Bite your tongue, nontraditional student! Plus a few more tips for classroom success.

Are you in a face-to-face class? Do you sit in front and ALWAYS raise your hand? Just stop. Really.

Other people want to be able to answer questions too. It can be really annoying to WANT to enter into the classroom conversation and always be waiting around for the older student to stop talking.

Try being quiet for a change. You might find it helps everyone.

Some other things to consider:

1. When asked to share about something, try to keep it short and sweet. Though it's true that your story about meeting a bear in the woods and living through it is oh-so-interesting at parties, chances are that your fellow students just want the teacher to go over the 15 more test questions before the end of class. Don't be annoying or a know-it-all (even if you think you DO know more about some things...)

2. Try making a few friends - - just ask about (maybe) starting a study group or if you can share info. just in case one of you has to miss class sometime.

3. Smile at your neighbor in class sometimes. Carry extra pencils or pens. You yourself might need to borrow one sometime.

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Other blog postings you might like:

10 Motivational Tips for Nontraditional Students

The Sandwich Generation - what is it?

and

10 Nontrad Tips - plus solutions

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Get Connected, and get more info.

The Nontrad site

Join Nontrads on Facebook 

Nontrads on Yahoo

and Nontrads on Twitter

Schools with Nontraditional Student Facebook pages, programs, ANTSHE, more.

Does your school help nontraditional students?

About me, and the Nontrad programs at WKU

I attended Western Kentucky University when I was a nontraditional student, about 5-6 years ago now.
Some things I liked about WKU's nontraditional student support were:

1. The lockers you could store books in at WKU.

2. The dedicated lounge at the Technical School, (now SKYCTC: the Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College) and how credits transfered to WKU also. (A great idea!)

3. A new  Nontraditional Student area at WKU now, plus Married Student Housing (now back after a hiatus), and an Adult Learner Services office.

4. An Adult Learner Study Room at WKU and Links to help nontrads too.

Some other schools with terrific Nontraditional student programs have Facebook pages and special programs and more for their nontrads.

Should all schools try to have special programs for their nontraditional students?

I say yes, they should. I think all schools should try to give their older students and students who have taken a break from school a helping hand any way they can. Why? I think it will help them, and in turn, all students succeed. Because everyone has a unique story to tell.

Plus, it's not always easy to acclimate to school if you haven't been a student for awhile. Nontraditional students need some extra motivation and help. It's also good if there is a place they can go to be with other students like them, to connect and feel a part of the school, to feel like they belong.

Here are just a few other Facebook pages for nontraditional students groups:

DANTS at ASU  (D.A.N.T.S. Downtown Association for Non-Traditional Students at ASU) - Arizona State University

Adults Belong in College - from Ohio University Lancastesr Pickerington

UW Oshkosh Adult Student Resources page (Lifelong Learning and Community Engagement)

Nontraditional Students on Facebook can list their groups and link up at the Nontraditional Student Facebook Page too.

Does your school have a Nontraditional Student group?
Check at the Nontraditional Student website, (scroll down to the map) and click on your state. You may add your group there anytime for free.

And if you are in a group, make sure to check out the ANTSHE page. Once you have joined, you can link up to groups across the country.

And here are some more related Nontrad links:

The Nontrad site and blog

Join Nontrads on Facebook

Nontrads on Yahoo, and

Nontrads on Twitter 

The Nontrad News: 

I will be publishing a Winter Nontrad News soon. I decided NOT to wait until there were more signups. If you have an idea of what YOU would like me to write about, leave a comment.

Thank you!

Related Postings You may like:

Are you in a Nontraditional Student Group?

Five Ways for Nontraditional Students to Get Connected

The Sandwich Generation - - taking care of kids AND parents

Do nontraditional students generally talk too much in class? The jury is out.

Some younger students complain that nontraditional students talk too much in class.

I can understand why. I used to WANT to share my experiences. And sometimes it's just an overwhelming WANT - - to share.

I was largely over my shyness and didn't really care what other people in class thought of me anymore either.

So.... when I could, I would raise my hand in class. Then, I started noticing that I was talking TOO MUCH. I had to almost sit on my hand after that.

So you think you might be talking too much? It's not as hard of a problem maybe in online classes, or maybe it is. I like to think that nontraditional students usually SHOW UP more than other students, wherever they are. And they have a wealth of experience. Some people like that. Others also want to share, so I think I learned to appreciate that the more classes I took. I know I could see a change in myself in many ways between the first and second time I went to school.

So, what do you think? Is talking too much in class a problem for you? Or do you see it happening yourself? Do you think older students need to take a back seat sometimes and NOT share too much?

I do. I say, let the other students have a turn! But if they don't have anything to say, jump right in. You have a LOT of interesting things to share.

Betsyanne

Other, recent postings:

12 Tips for Nontraditional Students (Fall 2013)

Back to School (Fall 2013) Popular Postings to help Nontraditional Students Out

Are you a Nontraditional Student? Support Sites for You.

