Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

No matter how many times I review my policy, I will have several students test my kindness. I typically have a 24 hour policy for exams and quizzes. I give a quiz each week. Without fail, I will have up to 25% of the class absent on quiz day because they know they can make up the quiz.

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Open Mind

I have experienced many students who did not have the capacity of an open mind. When the coursework began to get difficult and the concepts more abstract, these students had great difficulty no matter how small I broke down the material. Mnay students become aggressive because the course concept differs from what they know. Any ideas/advice on how to resolve this?

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Powerpoint: The New Textbook

I readily admit that I am not a powerpoint fan. Powerpoint is used incorrectly more times than naught. I have students who ask me in the beginning of the quarter if I will use powerpoint throughout the course because if I do, they have stated that they will not buy the textbook. When did powerpoint become the new textbook?

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Fieldtrips In Real Time

As I prepare for a new quarter, I look at a class outline and think of what types of fieldtrips can I bring the students on that will highlight class material and be in real time with real situtations and decisins needing to be made. I contact my network to see if there is anyone or anyplace out in the community that can give us this experience. I try to set the fieldtrips up four to six weeks in advance. I have found that facilities appreciate the proactiveness of my scheduling.

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Standardize Test

I do not give standardize quizzes due to the fact that I find many of them are flawed. I had a student this week upset because he answered a question incorrectly on a quiz I wrote. He answered the question incorrectly because he had taken the pratical, standardize test on the online student guide and the test gave the wrong answer.

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Soft Skills

There appears to be an epidemic of students with little to none soft skills. I spend five to ten minutes in each class period going over the soft skills involved in each lesson. The hardest soft skill to get students to use is proper grammar when speaking or writing. How do you break the habit of slang and colloquialism?

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Socratic Method

Does the Socratic method work better for all levels of course work? It is difficult to use the Socratic method in an intro level science class when the students have no knowledge foundation.

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Memorization Games

I teach a science course that requires a student to memorize. I have found that by cutting up my daily lesson plan into various games, students from all learning styles do better on quizzes.

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Mixture of young and old and their social interaction

In my program, I have students that range from 18 to 61 in age. It is amazing to watch their social interaction. I pick lab partners for the class. I make sure that everyone gets a chance to have everyone as a partner. This ensures a familarity amongst the students and lively class discussion.

Carrie Rowell

Discussion Comment

Type A Personality, Angry Student

Thankfully I have had very, few type A personality, angry students. They are the students who become angry when they don't get the perfect grade on an exam or project. They don't blame you. They blame themselves and make sure everyone else feels their frustration and disappointment. Currently, I have this student. The first incidence was the second class period. He took the same quiz that everyone else took. Afterwards, he punished us all for his failing grade eventhough I hadn't graded the exams, yet. His pouting, sideways comments and overall energy vampirism was enough. After class, I took him… >>>