How to Engage Students With Experiential Learning in Your Classroom

As a principal, school administrator, or department head, your number one priority (after safely getting the kids out of the hallways and into a classroom) is to ensure that learning actually takes place in between the ringing bookends of your bell schedule.

As a veteran teacher, with over 18 years of classroom experience (including one surprisingly enjoyable summer school now under my belt), I can tell you that I feel sorry for the students that had to endure my first year of employment back in 1993 - a date that now seems ages ago.

I was enthusiastic and well educated, and I established a good rapport while maintaining a disciplined environment - but I feel I utterly failed when it came to delivering lessons that actually STUCK with my students for more than a few days after their scantron tests were graded.

My problem then, and the problem of so many teachers that truly care about and take responsibility for educating their students, was that I did exactly that - I DELIVERED the information in nice, easily digestible chunks of notes and review games, but I seldom provided opportunities for them to actually experience the information.

I know now, as many of you do from the wealth of research that is available, that memorization or lecture style delivery does little to inspire any long-term learning. For our students, as ourselves, to actually recall and feel and internalize any information or insight, it must be attached to a meaningful and memorable personal experience.

Experiential Learning is the best way to engage the attention of those students your teachers are responsible for, and it provides a significantly better return in terms of recall and application of knowledge and skills.

So, in order to impress upon you the importance of exposing your staff to this teaching tool and its many benefits, I would like to share a little background information about the history of Experiential Learning and then provide you with examples that your faculty could implement easily and effectively.

So, what is TEACHING? Is it just telling, or does it require that learning occurs?

I believe that the job of a great teacher is to facilitate his/her students' movement from where they are to where he/she wants them to be regarding specific skills, information, and behaviors.

So how does your faculty get them there?

Well, consider this analogy...

As trainers, coaches, or teachers, we choose the vehicle our clients or students will use on their journey to reach that destination of acquired skills or knowledge.

Unfortunately, what most teachers still use is as outdated as a horse-drawn wagon... (and, just to be clear, your students are the horses that are encouraged, implored, and even threatened to go where the teacher has already been with little thought about the horses' desires, past experience, or needs!)

Horse and Wagon? Huh?

Yes!

The horse and buggy, as a style of transportation, is just as outdated (and nearly as ineffective) as the still popular lectures and worksheets have been. But even though the horses are often unmotivated, unaware of why they are being driven, or otherwise distracted from working to get there, this is the style that a majority of educators continue to choose!

THE TRUTH IS THAT TELLING & USING PASSIVE-LEARNER TEACHING STYLES JUST DON'T GET THE RESULTS YOU WANT!

According to J.W. Wilson, author of Cracking the Learning Code, "Experience automatically stimulates approximately 95 percent of all neurons that provide the massive neural firing that is the basis for all long-term memory, verbal presentation in general fires only 5 to 20 percent of neurons"

And even if they sit there, un-stimulated, and passively receive the information that is fed to them, the fact is that your students will not have internalized or processed that information in a way that really impacts them.

Howard Gardner, the renowned Harvard Researcher, explains that "Investigations document that even students that have been well trained and who exhibit all the overt signs of success -faithful attendance, good schools, high grades and high test scores, accolades from their teachers -typically do not display an adequate understanding of the materials and concepts with which they have been working."

Common sense dictates that, if you simply consider how YOU best learn, you may begin to appreciate how experiential learning and can transform your school.

Take out a scrap sheet of paper and draw a lines so you have split the page up into two columns. Then do the following:

1 - Think of something you are good at. What are some reasons you got good at it?

2 - Next, think of something you not good at. Why didn't you learn it better?

Whatever your responses to those questions, you can be assured that other people are very similar! The most common answers for question 1 are that:

You experimented and learned by doing it yourself You had others help you do it yourself, and You learned by working with and/or teaching others.

...and the most common answers for question 2 are that:

You didn't spend enough time to really get comfortable with or good at it You didn't understand the information the way it was presented You didn't care because topic was applied to their interests, not yours!

To change the results and create better learning experiences, we must first change the paradigm of what constitutes an effective vehicle for teaching! Instead of us driving the horses to perform or remember things that they are not truly invested in understanding, a wiser and more effective teacher could...

1. Supply a better, more enjoyable vehicle for them to use 2. Hand the keys to the students / clients 3. Focus on providing a safe road to travel on

THAT is Experiential Learning!

Unlike Discovery Learning, which can be far too unstructured for many teachers to consider adopting, and has been criticized (a 2004 study by R.E. Mayer, discussed in American Psychologist magazine, reviewed educational literature from the past 20+ years to demonstrate that "pure discovery methods are simply not effective. Without guidance, learners do not effectively track down the pertinent information needed to achieve their learning goals."), Experiential Learning Paradigm depends upon the teacher to be involved and help guide the student's behavior.