President Obama's talk at the University of New York - plus free colleges - a link from the Find Scholarships and Grants blog - See more at: http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/2013/08/president-obamas-talk-at-university-of.html#sthash.uEZvrfYE.dpuf

President Obama's talk at the University of New York - plus free colleges - a link from the Find Scholarships and Grants blog - See more at: http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/2013/08/president-obamas-talk-at-university-of.html#sthash.uEZvrfYE.dpuf

President Obama's Talk at the University of New York - plus Free Colleges - a link from the Find Scholarships and Grants Blog

Here are some related links:

(This person thinks it's OK for nontrads to talk a lot in class!) No-apology Tips for Nontraditional Students

More blogs from nontraditional students

Study Groups for Nontraditional Students

My Nontrad links: 

The Nontrad site and blog

 Nontrads on Yahoo

Join Nontrads on Facebook

and Nontrads on Twitter

3. Some Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter - See more at: http://non-traditional-students.blogspot.com/2013/09/12-tips-for-nontraditional-students.html#sthash.9paLi4ez.dpuf

3 Nontrad Networks for social networking

Three great 

nontraditional student 

social networks:

A nontraditional student group I was a member of has moved to Ning. Here is the new address:
Return to College


It is a great group. We are getting lots of members each day.


There is another group just for nontraditional students too on Ning. It is here:
http://maturestudent.ning.com/


This is a growing group as well, and I am a member there too.


I am the Moderator at a Yahoo group that is also a social networking site. The address is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Non-trads/

Feel free to join all of these! See you there.

The State of Teaching - - For Nontrads and Others

INFORMATION FOR NONTRAD TEACHING STUDENTS AND NEW INTERNS!

Now is the time when many nontraditional student teachers and first-year interns are finishing up their semester.

Some questions I have this year...

1. Are nontraditional students feeling supported by other teachers and school staff?

2. Will most nontraditional students go on to teach – either full or part time?

3. With the current job cuts at many schools right now, will new nontraditional teaching students be able to find a job at all?

And just as important, what do YOU think?

To find out more, I found some GREAT blogs today about teaching students who are going through their last training periods. But boy, were they ever hard to find!

And just where are the intern and student teaching blogs written just by nontraditional students? I could not find them. Please give me your blog so I can add it to my post, blog, and website.

In the meantime, these blogs and sites I COULD find today should prove interesting to new teachers of all ages. Are you a new teacher? Or are you an experienced teacher? Please comment at the comments section to let me know of your opinion and what other links are important ones.

Thank you!

STUDENT TEACHING

Read about final Student Teaching reflections at
Docere Est Discere
Musings on language and teaching
This student has now done student teaching 2 places – with two very different cooperating teachers.

The Clairvoy Site: Clairvoy Teacher Assistance is a new website “trading strategy in bite-sized pieces.” This looks really interesting. It is a Wiki site – or is it a Tiki site? I will have to explore it more to find out.

INTERN TEACHING links (Read blogs about that all-important first year of teaching...)

10 Rookie Mistakes of a First Year Teacher
http://teachyoualesson.blogspot.com/2007/08/ten-rookie-mistakes-of-first-year.html

Advice for your internship (Elementary Ed) from the WikiHow site:

Year One Teacher

The New Teacher on the Block


OTHER FASCINATING TEACHER BLOGS:

The Graham Webner Blog: The Open Educator
Written by an elementary Australian teacher

The Tempered Radical
by 6th grade teacher Bill Ferriter

Anonymous Teacher Blog (second year)

OTHER USEFUL SITES

Here is a life-raft to all teachers, beginning or otherwise.
It's the Harry and Rosemary Wong Effective Teaching page at Teachers.net.

Teaching Feedback – 5 tips to immediately improve your teaching – by a veteran teacher:
http://712educators.about.com/od/teachingstrategies/a/veterantips.htm

and these are really interesting too...

Why you can't find many teacher blogs online

But then I was really happy to find this!
50 Up and Coming Teacher Blogs from Teaching Tips!

And this!
Best of the Web – education/teacher blogs

*And I just added this:
Links to School Bloggers

You can get a free documentary about being a new teacher here:
Road to Teaching site FREE documentary

THE OTHER SIDE OF TEACHING

Keep in mind... like everything, the issues here and opinions show that, as always, there is MY side, THEIR side, and the truth.

But these websites can be very thought-provoking, and worth reading.

Why this teacher and other teachers are leaving the field
Teaching in the 408

Some stories about unfair treatment of teachers
Warning: very controversial!
The NAPTA site

The Massachusetts Teacher Site
This site also has its opinions why many new teachers leave.

What are your thoughts? Is this a good time to become a teacher at midlife? What is the teacher situation in YOUR area?

Is it a good time to become a teacher at any age?