Over the many years of working with Dual Credit students, both School Within a College (SWAC) model and stand alone Dual Credit courses, we have come to realize the importance of establishing classroom culture and its impact on student success. (Susanne Schmidt and Patti McComb)
Before entering the classroom to begin teaching your dual credit course it is extremely important that you are aware of the type of student enrolled in your class and that you be ready for the challenges you may face in order to keep these students engaged. The dual credit student is often a student who is at risk of not earning their Ontario Secondary School Diploma. They may have faced a variety of struggles during their time at secondary school thus far, but still want to be successful in earning their OSSD and possibly continuing on to post-secondary. These students need structure and set expectations, but will also require flexibility in order to be successful.
The possible profile of a dual credit student can include any of the following:
Due to the above student profile, instructors are highly encouraged to review the PowerPoints “Importance of Developing Relationships” and “Mental Health-First Aid” included in this toolkit!
Often this individual lacks a caring adult in their life and it is up to us as educators to provide a safe, confidential, caring environment for them to learn. Building a healthy, caring relationship with these individuals will help to improve their self-esteem and engage the student. In order to build these relationships we must try to get to know the student as best we can.
In this portion of the ‘tool box’ you will find the following materials organized in folders which will, hopefully, assist you in building that relationship with your student and in keeping them engaged in your dual credit course. The folders contain either a “Please Read” file or PowerPoint for the instructor with directions.
This section contains a framework for a “First Day” PowerPoint. A summary of the essentials in designing a successful first day can be found in the word document “The First Class – faculty resource”. All information used in the PowerPoint (with supplementary resources) is organized in subfolders (“Marshmallow Study” and “Line Game”).
[Click here for the rest of the resources]
This section contains a PowerPoint for the instructor(s). All documents referred to in the Presentation can be found in subfolder “Supporting Documents”
[Click here for the rest of the resources]
This section contains a PowerPoint for the instructor(s). All documents referred to in the Presentation can be found in subfolder “Supporting Documents”
[Click here for the rest of the resources]
This section contains a variety of tools and additional information you might find valuable to use for your lesson planning.
– Student engagement
– Whole Brain Teaching (Maurice Azzanos’ PowerPoint on engaging the whole brain in teaching/learning)
– Ted Ed (this is an interactive new tool to use existing and design your own video based lesson plan)
– Video Clips