The most common reason that I have seen for students to quit coming to class has been lost interest between the time of enrollment and the time they reach class. The next highest on the list would be not understanding the material and not asking taking advantage of the many opprotunities that are given by many instructors and staff. When I do not see students return for extra help, I first will politely ask them why and then I will do my best to give them the extra attention needed either during a study period of a lab excercise. Thirdly I have seen students stop attending because they miss their families. This is a very understandable thing. We must as a group point them in the right direction and keep them focused on the reason(s) that they came to school in the first place.
Are these projects graded? What percentage of a student's course grade is based on these projects?
Dave, how do you manage the logistics of this communication? In class? Out of class? During breaks?
I believe the most common reason a student stops attending a class is boredom. For this reason I have lab projects everyday. These projects may be in class or main lab. I believe this method keeps a student focused and they generally learn more hand on.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate! In my twelve years as an instructor, I found that students quit coming to class for a variety of reasons. Sometimes these reasons are never shared with the instructor, but what I have found to be important is to reinforce their goals and dreams on a daily basis by communication with them.
During this communication, I reinforce with them that they can do it and that they do make a difference. This shows them that I do care about them as individuals and that they can be successful.
About 90% of the student pup wants to learn what they have signed up for.
Many have outside influences that dictate what and how the peruse their education.
These items may or may not be controllable by the student or the staff. Talking to them and trying to help them address the issue is the way to start. Then if it is an academic situation tutoring and after school help is available for them.
What do you do to make sure students know you are approachable and available to talk to about anything?
Ego does seem to drive behavior. Any thoughts on how to manage egos and keep students focused on positive outcomes?
How do you teach teamwork, James? Do you have team based projects in your class?
students drop from school because of low self esteem, or get embarrased because of low grades or they do not know as much as other students.money, and a good job also factor in. I show I care about each of them, I keep them active, I support each of them and I teach them and stress they are part of a team,and the team needs each member to function.I reassure them better days are ahead if they are trained.I humor them, make them laugh, and pick on them in a good way, holdthem accountable,this perks alot of students up, not all of them but alot lf them.
I start the class with sop's and positive enforcment talk if they know that they can acheive what they have set out to do, all I have to do is keep the class in a positive tempo. I want them to look forward to the next day then problems " that all of us have in our lives"will be in the back of their minds not on the for front of their minds.
As educators I believe that there is a limit to what we can accomplish in regards to any one particular individual (that is not to say we should not keep trying to help all to the very highest degree). There are an incredible number of outside forces and factors that shape the individuals we have as students. At the minimum, socioeconomics, peer pressures, family situations and immediate gratification satisfaction. We work to continue to develop the lessons, traits and experiences that they have already adopted or have been exposed to. As long as we also continue to develop their pride and confidence in themselves we will continue to develop the maturity required in becoming an adult as well as being a success in their chosen profession. I believe that maturity has a great deal to do with the appropriateness of the decisions the students make as well as the outcome of those decisions. A sign of maturity is the ability to know when to continue with what you have always done and get the same results or attempt change to improve the opportunity of achieving greater success in those results.
It is true that many problems come from outside. Just today I spoke to a group of students who are taking Human Services. Their attendance has been slowly deteriorating and they seemed quite tired. This does happen in an accelerated program, especially at this time of the year. I chose to speak to them about resilience and the role resiliency plays in our lives. They were really interested and while I reinforced the coursge they demonstrated in taking on this difficult path, I tried to bring to them information onf resiliency and its effect on survival in many circumstances. I think we need to look changing mind sets because the tendency for students is to go back to the coping measures that they know, rather than trying to develop different ones.
Steve, as an instructor I think most of the time the reason that students leave is because of things that are out of our control such as, home sick, we know these students are young and this is most likely their first time away from home, money is also a very big problem, also expections. What I do is try to make sure the students know that I am approchable to talk to about anything.We know that this may be what they need is to talk to some one.
Being in a program that the students take after they graduate, the biggest reason that kids quit class, is financial aid. now as an instructor I don't have the ability to effect this. The only way I can is to keep up constant contact with the financial aid team. This open line of communication with the team and the student means there will be no suprises and the student can concentrate on his learning.Minimizing the largest of their stressors makes for a happy student.
Many reasons for them quiting school is due to outside reasons or forces more than inside. We can help sometimes if they let us. Sometimes they just pick up and leave rather than trying to find a solution. They let their ego get the better of themselves instead of finding humility and ask for help.
Words of encouragement are usually welcome. Do you ever get push back from some students who don't buy the "good cheer"?
with my classes I see students that stop coming because of financial issues, typically cant work it out with financial aid or for what ever reason If the students are having other issues I normally know about it ahead of time and try to work with them to the best of my ability. Ifd it is financial struggles I make shure they are aware of the food pantry Financial aid Etc
Sometimes the kids just get worn-out going to school and working at the same time is hard on them. I can tell them that everyone as done it and they can do it to. Hang in there keep their eye on the prize and graduate.
When a student just quits and does not come back to class it can be difficult to know the exact reason this happened unless you find out by contacting the student, or knowledge from another student. The best way to over come this is to have open communication with the students and let them know if any concerns come up to discuss them before being overwhelmed and leave with out notice. The biggest reason I feel that a student just ups and leaves, besides a tramatic event in their life, would be that they are not satisfied with their educational experience or unhappy with the class for some other reason, such as other students causing problems, etc. Again, the best way to help the student is to be aware of the students needs and concerns, address them, and keep the communication lines open in a positive, helpful manor. Let the studens know you are there for them, not only for the information, but for help if they may need it.
