Kevin Duden

I am flirting with the idea of testing my students for their learning style and maybe having them wear a tag that designates it so I can know as I'm teaching which ones they have.

There's alot here. I guess it's confirmation that I'm doing some things right and maybe some ideas for improving other areas like varying delivery styles.

I can see how this information could be useful in a regular classroom setting. I work in a prison and my classes rotate through 8 sessions, on an ongoing basis, so there really is no first class. I also have a 1000 students a year so knowing them by name is near impossible. I could possibly incorporate some of this into the orientation class which is almost like a first class. We go over the entire program and they are given materials that are similar to text books and a syllabus. 

I tend to be pretty well-prepared but occasionally I will have not thought ahead about consumables or whatever and totally agree that it causes stress when I try to handle these things with a session looming.

Sometimes I wear my mood on my sleeve.  I need to be aware of how I am coming across to my students and show enthusiasm even if I'm not.

I like the ideas of collaborative learning groups (which I already use), journaling, learning logs, Catch Up. My supervisor is encouraging us to do things to help our students become more engaged.

I am becoming a bigger fan of simulations. Mine are rudimentary but most students prefer them over classroom lecture.  In the future I will be looking for more ways to incorporate them with my limited resources.

In my situation, teaching in a prison, the students do not have access to technology.  I could try to provide more paper resources for them to look up when they are able.

I'm not sure it's relevant in my situation as students have little access to technology in the classroom since they are in prison.

To try to find ways to make sure students are actually listening and comprehending. We have an orientation where my entire program is explained in pretty good detail. They also have access to TAs and Aides, if they have questions. Despite this, they still say things like, "I didn't know I was supposed to do that!" They often go away angry in an attempt to blame me when it was clearly their fault since much of the time I know for a fact that it was covered beforehand and or they have written instructions explaining the requirements. It really does… >>>