DJ WendebornCHEP

Having taught now for over 10 years in a technical college I have found that I tend to offer more "realisms" than technical skills.  These realisms are just that, what to expect in life and how to navigate through them as the pop up in your life.  The most interesting connection is that i often see more students do better in class subject matter once they have learned how to deal with these life situations.  Yes, professionalism, computer technology, ethical balance, and interpersonal communications is despirately needed in today's college level courses.

Good point.  We might creating a smarter generation however we will have a generation that will not be able to interact with each other.

As a career changer I entered the teaching profession to reduce my stress. I went from being a firefighter/paramedic to working in the culinary arts industry, now I teach. The 20 years of stress encountered prior to these changes was horrific. The funny thing is... it is still there, just with different names, faces, and situations. Stress can be a good motivator but it causes more damage then good. One must become one with the stress, take a deep breath, let it out and accept the process of dealing with a situation. For most in the teaching industry this acceptance… >>>

amazing isn't it... this was the exact concept behind my last post... you have to make time... it is not given to you. Structuring your time does take practice and it must also take a close look at how you can plan for the unexpected. We have all encountered the day of teaching where you are running from one corner of the room to the other and half way across, you get stopped to answer 3 to 5 questions! Frustrating isn't it. Well it does not have to be. Structure your day based off of weeks or preplanning during your… >>>

There are time in an instructors day that only an essence of time is visible. A brief window to just sigh and breath in a breath of relief. Does this sound like your common day? For some it is, and this thread is directed toward those who have that giant clock ticking away behind them pushing them harder and harder to get things done. One of my earliest technical instructors gave me a saying that to this day fits this situation. His saying is "you don't get time, you have to make time" in order to achieve the necessary and… >>>

As adult learners it is often difficult to get them involved with the learning outcomes. A tool that I utilize is the establishment of a student daily activity wherein the students are asked a simple question or asked to provide a statement about the upcoming learning session. For an example; Bill, tomorrow please be prepared to open our class with a quote regarding the learning outcome listed as number 1. At the start of the next session, Bill is then expected to interact with the learning presentation providing such requested data. In case Bill is too shy or absent, you… >>>

what a means by engauging your students, keepin it real. Often in career colleges we see students referring to the "real" world vs. the Utopia of the learning environment. This is very relevent to this module. Without seeing the connection between these two worlds the student will seek their knowlege elsewhere, thats bad for admissions and retention rates. So how does one make the connection? In my trade it means keeping current in industry standards and trends. It means I have homework and must keep abreast of changes even before they become popular in the industry. Once a trend takes… >>>