Classroom Assesments
Since I am fairly new to the teaching profession I can always utilize new information to improve what students are "receiving" from my teaching methods.
I have used the minute paper idea in class and it seemed to work well. My students never feel shy about telling me when they are bored. lol.
I struggle with limitations of the facilities because much of industry cant be experienced in the environment of a school setting. It would be great to be able to give my students exposure to more machinery and manufacturing practices. I do use dvds and videos to show many things but it is not the same as doing it yourself. A combination of seeing and doing would be great. What does everyone else do in these cases?
Andrew LeRoy
Are you able to take your students on "field trips"? Do your programs include co-ops or internships? We work with the employers who regularly hire our grads to be able to offer the "real world" experiences. Guest speakers who might be able to come in and feature demonstrations is another idea.
Im not sure if this advice will help you or not, but what we do with our students is bring in professionals from the different areas to come into the classrooms and provide our students with real life experiences that will help them acquire knowledge from experience and make that connection between the content learned and field experience. We also arrange with organizations around us for our students to go and experience as well as asking questions to the people who are performing the job in their area.
Absolutely Ricardo - the more contact that students get with those working in the field they are studying the better!
I am fairly new to teaching also and agree with you. The students in my classes can not experience the industry first hand the way I have and the competitiveness. I feel I must hold back on criticism for creativity sake, when I am scared the reality of the career in the arts, which they have chosen, will cause many of them to forgo what they love. How can I honestly assess them?
Hi Diana-
I think that the best way to assess is to look for progress. How much have they improved. of course you don't want to stifle creativity but it's our job as instructors to critique for the purpose of improvement. Balancing postive comments with criticism is the key.
I sometimes wonder how much information my students are retaining. I will try the minute papers on a regular basis.
Hi Macy- You might also want to try having your students re-teach a lesson. The technique is explained here -http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878-1035401.html
That is definately a hard thing to do is tell someone that they are not very good at what they are trying to do. Our grading is not objective so I have it easier when it comes to grading.
