Hi Gail,
I concur! Enthusiasm definitely starts with the instructor. Excitement really is contagious! Let your students catch it from you!
Patricia Scales
Hi Dorcia,
Experience is definitely the best teacher. Your students are fortunate to have an instructor who has gained practical experience.
Patricia Scales
Hi Alissa,
Students need to know when the skill can be utilized. When they understand the usefulness of the skill, they buy into the course.
Patricia Scales
Relating my experience in the field seems to spark more interest in learning coarse material. I teach a "beginner class" for many students who are changing careers and seem to already have a grasp of what the "real is world" can be about!
Showing examples of when the skills and/or knowledge are used on the job is most beneficial to students.Providing students with job descriptions of actual jobs that require the skills and/or knowledge being taught in the course gives them the opportunity to see the importance of doing well in the class so they can be successful in the work world.
Hi Christopher,
Students enjoy hearing about stories as they apply to the real world. Experience truly is the best teacher.
Patricia Scales
Hi Stephanie,
When you bring in classified ads as they apply to the skill set being learned in the class, you gain instant buy in from students.
Patricia Scales
Relating the course presented to the career field.
For example, I can tell the students that they need to learn the primal cuts of animals in order to properly place and receive food orders from future food vendors that they will deal with when they are on the job in this industry.
I like to ask students before starting a topic what they know about the subject, and what they would like to learn. I then acknowledge each student, and expound on what they express. I then tell them how and why this will apply to them on their externship, and in the working world.
By describing recent legal developments, cases, or career options that are available to the student within this subject area.
I believe that if you have passion for the content and you show that not only is it relevant to their career, but can change their lives and thinking, they will begin to see the topics through your eyes. I firmly contest that any student can fall in love with literature or math or philosophy if they have an instructor who shows what the love of that course can do for their lives.
Hi Deb,
It is important to make it known to students how the information is going to benefit them on the job.
Patricia Scales
Hi Zane,
I concur! Excitement starts with the instructor, and it can certainly spread to the students. Let's get excited about our subject matter that we are teaching.
Patricia Scales
I think the most relevant way is to take their experiences and tie them in.. For example in a sales class one of my students manages a restaurant, so I talk about how a server is a sales person -selling drinks, upselling meals, encouraging desserts. These tie well for my students.
Hi James,
When you make learning apply to the real world students understand the relevancy of the course.
Patricia Scales
Students need to know that the course is relevant to their workplace in the "real world." Discussing it in class and revealing scenarios where they will encounter this in the workplace will make them understand the importance of the subject matter.
Hi Anne,
Absolutely! Students understand the importance when they know how the course affects them in the workplace.
Patricia Scales
I try to exlain my experiences to students in my field.
This is very important so students know what to expect from the class; what the objectives are.