The teacher remains involved by first defining the specific relevant learning activity, by ensuring the students are actively involved in the experience, and by creating and monitoring a safe classroom culture where this can occur followed by providing questions to reflect on that emphasize the intended insights or outcomes

BUT REST ASSURED, EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IS NOT A FAD!

IN FACT, YOU MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH SOME OF ITS EARLY PROPONENTS...

Einstein wrote that "Knowledge is experience, everything else is just information."

And before him, Sophocles (495-406 BC) claimed that "One must learn by doing the thing; though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try."

AND THEIR IDEAS INFLUENCED MANY MORE RECENT VOICES!

Let me share a quick summary of the prominent names that have provided research based models for Experiential learning.

In the 1930's, John Dewey became famous for pointing out that the authoritarian, strict, pre-ordained knowledge approach of modern traditional education was too concerned with delivering knowledge, and not enough with understanding students' actual experiences.

Dewey became the champion, or philosophical father of experiential education or as it was then referred to, progressive education. But he was also critical of completely "free, student-driven" education because students often don't know how to structure their own learning experiences for maximum benefit. According to Dewey, "Experiential Learning takes place when a person involved in an activity looks back and evaluates it, determines what was useful or important to remember, and uses this information to perform another activity."

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) was the German "Father of Social Psychology," best known for developing a four-stage "cycle" of education.

David Kolb (1939-) then built upon ideas of Dewey and Lewin, and created a four-part "cycle of learning" model of his own.

Finally, Phil Race (1942-) has been one of the most inspiring and practical staff development researchers in UK higher education. He supports a model similar to that of Kolb, but imagines his model as "ripples" instead of as Kolb's sequential cycle.

Needing/Wanting - motivation

Doing - practice; trial and error

Feedback - seeing results; other people's reactions

Digesting - making sense of it; gaining ownership

If this brief historical background has made digesting the ideas behind Experiential Learning seem too complex, it really does not need to be!

Based on those researchers, you could actually employ a far simpler three-stage learning cycle for use and reference in your classrooms!

The MAIN THING is that you recognize the need for Active Student Experiences, and then provide relevant Review Questions and Reflections.

The active student experiences should be less-structured than a PowerPoint lecture, of course, but meaningful, learner centered and engaging.

The review questions and reflections at the end of the experiential lesson are a vital stage that allows discussion, but the answers must be theirs, not yours, in order to ensure that the learning has truly been internalized and understood.

A key part of the experiential learning cycle is that, when students do not carry from the planned experiential activity the learning, skill, or insight intended, the teacher must then plan and provide another experience that will produce that intended outcome.

SIMPLY PUT, INSTEAD OF AN INSTRUCTOR COVERING COURSE CONTENT WE ALLOW STUDENTS TO UNCOVER IT THEMSELVES!

THAT creates ownership!

Experiential learning is nothing more than organizing "active student experiences" such as learning a physical activity, games, role play / charades, teaching others, taking field trips, engaging in class debates, or creating something new and relevant.

Think back with me... Could you ever accurately explain to someone what kissing is like by giving lecture notes or describing the scientific physical action only?

NO... YOU LEARNED BY EXPERIENCING IT!

And you can transfer this idea to your teachers and their classrooms!

Have your faculty identify one topic, skill, or lesson that they have previously delivered as theoretical or "told" information?

Then, have them write out two ways they might transform that lesson into an experiential activity and engage students actively instead of allowing them to remain passive receivers of information?

Consider this example...

Would you simply tell a NURSING SCHOOL STUDENT what the procedure was to take a patient's vital signs? Could you possibly expect them to successfully recall a PowerPoint bulleted list of instructions and then do an acceptable job of changing the sheets on an occupied bed?

Our schools are now lagging behind the many professional programs that have already developed and implemented a "SEE ONE, DO ONE, TEACH ONE" model.

Couldn't your school benefit from a similar teaching and learning style for certain topics?

Want a YOUR WORLD Example?

In English class, instead of a vocabulary word list being memorized for only a brief time using workbook activities and sentences, how about having the students engaged in physically acting the words using a charades activity, or write a letter to editor about a chosen topic and use five words in context!

As shared earlier, it is important that every experience be "debriefed" and reflected on for students to take meaning away from the activity

The role of teacher is to ask questions only at that point, and students will provide the answers and insights. This is the part of Experiential Learning that demands your teachers provide both lower and higher level reflective questions to draw out and focus attention on the actual purpose of the activity.

