I teach medical assisting students. One of my favorite things to do in their Law and Ethics course is to give short anecdotes describing a situation they might face in the office. Oftentimes, these situations have more than one solution that looks right, but usually one legally correct answer. Until they know the course material, they will not know the correct answer. This is usually engaging enough to get them interested in the material and what they will have to learn in order to be successful in an actual office environment.
Hi LE,
Absolutely! Students want to hear those stories that are relevant. As educators, we may be able to mention something in one of our relevant stories that will help them.
Patricia
Hi Lisa,
I like it how you hold your students accountable for reading the syllabus in its entirety. We have to encourage our students to read more, as you are doing.
Patricia
Hi Donna,
There is not anything wrong with a nice mixture on the first day, the more of a variety, the better! Students enjoy variation.
Patricia
Lisa,
Another good on that may be the same as 2 True 1 False is student write 3 things about themself on a post it. They then walk around wearing the post it. Other have to determine which one of the items is not true. Is usually lots of fun especially for a group who does not know one another.
John
I mix it up on the first day- we spend time reviewing clinical expectations plus with real life examples. we also spend time with patients working with communication.
On the first day of class, I review somewhat over the syllabus highlighting important parts in regards to how much things are worth, importance of competencies, and the things we are going to cover. I have borrowed an idea from a coworker who does an icebreaker "2 True, 1 False" and it seems to work out great.....thanks Tiffany! If I don't do that as an icebreaker, I have them go around the room and tell the class and myself 3 things about them that they would like to share. Because I may not go over the syllabus entirely, I have made an assignment that asks 5-6 questions about information in the syllabus. They are to answer those questions and I count it as their first assignment. This lets me know they read the syllabus.
I try to relate a "war story" from the "real world" that involves material from the course. Students usually have an interest in my background and experience and seem to enjoy hearing how I either learned something the hardway or was able to avert a problem using something from the course.
I use PowerPoint presentations for almost every chapter of my class. I love this idea for the first class!
I agree, I feel the text book is an important tool and it is important to learn from but experience in the real working is very stimulating for students to hear and sometimes help stop some of the fear they feel about working in their field.
I am a veterinary technology instructor and I try to set up all the course content as real life experiences. I have worked five years as a Registered Veterinary Technician in the field and have a lot of applicable experiences. I try to help my students understand that what they are learning, is what they will encounter everyday in their new career. I feel as if this motivates them and gets them excited to learn. It is not useless information because it truly will happen to them at some point in their career. I think it excites them that they will be able to do these tasks once they become Registered Veterinary Technicians. I usually tell lots of stories of how the course content helped me become a successful Registered Veterinary Technician. My hope is that it will excite them and motivate them to learn because one day they will be challenged with the same situation.
Jennifer Thompson, B.S., R.V.T
Hello Linda,
It is always a good thing when it is obvious to students based on your enthusiasm that teaching is your passion. Students can tell if you are excited about the subject matter and the profession.
Patricia
Hi Charles,
I teach all MS Office courses as well. I do exactly as you have mentioned. I also let them know what type of jobs they can get by mastering MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, MS PowerPoint, and MS Outlook. I really push the MOS Certification.
Patricia
Since most of the classes I teach are MS Office classes the students and I go through the syllabus to make sure they understand what is required of them. As I go through the objectives of the course I tell them when in the course they will do each objective. I also talk about how the information in the course can help them at their job.
I believe one of the first steps to gaining students' interest and involvement is to show enthusiasm for, not only the material, but teaching itself. A strategy I have used with much success is an early discussion of what they already know about the course content. Students are often surprised by their initial knowledge, thus relieving some of the anxiety for learning new material. It is also important to connect the course content to their career goals with specific examples of how and when this information will apply.
Hi Donna,
It makes a lot of sense to students to show a good example and a bad example. By doing this, students know exactly what to do and what not to do.
Patricia
Hi Stanley,
Absolutely! The student needs to be able to put theory into practical use. Theory is useless unitl it is fully understood.
Patricia
Hi Donald,
Absolutely! The student needs to be able to put theory into practical use. Theory is useless unitl it is fully understood.
Patricia
Hi Meg,
It is human nature to have mixed emotions on the first day. As instructors, we need to make sure the ending is super excited and very positive.
Patricia
I try to remember what it was like when I went to a new class in college. I had a mixture of excitement and uneasiness before each new class. Usually, I came away reassured having an idea of what we are going to do in class.
I would like my students to have the same feeling. To help them, I try to put as much detail as possible into my course outline and go over it in class. I also try to find out what they already know about the subject and try to relate and contrast their knowledge with what they will learn.
