Get Your Students Hired
I have learned that there are a wide variety of challenging students. There are also a wide variety of options as to how to deal with these types of students. Center Stage Students for instance can be given "Use it Wisely" cards to help them think about the importance of their question or comment before they say it and waste that card for the class. The inattentive student seems to be the most popular in the groups of students that I have had the opportunity to observe. The strategies to divert their attention from playing on the phone or having side conversations are genius. I like the idea of flipping the seating arrangements as well as putting them in groups to encourage their contributions to the classwork. Minute papers are wonderful ideas to help with managing challenging students as well. The Apple Polishing Student is the type of student I saw when I was in class as a student and they really annoyed me because I felt that my professors were being taken in but I see now that they truly were not and this type of student did not get away with less work than I after all. I will employ any of these strategies that apply and search out other strategies as needed should I have a term in which I need to address a challenging student.
"All ambiguous behavior is interpreted negatively." Such a powerful quote from the Harvard professor. I'll be sure to remember this forever, and to keep it top of mind during my teaching work, so that I can avoid having an unintentionally negative impact on my students.
You will have students with different needs. It's important to pay attention to each student and make sure the learning environment is suitable for everyone.
I have always been told that being firm, fair, and consistent is the key to managing students and expectations. So far it has worked. I can identify each of the different student types that were described in the material. I was drawn to the idea of using the color cards for minimizing the amount of chatter that goes on. I also like the redirection activity of making a center stage student an "observer". This is something that I plan on using because I have several "center stage" students in one of my classes.
I enjoyed that one strategy with inattentive students is during the meeting with them, ask what you as the instructor could do to capture their attention.
I always find atleast 1-2 students who are inattentive no matter what you help such as deep breathing exercise, relaxation technique, emphasizing the important information, emails, "Please pay attention to" It does not work because they did not have the genuin interest into working hard to succeed. I will utilize your suggested strategies to help. Thank you.
It's important to not allow one or a few students to dominate class discussion. I also learned strategies for reducing student behaviors such as late work, disengaged, etc.
I learned there is a transition for young students that recently graduated from high school and starting a program as an adult. They have more responsible to hold themselves at a higher standard for self motivation and growth compared to what they were used to in the past.
I have seen my fair share of students with excuses for late submissions. The reasons can be very creative, and the same "mother in an MVA" happened two semesters in a row. I have also seen the students who communicate very well, hand out "shiny, red apples," and struggle to pass at the end of the semester. The ideas in this presentation, specifically the importance of consistent, equal, and fair conduct for all students, are heartwarming.
Love the idea of rotating rows of seating so everyone can have an opportunity to be up front in the classroom. I also like the ideas for having a little more control over the students who like to talk. Having them be the observer is a great idea and allows them to have that center stage when reading the summary. I feel that when students hear the same information in different ways from different people, it helps set it into their memory. So win-win for everyone with that method.
At my institution we limit cell phone use to a minimum. As far as when we are in lecture we have the support of more than one instructor in the class. This allows one instructor to focus on delivering the lecture while the other can focus on keeping the students focused on the content.
I really learned alot in this module. I liked the different types of students that we deal with on a daily basis and the solutions for each.
I think in this day and age where so many lectures are presented via PowerPoint and students often follow along on their laptops and iPads, I can see how there may be so many inattentive students. The idea of self reflection is important to ensure that I am presenting material in an informative but engaging way and also getting feedback from these students on what can help them become more engaged would be helpful.
It is important to know the characteristics of the students in the class, so as the instructor I will know what specific strategies will be effective in moving the student forward.
Having a strategy for inattentive students and center stage students to allow for all students to be engaged.