They certainly have the ultimate responsibility, but if we can help students quiet the internal interference, our teaching will be more effective. Quiet this internal noise by utilizing techniques for learning student names such as making a seating chart, using student information cards, or scheduling individual interviews. The Teaching Academy provides film for making pictures of students that can help immensely in putting names with faces. There are professors on this campus with classes of more than 200 students who, with effort, learn all their students' names. Quiet this internal noise by making connections between the course content and their lives.
Students retain information when they see a reason for learning it.
What we teach at the University provides insights and understanding, devlops skills and enriches students for the rest of their lives. We need to emphasize that on a daily basis. A few minutes at the beginning of class spent explaining the relevance of the day's lesson can help students focus considerably. I missed it. We can squelch this internal noise with careful organization.