Mid-Course Encouragement
You need to be senstive to the dynamics of your class. Each class is different based upon the students, course level and content. To keep students engaged and focused on the class you need to "read" the students as they progress through the course. By having general knowledge about your students you will be able to provide support and encouragement when needed. About midway through the course when the students are wearing down and issues outside of the classroom start to press in on them is when discouragement most frequently occurs.
It is at this time they need to be encouraged. Let the students know that you care about them as individuals and that you understand the challenges that are being put on their time and engergy. On the class level you need to keep up the energy and encouragement as they move along the course continuum. Frequently with everything bearing down on them they forget where they started and how far they have come. This is a great time to remind them.
Your post offerd some very good points. Our school is based on a module sytem that offers courses that are twenty days long. The challenge can be in making sure that all the course objectives are met in the twenty days.
Dr. Meers,
You are absolutely correct in how the group dynamics vary from class to class. My classes are less than 12 students and very hands-on, so 2 or 3 dysfunctional personalities can really influence the dynamic of the class if I don't set expectations right away. My students come to me in a group, so their relationships are already set up because they've often had at least 2 classes together as group.
It is important to understand and even sympathize with the stresses adult learners have - as a graduate student myself (in Acupuncture), I am much more flexible than I ever was as a middle school teacher. Setting a positive, caring and still authoritative tone yields the best results.
