Adult/Active Learners
I always start my classes off by telling a personal anecdote about how I've applied something that we've been learning about regarding the law in my own civil litigation practice. The stories I tell are anecdotal in nature, but there is always a hidden moral that ties together what they have been learning. I think that this sets the tone for the class that what we are learning is important and will be applied readily when they enter the "real world" and start working in the law office. An alternative to my personal anecdote is using a story in the news to highlight what we've been learning...I've found that either of these methods opens up great questions and discussions from the students and I see the interest in their faces b/c they know that someday the stories I am telling could happen to them.
John,
This is so important because real world experiences help connect students to the content being taught. The more this can be done the more value students see in the course content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I like to add real world experiences into a lesson. To show students how a particular skill can be applied int eh workplace.
Great ideas, I use the same approach. I strongly believe that students like to see the teachers as someone to relate to, therefore saying a story in an anecdotal in nature is really great way to connect with the group. Sometime I like to ask student to summarize what they learned in the class, and always it is one of the stories that I told them to help them learn the subject.
I think a good way to do it is to mix the small life ecperiences as you go further in class
I love this application, and am excited to use it in my Career Development Class. The relevance of course content to the actual Job Search process will be a natural fit to start each class period. There is so much information available to assist those new to the job search, and also those embarking on a new job search again! Great idea!
Hi Vincent,
Way to go in tying together the different generation of learners and enabling each generation to see how they fit in the course and be successful. This is what instructional support is all about.
Gary
I always relate my 40+ years of experance to the class and how it will impact their learning in the class. I valadate my experiances with the acknowlegement from the older adult students. This gives the less experance students the confidenance that what i am teaching is true while gaining the confindence of the older students. This in the long makes the learning experance creditable.
Hi Shawn,
Great way to "connect the dots" between the classroom and real life. Your students are getting great content while you are showing them applications of that content so they will know what to do when they encounter such a situation.
Gary
