I do agree, but I have had several students come to me with problems outside of their education. Sometimes they have problems that are stopping them for learning the material in class and by just being able to talk it out, they are able to go back to learning.
Valencia,
It is a good sign when your students bring outside issues to you. It means they trust you. It also means we have a resonsibility to help.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Definitely agree that we are in the mental health business as well. Students often do not have a high emotional intelligence due to HABE's. Motivating and staying positive is as important as the academics we teach because the academics will stick better with a student that can be taught ways to self-motivate and remain positive.
Dianne,
What are some specific ways that you teach students to self-motivate and reman positive?
Jeffrey Schillinger
We are definitely in more than one business. With the recent Federal Government regulations pertaining to Placement and Payment, I feel that we are leaning heavily towards being Administrators as well as Instructors.
I am personally finding it difficult to determine where all of this changing status is going.
Ned
Edward,
You raise a question that a lot of folks in out sector are raising. All we can do right now is to teach well and provide the kind of student service that inspires success.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Yes, educationing and providing a strong foundation for our students is the goal
Stephen,
What are some specific things your campus does to provide that strong foundation?
Jeffrey Schillinger
Student Services and Student Hotline number to provide students a resource for problem situations "outside" of the classroom. Each student is assigned a "Mentor" to be role model/contact person during the first quarter.
yes we are educators and culinarians and customer servers.
I most definitely agree with the statement. I know at our school we have many students that come from very challenging backgrounds and face very difficult issues such as drugs, homelessness, gambling, pregnancies, single parent, abusive relationships, etc. And unfortunately those issues come to school and into the classroom with these students and it is up to us to try and help them through this time by trying to find them some sort of resolve. I know in my own program we have a student who is homeless and sleeps in his car in our parking lot just so he has a warm place to sleep. However, to add to this misery he also has a gambling problem which has caused his family to disassociate with him. He has sought help from our program and we have provided him with shelters and churchs that provide assistance. However, to our dismay, he abused help that he was given from a church and took the money that was given to him and gambled it away. He then came back a second time looking for the church's contact information because he claimed he was in need of another hand out and the program director had to run around like crazy trying to get in contact with church to let them know not to give him money. And this is just one of the many "mental health" problems we face on regular basis.
I agree that mental health should be left up to someone with proper training.However we as instructors have the ability to pick out the students in the class that may have some problems that should be delt with by a expert.I believe its our job to direct them to someone qualified to help.
Absolutely! There is not a day that goes by that I am not couseling a student on relationships (professional and personal), talking about financial aid, investing in the needs of the student (our customer) outside of classtime or even trying to keep emotions from getting away from a student.
I want to say "No", but I must agree. The students I work with are in need of encouragement and a gentle guide at times. Many students have worked hard to make it though school and they want to change their lives, so my job is to educate them so they reach their goals.
I definitely agree. When your students trust you they tell you a lot. It is important for them to get the most out of class and if they are preoccupied with outside stuff they can't focus. I would prefer they get it out with me rather than hold it in and get overwhelmed.
I agree whole heartedly. a stagnate person or someone who is not learning, not growing is a person who is not healthy or happy. I belive that the human condition needs to learn, grow, move forward to be truly happy and healthy. Any instructor that has seen the "light come on" as a person realizes that they have just learned a new concept, idea or method of doing anything will agree that learning does effect our mental health in a very positive way.
I agree because a student's state of mind can greatly influence their educational outcome. As role models for our students we need to let them know that yes the road is difficult but not impossible to travel towards their goals. If students are frustrated or unsure of how they are going to reach their goals, we as educators should step in and provide support to them. So yes, I believe we are in more than one business.
Absolutely agree. I am a program director/instructor of graphic design. We are the "artsy" ones. Most people who are truly passionate about this profession have been drawn to it because they think differently. They are very tuned into their feelings and introspective. Speaking from personal experience, what makes us think differently is also what often gets in the way of being successful. Whether it is depression or focusing problems, it is important that we, as educators, know, understand and address these problems so we can help the student get the necessary assistance to succeed. Of course this has to be approached carefully to ensure that the student is receptive to addressing these very personal problems.
I absolutely agree. I teach at a two year school and many of our students come with a lot of baggage. If we can't work with them to figure out how to help them overcome certain obsticles, such as poor attendance or short attention span, our students will not succeed.
If we define "mental health" as the mindset necessary to become successful, yes. After a few terms in the classroom it became standard practice for me to tell my students I had two goals: (1) for them to master course content; (2) for them to understand and adopt a professional mindset. Instructors do as much "life coaching" as they do educating. Yeah, we are in more than one business.
