Hi Joel,
How interesting! What have you utilized from your research to generate excitement amongst your students?
Patricia
I try to help them see that they need the information when they go out to work. I give them choices about how to approach the material and what will work best for them. I try to use a variety of fun activities such as Scavenger Hunts where they are given a clue and must find the information from that. I also do wordsearches with the same format: I give clues and they must find the answers before they can find the words in the word search itself.
Hi Lawrence,
I understand. What do you do to get your students excited about course content?
Patricia
Hi Nancy,
Students need to and want to hear about our personal experiences. It motivates them when we can share stories so that they can have ideas as to what is expected of them in the work place.
Patricia
Question and Answer.
My students enjoy this and it tests what they know or gives them the information they need to answer it correctly the next time. It also gets them involved in the discussion.
One thing I have found that students enjoy is to hear about my "real world" experiences. Sometimes the experiences are funny, so that helps but they really like to hear about what they will encounter after school when they are out in their chosen career.
I am trying to accomplish these postings at work and do not have dedicated time to do this as a rule because of the class load I have. But be tolerant and I will attempt to accomodate to meet the requirements of the pilot program. Since the address is attached to my college email I cannot access it at home and that limits my effective time available at school.
In the classroom I interject my own experiences to use as examples and to further develop method teaching elements. I use the hear, see, do principle for complex elements. Since I teach complex theory I find it much easier to show them first hand up close and personal what the cause and effect elements are that promote the process of queries into segmented investigations on material, data, and any type of skill, performance processes. When the student can actually see what a real body part looks like, smells like, and feels like the relationship of visual to intellectual is solidified.
Color atals photo's are good as a start, however they lack dimension and the ability to view in 3 and 4 dimension. Concepts are very difficult to understand especially if the are laws of affect.
Putting into practice what we teach to demonstrate first hand rather than allowing a DVD to teach the class gives more relevance to the depth and intensity with which we teach.
Example: Discussing the cascade affect of blunt head trauma and the pre shock syndrome factor. Sounds impressive huh?, it is if you understand what I just said. Without prior knowledge of the biochemstry and anatomy of the body this is just a lot of words. Not being able to understand the physiological process does not allow full understanding of the intent of the conversation which to provide an explanation for the patients shock condition which can esculate to any one of several more severe conditions.
Inticing a student can be merely the suggestion that perhaps they may be the one that finds a cure of a critical disease.
I had an impromptu class in the commons area today with several of my night class students and the discussion went from light to deep, the topic became centered on virgin stem cell development based on one of the students children having diabetes. she asked what do they do with the cord blood we had frozen after my son was born. The discussion open many new doors for the students to investigate because it showed them that they could do anything they wanted to. Furthering their education did not mean they could not begin and affect positive change in the realm of stem cell research. I reminded them that most inventions do not come strictly from PhD's, they come from everyday people who see a need for something and pursue the development and production of it. Science is no different, in our case is process, procedure, a piece of equipment that will allow surgeries without pain to be preformed or a vaccine that will prolong life and add opportunity for her son to have a norma active life with a new pancreas that was grown from his own cells and implanted without fear of rejection because it was his own tissue. It's not the big things we think are needed to instill a sense of wonder, it's taking the time answer a question and qualify it by further educating the individual. Adage: To help a man be self sufficient teach him to fish. Then you become a fisher of men rather than a fisherman.
Teaching military/civilian medical personnel are two different animals. Military students already are aware of the structure and the dedication required to succeed and are often reminded of how easy it is to fall by the wayside when you do not apply yourself to your studies when they are dismissed from the school and have to wait another year and compete with 2 to 3 thousand other applicants who want the seat that individual just let slip through their hands.
Is that harsh, no it isn't. Competition is a good thing and when students know that they have to continually compete to stay in class it makes it more realistic when they realize that education is a privilege and not a right at the college level.
civilian students often have a lacksidaisical attitude towards education, a type of coming of age of you will, they lack a sense of urgency in culturing good study habits, and don't seem to be to concerned with meeting established dead lines. Providing them with support by any and all means available often is not the answer sometimes you have to be the villian and take away what they believe to be more important to them.
Mentorship has proven to be of greater benifit in the classroom than that of just assigning more and more work that you know will never be done. Why buy into the problem, offer solutions to the problem and have them work them out by being a classroom mentor to another student, give them responsibility for the success or failure of that student with a note that what ever grade that student makes is the same grade they will make.
Responsibility and respect become more and more important and replace the difficulty exhibited in the classroom giving way to excitement and request for future meentorship opportunities.
Hi Joel,
Students absolutely enjoy hearing about instructors personal stories as to how they relate to their career.
Patricia
I would suggest a chat and or thread dealing with examples from your own life/career. The thread would ask students to share how the course learning would apply to their own life and careers. Maybe folks already have examples.
