General Strategies for Student Retention
I find that if you keep the students occupied in class and in lab they seem to be in gauged in class. Some students are harder then others but you have to approach them.
I like to find out what students backgrounds, current work, and long term work aspirations are (usually first night of class, on index cards)
Then I like to tailor examples to those job fields to help them reflect on experiences they've had (and can contribute to the conversation) -- or get them to think about the applicability to a future career.
If they think you can "relate" you can likely "retain"
-DD
I fully agree, if the students are engaged in the matieral, and have learning activities to do, both mental and physical then they stay on course and are more prone to enjoy the material and forget they are learing even when they are. When this happens then the student wakes up with excitement about the school day
