NA class: students being idle

[conscientiousnurse]

Hi, again! I am a new teacher at a 3-week nursing assistant course. It is very fast-paced, and we depend on the students using their time well so they'll be able to pass the course and the state CNA exam. My problem is this.: I often am having them practice their skills, having one student teach a skill at a station and having the others learn the skills by rotating from station to station. During this time, often I am busy testing other students on their skills in a separate room, coming out from time to time to see how they're doing. A very frequent thing I see is that some students are sitting around, not using their time to practice skills. In our state, the state skills test for CNAs is very strict, and difficult to pass. If they aren't practicing enough, they're in danger not only of failing our own skills test and having to do remedial work to get their certificate, but also of failing the state exam if we pass them. If our program puts out too many students that fail the state exam, our whole program could be in jeopardy of being rejected as an approved program, not to speak of our reputation. We're doing fine so far in this aspect, but it's always something at the back of our mind. So, I know that these students are adults (they're at least 18 years old) and need some respect, but what would you suggest doing to get these students to participate adequately?

[AOx1]

Consider having a rubric (or whatever you use to check them off) that they must fill out evaluating their peer's performance during their wait. They are required to give their peer both positive feedback and what the peer could do to improve. This gives them extra practice and opportunities to work collaboratively.