Career pathways

I'm a GED Instructor at Montgomery College in Maryland.  I want to share my experience working with one of my D.L. students.

I'm going to name him Smithy. he wors as a mechanic at a major hybrid auto manufacturer agency. I used his experience and love of his work to create a plan for him to improve his work as well as to get a a job with more responsibilities. We both explore his needs and come up with a plan which include additional learning in Math, specific in improving his knowledge in the 4 basic operations (addition, substantiation, multiplication and division . Also, become more proficient in decimals, fractions in percents. This will help him in precision mechanic work as well as on the electric circuits components in the vehicle. Also, we had to work harder ion his English comprehension, understanding what he read and follow the instructions provided by the manufacturing standards and  specifications. He would bring examples of the day to day work he and his team had to do. We chose those tasks that he could handle, being easy ones at first but increasing in challenging as he progressed with his training. He had to spent extra time in learning the multiplication tables because these were the most difficult for him. Slowly he start mastering this and he helping become more sure of himself. I enjoyed this plan because I used his already acquired experience, which it was not foreign to him. He enjoyed his work so every time he learned to do additional tasks he become more involved. As an extra benefit, he was able to complete and pass his GED exam. 

 

Comments

Thanks for sharing this anecdote of your work with this student, Alfredo.  It's great to hear these types of success stories about contextualizing instruction for learners.  Where there any circumstances that made it easier to contextualize the skills he needed to develop? 

Best,

Mike Cruse

Career Pathways Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com 

Greetings to All,

My name is Cyntheia Norwood and I am an Adult Educator Instructor. I am employed at a correctional facility and new to the adult education environment. Although I am limited, by policy guidelines, in providing a variety of instructional methods, I am receptive to learning new teaching methods that will enable my students to learn and apply new information with existing knowledge. After watching the two videos, my responses to the questions of how teachers are enhancing their instructional delivery using the contextual model are as follows:

  • What is the role of the teachers in the program?

      The teachers employed the role of a facilitator by integrating course context with

       industry/occupational knowledge to increase their student’s retention and motivation to

       learn.

  • How would you describe the teachers' attitudes toward teaching contextually?

      They wanted to improve their teaching methods, students' engagement, and higher quality of

      student’s ratio to prospective employers. They realized the challenge was not their students,

      but them and that they needed to change their instructional delivery methods. Therefore, they

      were receptive to learning a new way to reach and engage all learners in the learning aspect.

      As a result, they had a desire to connect with their students to a better learning environment

      in the classroom.

  • What methods are used to deliver the instruction?

       Research-based teaching methods that engage learners in deeper learning, emphasizing not

       only context knowledge, but also the capacity to transfer and use knowledge in new

       situations by using examples, diagrams, modeling, simulations, and hands-on activities; thus,

       connecting topics to their personal lives and interests while engaging them in problem-

       solving skills and drawing attention to knowledge and skills they are developing as well as

       relevance.

  • How would you describe the reactions of the learners to contextual teaching methods and strategies? How do their comments compare with those of your learners?

      My perspective of the learner’s reactions concluded they were excited, enthusiastic, and

      motivated to learning. Comments reported by learners included positive feedback such as: It helped

      them to learn better and faster; they liked the constant changed between instructional lecture and

      hands-on approach; It was not boring and kept them focus and motivated to set and reach higher

      career goals; It made learning more solid with fewer mistakes; It will make an easier transition into

      college; and It created a desire to further their education. Overall, they felt great about the

      experience.

  • To what do you attribute the attitudes of learners in the video?

       The teacher willingness to change their instructional methods to encompass course context with a hands-on approach.