Navigating Challenges in the Classroom
by Sara Heller
What do you consider to be your biggest challenge in the automotive classroom?
I remember my first teaching assignment. I was assigned to student teach another instructor’s class. The students were upset that they did all the work and the instructor would grade them based on their attitudes. I responded that I would develop a grading scheme but that we were then going to stick to the scheme. The students were okay with that. One of the school policies at the time was that the students were required to sign in. There was a late log for those students that came late and they were required to sign the late log. I had one student that refused to sign the late log. When I implemented the grading scheme I developed, I wrote in that any student that doesn’t sign in is going to be marked absent. The student mentioned before refused to sign the late log. When I said the student was going to be marked absent, the student stood up all angry and threw the desk over. The student in the seat adjacent asked “What are you doing?” The instructor stood in the back of the room laughing and the student responded that this issue is going to be taken to the principal. I responded to go ahead because that is the school policy. The student then left the room.
There are so many challenges in any classroom. Bring in a trade such as automotive and those challenges increase dramatically; whether it’s class size, assessment, equipment, vehicles, classroom management, etc. there are so many challenges to overcome. Let’s talk about a few of them….
Class Size
Class size is a large challenge because often more students are placed into the class when there aren’t enough instructors or bays for the increased size. I’ve learned that more than two students working on a task at once is counterproductive. It’s not always easy to control but the reality is that when more than two students are working on a task at once, only two are really working anyway…
Classroom Management
Classroom management is difficult in every classroom. There are so many personalities that are meshed together in one space. Now try to teach with those personalities and then bring in equipment that needs to be used properly. I’ve learned that taking the time to get to know each student a little helps a lot with the classroom management. Also, identifying triggers or a situation before it becomes a problem is also important. I had two students arguing one time in the classroom about politics (and I make it clear that politics should not be brought into the classroom). I took the two students into shop (there were windows between the two so I could keep an eye on the rest of the class at the same time) and by separating the students, I was able to control the situation before it escalated. It’s not always that smooth and each situation needs to be addressed individually.
Shop Layout
The way the shop is laid out can be beneficial or harmful. Are vehicles obstructing the view, are there benches in the shop or is there another classroom that’s utilized for instruction, is the equipment in the opportune location, etc. All can and will reflect on the success of the course.
Vehicles
It’s one thing to have vehicles in the shop, it’s another thing to have up-to-date vehicles with the newest technologies. It’s almost impossible. How can we teach the newest technologies when we don’t have the vehicles with those technologies…?
Equipment
Just like vehicles have new technology every year, automotive equipment is updated every year as well. Automotive programs need to have the current up-to-date equipment so that the students are trained with the equipment they are going to be using in the field…
Training
Just like the equipment needs to be up-to-date, the instructors need to be trained on the current equipment as well. The ideal would be for the instructors to be working in the field at the same time, but the reality is that a teacher’s schedule is so jam packed that there is no time to get trained. Furthermore, a substitute needs to be found for a teacher to go to training.
Assessment
Assessment is another challenge. How much emphasis should be spent on theory versus practical? I split the emphasis 50/50 but it’s not always easy to do that.
Now that some challenges have been addressed, let’s talk about some solutions…
What other challenges do you see in the automotive classroom?
Let’s also discuss some solutions!!!!!
I’d love to hear your thoughts!!!