Some examples of "lower level" Reflective Questions are:

-What did you do? -How did you feel? -What was most difficult? Easiest? -If you could do it again, what would you change?

And after discussing those, the teacher then continues to drive the lesson deeper with Higher-Level Discussion questions such as:

-What did you learn about ______ -What problems or issues did you experience? -What did you learn about yourself? -How can you apply this lesson to ______?

Despite the ease and many benefits of incorporating Experiential Learning into your faculty's toolbox of ideas, there are a few issues that your staff may encounter when first beginning to implement this style of instruction.

Some teachers may be concerned that outcomes are sometimes difficult to measure or that this requires more planning time. My answer is that yes, this is true - but even though it may takes up more class time that telling, and even though it can sometimes be difficult as an instructor to bite their tongue and let students make their own personal discoveries instead of feeding them the desired information, the rewards far outweigh those initial uncomfortable feelings.

Your staff will be rewarded with a more engaging, fun classroom environment, the participation and interest of students who are normally bored, and the pride that comes with providing students a long-term memory and depth of understanding instead of an easy short-term band-aid that is pulled off after test-time.

Your faculty will report the joy of watching HA-HA moments become A-HA's...

And they will soon agree with basketball coaching legend Pete Newell, who said that "you can never change a habit, or create one, with a word or piece of chalk. You can talk all day, put all sorts of diagrams on the board, but a habit is not going to change... Learning is created through physical acts."

So I encourage you to consider, instead of driving your student "horses" to perform or remember what they aren't really invested in understanding, you can use a faculty teambuilding event to transform your campus into a more impactful place where teachers

1. Supply a better, more enjoyable vehicle for them to use

2. Hand the keys to the students / clients

3. Focus on providing a safe road to travel on

THAT is Experiential Learning!

Nursing Home Neglect - What to Do if You Suspect Negligence in a Nursing Home

Sadly, nursing home neglect is not uncommon. Even the best nursing homes can hire someone who shouldn't be caring for patients, while other nursing homes don't provide or expect the appropriate training for their care attendants. Learning to recognize the signs of neglect...and then doing something about it...is essential if you want to protect your family members.

Because many nursing home patients cannot communicate, you need to be able to recognize the symptoms of neglect, including both physical and medical neglect.

One of the most obvious signs of nursing home neglect is a failure for care providers to assist in personal hygiene, including unsanitary or unclean conditions. If you would not want to live in the conditions you find your family member in, you need to make a complaint and let the nursing home management know that the conditions you see are not acceptable.

If your family member is not bedridden, you also need to make sure they are protected from health and safety hazards. As an example, if they have a mobility problem, there should not only be grab bars in the bathroom, but also assistive devices to help them get out of bed, out of their chair, and so forth.

Sometimes neglect is harder to detect. For example, your family member may have developed bedsores. In almost all cases, bedsores can be prevented by frequently turning the patient, and you should be concerned if your family member develops bedsores. On the other hand, sometimes bedsores occur, no matter how conscientious the caretaker.

As a result, in addition to noting how often your family member is moved to a new position, look for other things such as dehydration or wet diapers...these are indicators of neglect.

Obviously, if you are concerned about the care your family member is receiving, you can talk to the doctor in charge. However, do not get caught up in the "a doctor is a god" routine. If you are concerned about the care your family member is receiving and the doctor dismisses your concerns without giving you reasonable explanations, do not accept that. Medical neglect is no better than physical neglect...indeed, it can be worse...and poor access to decent medical services is simply not acceptable.

Should you suspect nursing home neglect of any sort, approach the nursing home administration first and express your concerns and your expectations for improvement. Should you see no improvement after having done so, then report the neglect. After all, it is a violation of both state and federal law to neglect a nursing home patient.

Reports can be made to the state health department, your state or local ombudsman for nursing home care, law enforcement, adult protective services, or a nursing home advocacy group.

Personal Injury Attorney: Methods To Pay For Legal Help

You deserve to have the help of a personal injury attorney, no matter your financial situation. This is why there are several ways to afford the help of a firm. If you think you cannot afford it, think about the fact that you may have to pay for all of your medical bills, property damage, and other expenses related to the injuries on your own, which is much more expensive.

If you cannot afford to pay your personal injury attorney upfront through cash or debit card, you may be able to work out a payment plan. In fact, many attorneys accept financing as a way to pay for legal assistance, so you should definitely ask about this possibility. Make sure you understand the terms of the agreement so that you are able to pay every month on time, since otherwise you might jeopardize the legal help you are getting.

