I encourage students to work together in groups to develop their team player skills. I also encourage them to demonstrate a positive attitude as they are working in groups.
The students are emotionally motivated by sharing success stories and they feel better informed about their career path.
Alan,
It sounds like you do good things for your students.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I like my students involved in all aspects of the learning process. I feel story telling lets them see what has gone on in my experiences. By doing this and getting responses from them, they feel a part of the story. They begin to see what it is going to be like when they get out there in the field. I also like to make it fun. I tell them I spend more time here than at home, so it has got to be fun. This always garners emotions. They want to be there and they want to leran. The teaching part is very easy when you have a class full of people waiting to hear or see what you are going to do next.
I agree that success stories are a great way to boost their EQ, but I also tell them of the hard times I had before it became a success story so they realize that I'm human and make mistakes just like everyone else.
David,
The experiences you share from your career are the things that students need to hear. Thanks!
Jeffrey Schillinger
I have found it helpful, in that education is my second career, to utilize specific examples of the world I worked in to demonstrate each concept with an actual example.
Our courses in graphic design are very project oriented and we stress the importance of hitting each benchmark within the project. This helps to stress reliability and dependability. We also have group critiques of projects which promotes honest examination of completed work with positive comments and help criticisms. In this way students learn to respect one another and to give and take both positive and negative feedback. We are constantly relating this to work place scenarios.
I always talk about past successes of other students or I share my own experiences as a student. I think that if students know we were once in their shoes as a student and are now successfully employed in our fields, it can inspire them to do their best and achieve great things.
Lloyd,
Students look for "similar others" to serve as role models.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I agree positive stories, let them talk to former students and talk about the experiences we have had.
This is something I also do. I try to bring real life situations into my classroom and frequently discuss the importance of "soft-skills" in the workplace
It varies from student to student. In my one on one encounters while I am reviewing their paperwork or evaluating their hands-on work I engage the student in a Q & A to gauge their command of the material or task. Frequently this dialouge will reveal what or how the student feels they are challenged or lacking when it comes to achieving their goal. Once I have identified that, I can question, direct or challenge them with tasks and curriculm towards reaching the belief that, in fact, they are properly prepared to achieve their goals.
I try to bring in "rear world" experiences intop the classroom.
Great post, William. Thanks!
I'm a semi-retired doctor so most students see me as successful and that I've always been that way. In reality, my beginnings were much like theirs. I love to tell stories of my past and present successes and failures and blunders that make them laugh. I think this helps them understand that this journey remains a roller coaster - no matter what 'station' one is perceived at. A strong EQ will help see us through.
Thanks, Juanita. We have a similar course that has been pretty effective for many students.
This is especially easy to do in the professional/career development class that I teach. We have TPI in this course which gives them an entire workbook about self talk and I give them many activities to go along with the POWER book that are about them personally. I try to make the assignments fun and when they do open up about their personal feelings in their answers I try to write an encouraging comment.
Most of my classes deal with the administrative side of the Medical Assisting program, so I try to explain and implement soft skills in the class by having a "virtual" office, where students take turns as the receptionist, the MA, and the patient, the students who are not actually participating need to observe, and evaluate each "employee", it helps with students that need help with smiling, projecting a positive attitude, and breaking the shy ones out of their shell.
Thamks for sharing this, Patti.
Do you ever bring formaer students who are doing well back to campus to talk with current students? This can be very effective at helping current students stay motivated.
