Charlene Ray

I like the way that students can learn by rearranging desks; not sure how this can be convenient with 45-50 students.  I liked learning about music.  I was not aware of the legal issues in playing music outside my home; that was great to learn about.

I will continue to use positive words in the classroom.  I can start implementing the SAT to keep students on task in class.

Looking back after teaching my very first semester I did make a lot of mistakes, yet I have learned a lot after taking notes and learning how to be better organized.  I just finished my first lecture of my second semester lecture and it went so much better and I received positive feedback by overpreparing and making a list of all of the objectives I needed to cover.  

Listening is a good before engaging in a difficult conversation when it comes to students that are angry or are found cheating.  Consistency is key to being fair with all students according to the expectations written out in the course syllabus.

I see more often students sitting in the back on their phones and disengaged from the lecture.  Sometimes I feel as if they are laughing at me, yet I brush it off and typically mix in case studies and audience check points to break up these disengaged students.  I also like to do group projects and try to mix up the groups each lecture to help with diversity and creativity; group activities seems to work best.

I like the idea of "What's in it for me?"  I have never heard of that before.  I also think that the syllabus should be clear and concise for the student's to know due dates for assignments.  A lot of times student's don't read the syllabus and so as a novice instructor I feel that it is important to spend five minutes at the end of class to review the syllabus so that students understand the expectations for an upcoming assignment or a particular due date that is coming up.

Some students have social anxiety and don't like to participate in icebreakers during roll-call.  I think that asking me a question to get to know me allows them to be more comfortable in the classroom and develop a trusting relationship as their instructor and proves that I am promoting a safe environment for students to feel comfortable in.

I think that it is important to understand the class learning styles and a VARK assessment is a great tool to use on the first day of class to get to know the students.

It is important for me as the instructor to be prepared.  Making a list a the beginning of each class will help me stay focus and complete all the objectives on a specific topic.