Get Your Students Hired
Retention of students is a focus i have. it has been a challenging with the diversity of age, culture and educational background the courses I have been teaching have. I have worked hard to engage my expertise, passion and enthusiasm into my lesson plans but still have found challenges to retaining some students. I appreciated the ideas of discovering the why the student is in the class and then utilizing the strategies to keep them engaged. Praise and positive feedback is so important and I believe I can do even more of this. I also need to ask more about the why they are their more often. has anyone else had successes with total class retention of both attention and learning skills? if so what has worked well for you?
Retention is very important , but there are many times that it is indeed very challenging. My fellow instructors and I try our best, but there are times that circumstances beyond our control occur and result in attrition. I try to make sure my students know that they are more than a number and that I truly do care about them and wish to be their guide as they travel on the path to success in the career field of their choice. I acknowledge there will be struggles but I also remind them that nothing worth having comes easily in life and they must be strongest when they are feeling their weakest.
I have also worked very hard on retention. I can be very challenging. I just continue to show them that I am there to teach them what they need to know, that I care about them, and that it really does matter to me what they take away from my class.
I just don't believe 100% attention and retention is possible. Far too many of todays students come to us with poor school habits that we cannot easliy rectify in the short time we have them.
In addition, at least in my school, we have far too many students who arent there to really seriously learn at all, and right off the bat, this skews so many of the concepts of all of these courses. Its something none of them address that I have seen
Do the best you can-- but don't obsess over the losses.