I feel that students do become accustomed to certain teachers, how they teach, how they grade, and the teachers become used to the students as well. I'm a very visual learner, and I take terrible notes and always have. Teachers who are more animated and who teach in a way other than just dictating facts and dates are the ones I learn best from.
I had a history teacher in high school who was really really great for me because she would draw pictures of the battles she would talk about and tell us the story of it as though it was a movie. This kept it from getting dry and dull as most history classes are. I had this teacher for 2 straight years. I got used to the way she taught, what she looked for on the tests and her personality in general. When I got to college, my history teacher wrote a list of important vocab words on the board at the beginning of class, then proceeded to drone on and on for the next hour and a half. Never drawing or writing anything on the board, and listing off dates and names with no animation. These never stuck in my head and the class brought my GPA down dramatically. Her test consisted of 5 long essays, and when I went to her office hours to study all I got was her criticizing my note-taking abilities.
This second teacher really did affect my motivation to do well in the class. She clearly didn't think I was good, so why should I even try? My other teacher made history, a subject I never was attracted to, something interesting and almost-fun.
I think this is especially true for languages. If one teacher does a very good job at encouraging the students to use the language in new, fun, and creative ways, hey are more likely to spend time outside the classroom with it. On the other hand, if a teacher makes language learning a chore, they may scare the students away from something they may have loved, if only they were paired with the right teacher.
That's unfortunate that when you got to college your history teacher treated you that way. Its hard for students to have motivation to try to improve and do better if the teacher has clearly given up on them. What upsets me is that when you went to her office to get help to improve your grade she didn't help you - instead she criticized you.
ReplyDeleteThere was a similar situation that I saw with the teacher that I observed for my Education 500 class. There was a student who wasn't doing well and she asked him to come to her classroom during his study hall so she could help him with his make up work. While he was in her room, she didn't really help him much... instead all she did was inform him of how far behind he was and gave him a lot of worksheets. After the boy left she seemed disgusted with him and said that it is pointless to waste effort on students who don't care about their own grades.
Obviously you cared about your grade and wanted to do better, hence why you took the initiative to go to her office. I think it is wrong for teachers to give up on students because they aren't showing effort on their own part. I'm not saying they should put all their effort into trying to get these students to do better, but you shouldn't deny them the help they need.
That's a really sad story. I, at least, was old enough to take it and know she was the bad guy here, not me. With this student, it seems that he was a bit younger and that should be the age that teachers are introducing students to how great learning can be, not driving them in the opposite direction. Do you think there is any way to get those teachers on board with helping these kids who don't seem to care about school? Or is there a way to get those kids to care more? Because I've certainly been in classes with some of them. I do recognize that it can be trying for the teachers and the parents and even the other students who do want to be there and learn.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students get comfortable with a certain teaching style. In my opinion i feel that once a student reaches that level of comfortableness that the student should change teachers. I know since being at UNH ive only had 4 different Spanish professors. Many of them taught me more then 1 semester. I know my strengths with certain professors however, I think that it would be beneficial for me to have more professors at UNH. This concept may benefit me with my knowledge of Spanish and the content that they bring to the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThat is a sad story, as is what Melissa observed. Not all students get bad grades simply because they just don't care. I personally have had several classes I got bad grades in because I was stressed out by the work I did not understand, didn't get along with the teacher, and then became overwhelmed and gave up. There is usually a reason for students doing poorly rather than them merely not caring about their grades. A teacher needs to be creative, personable, and nurturing. Unfortunately, there are people who lack these character traits that still choose to become teachers, and these are the ones who drone on with boring notes. Yes, it gets the information across, but so does just reading the book. The teacher is supposed to teach the material themselves, not just repeat what some author wrote.
ReplyDelete