I would have to say that the top 3 must do's in order to make sure that my students
learn the material and that they actually understand and comprehend it is that
my must do is I have to know who my students are
with a diverse student body in my classroom ranging in ages from 17 to 65-68
one of the first things that I do is I have a introduction discussion
question in the discussion area of the course and in this I like to have my students share with me their ages, where they're located at
what they're doing if they're a professional, if they have a job, if they have a family
and then through this introduction class, I actually take notes
and I keep that on hand any time that I need to address
individual students or the class as a whole, I get to see the demographics of student body
and because there are different learning characteristics and different backgrounds
in some cases the basics in my class some students haven't had in 30 years, so it's really difficult to, in some of these
more complex student bodies to come up with something that's going to work for all of them
so that's one of the cases where I try to implement a basic genetic overall presentation, that should address everyone
but then in some of the commentary and especially in the discussion questions that are used and the
homework assignments that are used to drive this material home
is able to reach into some of their different backgrounds and some different experiences, the discussion questions
are really important to me to get student reactions because some of the students themselves are in the professions themselves
and they've got experiences themselves where they can share their experiences and it helps some of the younger students
that aren't in this industry that the textbook is covering, their hands on material, their hands on experience
and their stories really drives home that this material is important and viable
I've got to find a way to not be confrontational, but to expose the way that it probably really is and try to do that in a neutral light
The whole goal is to make sure that they learn and that they learn the material and that they can be
not be prejudice when it comes to the material itself
they need to be able to understand the facts as they're brought to their attention and be able to
use it to their advantage for whatever their purpose is