If your lawyer does not offer financing, you might consider putting the fees on a credit card. This is essentially the same, especially if you have a low-interest card. It will allow you to get the help you need now instead of waiting until you have saved up the money. In the end, you will likely get back any money you had to pay in interest since you will probably get more than what your injuries and damages cost you. This means you should have enough left over to pay off your card once you get what you are owed.

Some lawyers even work for free if you lose the case. Thus, you only pay when you win the case, and by then you should have more than enough money to pay both your lawyer and your bills related to the crash. This is called a contingency fee, and some lawyers' use this method when they believe you deserve help even though you cannot current afford it. If you can find a personal injury attorney who uses the contingency fee method, you should discuss your case beforehand with him or her since many such lawyers only take on strong cases.

You should use your initial consultation to talk about the payment methods available to you. You do not want to commit to legal help from a personal injury attorney without being able to afford it, yet you should not completely avoid it just because you cannot pay right now. There will likely be a solution that works for you, so be sure to check out your options.

Prolonging Senior Independent Living Adds to Quality of Life

Remaining living independently in one's home for as long as possible is very important in maintaining a high quality of life and keeping healthcare cost to the minimum. Prolonging senior independent living can be accomplished through a series of coordinated objectives. Each facet of one's living arrangement must be considered to identify areas of risk and improve the overall efficiency and quality at which one maintains their independence. Matters such as financial considerations and legal decisions must be addressed in order for of your loved one to have the foundation necessary to make decisions which are appropriate for their independent living arrangements.

Concerns such as safety around the house are important to consider because high-risk areas which are prone to cause accidents need to be removed from the living environment. A perfect example of this is slip and fall areas such as wet tile floors in bathrooms and patios and area run rugs which can be easily cause trips and falls. These things are common in many homes and can be overlooked as dangerous if not considered with the perspective of creating a safe environment for which a senior can live independently without common risks of falling.

Many seniors today live alone without close relatives nearby staying in communication and having the ability to monitor your loved one's well-being makes the situation more tolerable for the senior and for the person who loves them. Regular feedback and status monitoring can be accomplished through a variety of different solutions available on the market today such as weekly senior care services, in-home monitoring systems, and companion living or visiting arrangements. Recently in the bad economy there has been an increase of seniors sharing housing together which provides the comfort and safety needed to prolong senior independent living for both who were previously living alone.

There are many options to consider when devising a plan for prolonging senior independent living. A good plan makes for more consistent action. Seniors and their loved ones should factor in as many risk considerations as possible and mitigate risks with as much attention as possible. It is recommended the family consult with a professional familiar with elder care issues to identify areas where attention is needed. Areas to consider include budgeting, safety around the home, sufficient planned activities, and capability to perform routine household chores. Aging is a process we all will have to encounter, understanding how to maintain independence as we age is knowledge we all can benefit from.

Some Advantages of an Adult Day Care Facility

Adult Day cares are on the rise and they are a very good thing to have in our Community, most Communities favor these facilities because not only it provides needed service to the Elderly but they also provide employment for the Community.

It has been documented that there are more Elderly People in our Society today than ever before, a lot of them live alone and is not in the best of health. Adult Day Care can be ideal for those who live alone but are not ready for Nursing Home placement. They could attend one and receive at least two full nutritious meals and a snack. They could interact with other People of their age, this stimulates the mind, and help to keep it focus. Daily activities are provided to keep their limbs loose and their mind alert. Nursing service is provided to assist with their medication ensuring it is taken properly. Social service is also provided; they will keep up with their needs such as Doctor Visits. Inspirational time is also available if the desire to attend.

In order for a Facility to be paid by Medicaid, their Client would have to be there for at least four hours but normal working hours are eight hours.

Most Adult Day Care Facilities provides transportation for their Clients to and from the Facility. If someone would need to go the Doctor, the Facility will provide the transportation for him or contact another service that specializes in transportation.

These Facilities offers employment to others such as a Director, License Nurse, Nurse Assistants, Cook, Housekeeper, Office Manager, Activity Director, and a Driver. These employees should be on hand at all times. A Social Worker is not needed everyday so that Person can work by contract.

This type of service can provide release for a Caregiver, they would have down time when the Client is at the Center but will need to be home when the Client returns.

Doctors favor these Centers and will recommend their Patients to receive care from it.

These Centers are really an asset; they help our Elders to live a more productive life. Most of them enjoy being at these Center because it gives them a chance to do things other than just sitting around the house.

