Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

Being that Im in a small school and we are currently at 15-1 ratio we have the ability to teach several different styles and methods in one classroom sitting. This allows us to reach more students with the same material at one time. We can even adlib material and tell stores or bring in real-life situations to the class. This allows the students to see the need to learn this material at this time.

Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

Adult Learners

Hello: I teach at an intercity career college so most of my students have issues outside of the classroom that are serious to them. Their life style is not what we would call normal to us but it is to them. We have to find ways to keep the studen motivated to achieve their goals and stay focused on them all the time. The drama that is in their life can change at any minute and they will try to drop school in a New York minute. We often hve student appreciation to help keep their mind on school and… >>>

Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

Engagement

Having the students use technology to apply their newly learned skills helps with mastery of the subject matter. Again I teach accounting I try to always apply these skills quickly to real-world applications this allows students to see things in a much different light.

Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

Building a Foundation

Hello: I teach accounting at all levels. First; as we all know that in accounting it is a building process from a foundation to various levels of understanding. So for me it is critical that the students understand debits and credits and the accouonting equation. With this they can start to build. To be sure that they do a firm foundation I quiz them on the terminolgy then test them on praticial applications of the concepts. In accounting I realte this to learning our times tables when we were young you just have to do it over and over to… >>>

Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

The devil is in the details

Hello: The more details you have in your lesson plan the easier it is to prep for the classroom. You can embed urls and videos into your plan and use it to work through the concepts and principles being presented. It is critical that the objectives in the lesson plan follow the syllabus to the letter. When you bring all of this together we as insturctors have the job of delivering this to the class. How we do it is just as important as the message itself. We want to enguage the student as much as possible.

Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

Making the lecture interesting

Hello: I have been teaching for a few years now. I try to have a little lecture and some role playing along with some short video or other resources to help support the concept. This allows students to stay active and to play a role in their own learning. Empowering the students goes a long way in the classroom. To much lecture they loose interest to much role paly the will get away from the concept being presented. To much video they will not comprehend the concept--they also look at it as if the instructor is letting someone else do… >>>

Greg Drakulich

Blog

Effective Feedback

As instructors it is essential that we offer quality feedback while at the same time not making the student defensive in these efforts. They are here to achieve a goal in life and we are here to help them with this process.

Itry to offer the class as a whole motivation and insight on the concepts. but individually I will be more direct and offer direction while being careful not to isolate the student.

Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

Being direct without offending students

Hello: I teach accounting and with it there are many concepts that must be learned in a specific order. It is important that I keep the student focused on the goal of completing the course and still want to learn the material. I need to find a balance between motivation and learning while still being sure that the material is being understood. If my feedback is to strong then they will close up and be unwilling to move to the next concept. My open feedback to the class is that you might not understand it now or next week but… >>>

Greg Drakulich

Blog

Retention team

My school has a retention meeting each week. Where we go over the weekly retention and also identify students that may have issues. We roundtable discussions on what resources might be available to the student.

This course has helped me with more insight on tools that the school and faculty can use to help the students to stay focused on their goals etc...

Greg Drakulich

Discussion Comment

Working through your issues

I remind the students of every step that they have taken to get where they are right now and what they have overcome.The stress level of the first call to the school next the interview then the entrance test. The first day of school I go on and on with each new instructor and class how you overcame each item no the menu. This reflection allows them to look back and say yes that did happen and this is what I did to stay on track to succeed. I often have seniors or recent grads come back and tell the… >>>