Jack McCarty

Learners come from a diverse set of backgrounds that involve everything from holding an advanced education prior to enrollment to having little to none. Regardless of the individual's background, it remains important to be able to provide students with an education that inspires, engages, and promotes the stated goals and objectives in their particular field. While students who have historically struggled in school or have come from a background where English is their second language, it is possible to still see student success by bringing your attention to the needs of the student through in class assessment, and then developing… >>>

One area I may be lacking in per my instruction is the utilization of groups in the classroom. Group learning, as this module has covered, is extremely important to a student's experience by actively processing the concepts applied to the lab. One such exercise that was subtly mentioned was five concerns about leaving school and entering the work force, a really great barometer not only for the students, but the teachers as well. Use of group learning experiences would significantly improve the classroom environment. 

As a brief aside, the Harvard video lessons have been a huge hit for me, and… >>>

Movement and eye contact are two things that I rely most upon whenever I am teaching courses. While I don't necessarily use power points, as I find that they draw out some of the pauses in a lecture a little too long, I will always use the whiteboard as the object of focus. There, students constantly find whatever information is critical and in real time additions to the whiteboard, lecture suddenly becomes a lot more dynamic. Through eye contact, I can gauge whether or not a student is in the right direction and actually tuned into the lecture. Movement, is… >>>

Stress, especially in post-secondary education, is something that many students as well as instructors have a hard time with. I mostly engage in my stressors with temporary relief, whether it is junk food or procrastination at home. By adhering to a strict schedule and developing a checklist for reducing stressors, I plan to see better results in the near future. The one major stress reducer in my life is conversing with my folks. It never ceases to surprise me how much talking to family members can help reduce the pains of stress!

In my opinion, a lot of stress comes down to time management and also expectations. There is the expectation that the teacher can carry the student to success and while that may be true for many students, it is impossible for you to provide what every student needs. Better time management has certainly helped reduce my stress levels already, and better preparation in regards to lecture will help ease a lot of the strain, but identifying and accepting the fact that you are human has done wonders for my mental health.

The recommendation for Google Groups is fantastic! I can't believe I never thought of that. Having a recorded space to go ahead and answer any questions and then using those as reference, even in lecture with old student posts, is a great way not only to direct discussion but log your progress as an instructor! I'd also like to mention here the importance of setting aside clerical time. So often we get lost in the day's currents and lose the critical role of administration. Giving myself an hour or two every day will definitely unburden the task.

Creating a to-do list with a numeric representation of priorities is a great way to manage time better. Normally, I fall into the category of immediacy or, if it could be procrastination, dilute a burdensome workload with other project's on behalf of others. While this does suffice, and I do manage to get things done on time, I am often constricted in the nth hour with little to no time for myself. There is this feeling of suffocation that I have a really hard time shaking and it puts a total on my mental health. However, reorganizing my tasks on… >>>

This module helped in serving as a reminder that no mater what pedagogy we prescribe to ourselves or to other teachers, what must remain is the human element. Getting frustrated will, of course, happen but we can not allow our frustrations to exert themselves against the students and must understand where it is that they are coming from. Losing our ability to recognize student's as individuals and instead ascribing them to the role of student, will not only prevent their own internal motivations, but will impede your ability to succeed.

I've learned a lot through this section however, REFOCUS, has been the method that I am most grateful for. I, like many other instructors, find that it is easy to become overburdened by the stressors inside and outside the classroom. Having a game plan like the one listed in the brief section, is exactly the remedy we need to stay ahead of the game. Crisis situations would be a fun exercise to have in the classroom and would certainly lift the mundanity of digging through the code. Furthermore, the triage tip is something I'll take with me to my grave.… >>>

A small part of this course, but one that made a lasting impact, was the inclusion of the one Harvard Business Review Video regarding lesson plans and their role in the lecture. I usually spend two hours prepping for class the day before and sometimes I obsess over hitting every single bullet point that I had wrote down. However, encouraging open discussion about the topic at hand, letting go of the reigns, is a great way to promote student engagement in the classroom.