What ways could instructors adjust their teaching style to assist students like Nate?

(Case 1)

Tina’s daily planner is filled in completely from 6:00 am to 1:30-2:00 am every day. This schedule is not an exaggeration.Tina commutes 75 minutes each way to attend classes.She is a single mother; her son and daughter are both in elementary school and are active in athletics, scouts, and church activities.Tina works full-time to support her family and pay for school.She is taking 15 credit hours, including a laboratory science.Tina says she is so stressed she is afraid she will never make it to final exams.

Discussion Questions:

How would you respond to Tina’s concern that she won’t make it to final exams?

What are some of the things that Tina can do to keep from feeling overwhelmed?

Are there any campus resources that Tina can use to help ease her load?

(Case 2)

Howie’s lab partner, Kai, has a particular way of completing each assignment. She is thorough and methodical, and she seems to have an immediate grasp of all new material they are learning in class. Howie, however, needs more time to digest the concepts they are studying. Kai becomes very critical and impatient with Howie whenever he ask her a question.

Clearly, Kai prefers working by herself rather than with another person. As a result, Kai often completes the assignments with little input from Howie. Howie feels that Kai’s independence keeps him from fully learning the material covered by each lab assignment. His mother suggests he speak to his professor about this problem, but Howie doesn’t want to sound like a complainer.

Discussion Questions:

How could Howie work with his learning style to improve his relationship with Kai?

If you were Howie, what would you do?

(Case 3)

Michael crashed through the doorway of his residence hall room and slammed the door. he yelled to his roommate, Karl. Karl asked him what was wrong. Michael sneered

Discussion Questions:

How is Michael responding? What is the basis for his arguments?

What kind of critical-thinking errors is Michael making?

What are the implications of what Karl might say?

What is another way to look at Michael’s situation?

(Case 4)

Connor is trying to adjust to the demands of his college classes. He doesn’t remember having to read this much material when he was in high school. It is only the second week of the semester, and he is already behind on his reading in all five classes. Connor wonders if he will be able to catch up, let alone keep up for the rest of the term. He thinks about picking the two hardest classes and not bothering to keep up with the reading for the others.

Discussion Questions:

What do you think of the plan Connor is considering?

What might be an alternative plan?

What suggestions would you make to Connor to get caught up?

What kind of strategies could help Connor keep up for the rest of the semester?

(Case 5)

Nate is a first-year student. He has had difficulty concentrating during the first week of lectures in his economics class and already seems to be losing focus in his other classes. Listening to lectures and taking notes are extremely difficult for him.

He’s finding that his notes do not make sense, and he seems to be lacking important lecture information. At the end of the first week, he goes to see his economics professor during office hours.

He tells the professor that when he was in elementary school he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He confides that he has been taking medication and getting some additional assistance from teachers with note taking and studying for tests, beginning in elementary school and right up through high school.