The Services Offered by Assisted Living Concepts Inc

This article focuses on the services provided by Assisted Living Concepts Inc., which provides assisted living accommodations to the elderly who want to maintain as much of their independence as possible. These retirees may have lost some of their physical ability to do certain things that are necessary for daily living, such as taking a bath, dressing, eating, cooking or even toileting but they do not want to lose too much of their independence. This usually happens in nursing homes but assisted living residences offer an alternative lifestyle whereby the residents have more freedom to do what they want and are assisted only when they need it. But how do you evaluate the quality of the services that are offered by a company like Assisted Living Concepts?

Some of the factors that you can check when assessing assisted living programs include the safety features, services, equipment and amenities, financial issues, atmosphere and comfort level. Do not forget to examine the different amenities and equipment that are made available based on the fees that are being charged. Some of the features that you may want to check with regards to amenities in Assisted Living Concepts and compare them with the features of others include whether they have the capacity to accommodate the specific needs of a resident, the availability of religious facilities, the provision of a telephone and television unit in every unit, the presence of exercise equipment, the presence of a kitchen unit and refrigerator, and the availability of additional storage. It is also important to check whether shopping and entertainment centers can easily be reached.

Of course, you will also need to check on the monthly expenses and if there is a deposit requirement. Other issues that you need to check include the rules of refund in the event that you want to terminate the services, credit policies, whether the housing units are furnished, the types of housing that are available, the actions taken by management in case the resident is unable to make the monthly payments, the kinds of services that are covered in the fees that are charged, and the possibility of changing the kind of care when the need arises in the future.

When checking the services offered by retirement living providers such as Assisted Living Concepts, it is also advisable to inquire as to the types of activities that are allowed. These include whether socialization is encouraged, the availability of a common dining room, whether there are plenty of chances to socialize with the neighboring communities, the presence of a lounge area and other ways that make it easier to interact with other community members. Safety features are also essential and these include the presence of hand rails, door alarms in each unit, an intercom in each unit, air conditioning, heating and ventilation, the availability of staff at any time, the availability of a doctor in the community, the presence of a hospital nearby, and the availability of a way to communicate with staff if there is an emergency.

Facts And Myths About Online Nursing Degrees

Do you want to be licensed nurse? Are you looking for the best nursing program that will allow you to learn online? Online education is the trend today. As it permits the students to carry on with their present commitments while simultaneously have the time to work out a degree. Before, breadwinners who have families to feed didn't have the time to go to traditional schools to study. Now that we are living in a fast-paced world, people easily can accomplish most of the things online. Moreover, people can now choose to study with their preferred courses online and at an accelerated pace. Then again, there are people who think that online nursing degrees are fraud because of the different rumors going around which are halfway true and halfway false. As a result, applicants and students are torn whether to study in conventional schools or go for online nursing degrees. If you are undecided whether where to enrol, following are the facts and myths about online nursing degrees that you should know.

Myth: Online Nursing Degrees Are Low Quality Education.
Fact: Many people are afraid to enrol online because they think that all online degrees are fraud. Perhaps, they have previously become victims of online fraud. However, without generalizing, several institutions today are hiring professors with Master's Degree and quality instructors to ensure that they are providing quality education to their students. They guarantee that their curriculums are timely and evidence-based.

Myth: Online Nursing Degrees Are Not Accredited.
Fact: Again, people should not be generalizing. Yes, there are online nursing degrees that are not accredited, but others are accredited. Certainly, it is more challenging to check if the online degrees are of quality and that the nursing instructors have the necessary credentials. However, there are accreditation systems that are encouraging nursing schools and nursing institutions to submit their nursing programs for evaluation. The Department of Education is in charge for overseeing the accreditation process. The DOE is working side by side with the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission or NLNAC. They are responsible for determining which schools are to be accredited. Other accrediting agencies include the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools and Council on Occupational Education.

Myth: The Level Of Difficulty Is Different From Studying In A Conventional School And That Of An Online Degree.
Fact: Don't enrol in any online degree if your reason is it is easier to graduate or you do not need to study hard. Before you enrol in any programs, check the curriculum because they are almost the same as that of the campus nursing degree program. However, since it is more of an independent study, it makes studying more difficult. Then again, there are still instructors that will be assigned to help you in case you will have a hard time on a subject matter.

Myth: You Won't Get A Job If You Will Study In An Online Degree.
Fact: This is definitely false especially if you will enrol in a qualified and accredited institution where you will receive proper training. These days, most employers know the significance of technology in education. They are open to individuals who did graduate from an online degree. Moreover, if you are a Bachelor's graduate in Nursing, you will still need to pass the NCLEX exam if you wish to apply for a job in the United States. The purpose of the NCLEX exam is to ensure that the public is protected and that the nurse is capable of what he or she is doing.

Today, thousands of online nursing degrees are available that you can choose from. Be careful when choosing the curriculum and consider the tips above. Protect yourself by being informed.