Discuss real life events, experiences (good, bad or indifferent), and examples. Students respond to this in a real positive manner.
Paradigms you love them or you hate then. Define the specific charactersitics of your student populus and there you will find how to develop your presentation methodology. How do we define developmental signifigance. Each person presents with specific goals and aspirations for each individual class our goal as educators should be to develop each individual to the highest level they are capable of achieving. No two students will ever appreciate the same learning elements regardless of intent by the instructor.
Experience in ones field and the manner in which is presented provides evidence of validity and worth. I use creativity constantly and do generate extreme excitement in the classroom, and outside the classroom as well. I use the adage what would Mr.blah blah do if he were here.
Referring back to people who influenced us has always been helpful to me, and it is the greatest form of respect that I can show those who mentored and preceptored me, hopefully the same pay it forward attitude would be presented to your student in the manner in which you teach.
Confirmation of faith in a student even when they have failed a test is an assurance factor that they may or may not receive at home. At risk students have no age factor, they are in all age groups. Support of the individual is a normal part of the job. providing students with snipits of information sort of like teasers if you will. Leading up to the actual class and gaining full student participation along the way.
I use comedy, humor, and theater to convey information, knowledge and skills. this form of interaction for me has faired well with my students. Student participation increases and knowlege abounds, showing and having faith in students promote their self esteem to a level of self assurance and independance.
Tell them the reality of why they know to know specific information align it with the cause and effect element of outcome forecasting.
If possible use field trips to areas that are relative to the course(s) you are teaching. Externship programs are viable programs that give students hands on application experience and support their learning process. Being able to actually experience real world applications far exceeds viewing it orthographically in a book or on a DVD presentation.
Offer opportunities on a short term basis for students to experience an abbreviated externship and as part of the course have them write a paper about the experience and provide powerpoint, and exhibits to support the experience and allow them to student teach that segment of the class.
Our job is not only to teach but to support the student in their efforts to establish themselves professionally.
Sometimes we have to have
The Talk" with them to assist them in determining if "This" is real what they want to do. Often times students enter into course for many different reason, often the wrong one and find themselves overwhelmed in sometime that is over their heads, or they realize I just don't like or want to do this and don't know it's ok to ask to change courses.
For some it is the fear of making mistakes so the step back and are more of a coaster rather than a runner. What you have to do is with them determine what the "cause and effect" issue is. The cause of their lack of participation, and the effect that it has on your evaluation process of their academic potential.
When I began teaching at the civilian college level I asked a friend of mine when did I become a surrogate dad?, he said when you took the job!
You are many things to many people of all ages sometimes encouragement, individual attention, or just saying it's ok to be afraid of making mistakes that's why we are here to teach how not to make them.
Challenge them with something they have to prove and have them present it to the class in a teaching element. Let them teach a portion of a class. This does two things: 1) It forces them to face their worst fear public speaking (Communications) 2) It gives them a chance to stand out and to show themselves as well as others that they are capable of many things that are productive and viable. Remember leaders are born circumstances present them the opportunity to step forward. Assess your class and choose several students to be in class assistants, don't choose the A students, choose the struggling students. You might be surprized at what, and how quickly they develop into a professional member.
I my class I teach advanced medical skills. I use the experiences I have and apply with real world events. I am still in the military and am part of Home Land Security and FEMA with the DOD and am the senior leader of a 13 person speacialty medical team that functions at the behest of the state governor or by presidential order. We utilize all aspects of current medical care and I use these skills in the class room. I have guest speakers that visit from time to time to discuss in great detail what the psychosocial implications of interaction are and how to assess the greatest outcome potential possible.
I am also most aware of the fact that not all students that are in that class are not without risk of failure. Yes I teach to a contention of at risk students as well as established students.
The key here is to peak their interest in the 5 W's-H1, who, what, when, where, why, and how. These investigative mechanisms give them a sense of accomplishment when they are able to answer the questions themselves. These are advanced classes and backtracking to bring them up to speed is not an effective way to instill a sense of need to know the material because it all pull together in the lower level 200 classes to move into 300 level classes at some point in their career path.
Hands on skills along with lecture and participation helps to promote the learning process. The realization that the individual can take a simple question and answer in multiple complexity gives them an opportunity to experience a "ahha" moment a perpetuate further forward learning momentum.
Dear Jennifer...
I have just completed my doctoral studies, about a year ago. I did a a lot of work dealing with transformational leadership, originally preented by James MacGregor Burns and later by Bernard Bass, 1985. I have two papers written in my doctoral program that have super information, and many references. The answer is intrinsic motivation (see, Lucas)and a number of othe aspects in this leadership paradigm. There is an answer. if there is a way for us contact each other or attach papers, it would be super.
Joel
Hi Lawrence,
It is a challenge, but we must use our creativity, expertise, and experience to generate excitement.
Patricia
