them. You are being a role model for them.
Gary
I find that it is important to show students that you are approachable. Within the culture of the culinary world it is not uncommon for chefs to be unapproachable, it is almost an expectation on the part of some culinary students.
I try to let them know upfront that while I appreciate that they respect whatever level of mastery they might perceive I posses, I respect their commitment to our shared vocation and with that commitment on their part and some guidance on mine they can improve their technique and add to their understanding of cuisine in order to meet or exceed the expectations of the job market.
I teach a basic keyboarding class. Many students do not see this as a useful course. I make it a point to provide examples on how medical, business, and criminology majors use typing skills in the workforce. I try to have a guest speaker from each field. This allows the students to see the value in having good typing skills.
There are several ways to increase student retention.
One is to keep them interested. Be enthusiastic about your topic and share short stories with the class. Promote classroom participation and use a variety of teaching styles.
Another way to increase retentin is simply by creating a comfortable classroom enviornment. Be respectful to your students and give them positive feedback. Let them know that you care about their learning and that you want them to succeed.
I believe this can be done by really engaging them in learning. Doing hands on activities that are related to their chosen field of interest and showing them how they will apply to their every day life at their new jobs.
Hi Hans,
Good points about the need to be prepared. It is so much easier to teach when you are ready to do it.
Gary
by beeing well prepared, understanding of the students individual needs and keeping a positive learning environment were critique is given but in a constructive way.
I like to call it "term candy". The candy is that "something" that either students look forward to, or are constantly talking about. Being in the social age, we have to feed the mind and desire of the student. Students are attracted to what other students are talking about, therefore, if it is positive, they will want to experience it as well. The "candy" is either an activity that will happen sometime during the term, or valuable goal that can be achieved at the end of the term. Whatever it is, it has to be something of value, and possibly something that changes periodically.
I believe that by taking the time to treat each student as an individual and showing them that you care is detremental in keeping them in class.
An instructor can impact retention by:
Responding to the students introduction.
By reaching out to students if you see a drop in participation or poor effort on the home work. This can be be done via email or phone.
Offer up your contact info and a range of times in which you can be contacted with questions.
Be personable and interested in their well-being.
Offer up additional resources on the industry to spur excitement.
I think that the best way to encourage student retention is to show students that you care about their performance. I reach out to all students in the beginning of the class. I strive to respond to each of their autobiographies and find something personal to relate to. Also, letting students know that others felt nervous in the beginning, but passed the class successfully.
try to use many methods to encourge the students to study more and more for me iam using power point, animation, drawing of the picture and the student will label it. showing some films. trying to make it easy for them.
Hi Carmen,
Great suggestions on how to make connections with students. This a the little things that really add up in the minds of the students, so they know you care about them and their success.
Gary
Learn the names of your students and not with a name tag, they will think the only reason you know their name is because it is displayed. Find out information about them; when their birthday is and send a card. If they miss class, let them know you noticed they were not there and you want to know why; you care and want them to come to class because you want them to succeed! Call them if they have been out, give them some assignments or a time they can meet with you for you to help them catch up.
Hi Wendy,
Student engagement is the key and you are doing that by involving the students through presentations, small groups and other interactions with classmates.
Gary
By getting all students involved in the classroom. All instructors need to present the material in a fun learning environment.
i think if your students trust you and your knowledge they know you can assist them in their career choice and teach them with your experiences
In my classes, I have always found it extremely important to learn all of the students’ names as quickly as possible. When I taught in a traditional classroom, on the first day of class I passed around index cards and had the students fill out information including their name, preferred name, background in mathematics (or previous mathematics classes), major, past work/college experiences, something interesting about them, and anything I should know that they may be afraid to approach me about on the first day of class (for example a learning disability or time schedule commitment). I would collect the cards, and as the students take turns introducing themselves to the class, I make notes on the cards so that I can help learn their names (including pronunciation notes). I felt like this really connected me with the class, and the class with each other. I also knew about any special circumstances, and could address these with the students before they became a big issue.
Now that I teach online, the students still introduce themselves on the discussion board, however, I feel like when we have our online lectures, I sometimes have trouble pairing the student with their introduction post and it takes me longer to remember that a particular student, say, has three kids. I always greet and acknowledge every student in class now, however, I feel that I don’t connect with each of them exactly the same way as in a traditional classroom setting. Maybe I should print out all of the introduction board postings, though that would be a lot of paper and a lot of shuffling through sheets while I am navigating the lecture with the keyboard and mouse. Also, I feel that students don’t share the issues that they would have written on the back of the index card as easily through email. Since email is our primary form of communication, it maybe feels more formal than just a scribble on the back of an index card. When a student starts to have trouble, and finds himself or herself in a bad situation that they need to tell me about, it is always when the semester is half-way over and they have already missed a few assignments. If I could find out the first day of class that there may be something going on in the student’s life that may prevent them from doing some assignments, we could work on a schedule or timetable to prevent them from getting behind.
Student retention can be increased by keeping students interested and motivated about school. Students sometimes need to be reminded of why they aare in school and the benefits they will receive when they are done. Adult students sometimes get discouraged because of family and other outside issues. As a facilitator we must keep them encouraged.
by encouraging our students to do their best and helping them with what they need to be sucessful
