Yousef, I really connected with your post. This is something I myself didnt know and I see with the students I work with how unaware they are that they have the “power to challenge existing structure”. I think we as educators have to take as part of our role to make them aware of this as well. We need to be “in institutions rather than of institutions” and so do all of our students.
LikeLike
You bring so many great points! I definitely think that we should feel comfortable to “bee ourselves” and that by it self can make us better instructors. Our energy can focus more on the students when we don’t have to worry about ourselves and being genuine. I think this can tricky when it comes to for example political science courses since it is an area that people can be on opposite sides and that by itself makes one side less comfortable if a professor shows to which side they associate with. So I think yes we can be ourselves but it can get tricky how much of ourselves we can be depending on the subjects we teach.
LikeLike
Yousef, I agree with your statement about the “interconnection between who we are and what our philosophy in teaching is”. I think this is crucial to be aware of what these are and our positionalities because it will be reflected on our teaching styles. I also remember seeing in the article how “having a good sense of humor” can make you better instructor but I am not sure how I feel about this because not everyone can be funny. I am a huge fan of funny teachers but I have had many great professors that caught my attention without any humor but by their life experiences to their teaching.
LikeLike
I can totally relate to your post and frustrations with grades. I also agree with Kohn’s in “how motivation through grades can undermine the true purpose of learning”. But the one time I had a class where we had to justify the grade we earned and I said obviously an A but I ended with an A- and I got really annoyed. Also, this was in grad school so it was definitely an interesting experience. I thought I had backed up my answer enough and if anything I think everyone in the class deserved an A. So now I feel that I rather just get a grade than get the option to say what grade you think you earned and then getting something else back….
LikeLike
Yan, thanks for sharing some of your personal experiences about the exam. I heard about it from previous classmates and it seems like although you go through a lot of preparation, it is a VERY stressful time since it is only offer a couple of times a year if I remember correctly? I agree that it can be a fair system to have an exam anyone can take but at the same time I think about well what if you have the opportunity to but not the resources or time to prepare. This is where the disadvantage for example, for maybe students that have to work while in school comes in. I personally do not like exams as I am someone that will overthink an answer and doubt my first instinct often. Lastly, I do agree with you that I will also try to focus on my students need if I ever end up teaching.
I agree that our educational system is need of change. But when I think of this change, I think of being fair in the resources for students. This is because some school in certain districts I think are doing extremely well because they are well funded. On the other hand many lack these resources. So when I think of change I think of fairness as one of the main priorities to begin with at least.
First, great hook with the picture totally got my attention! haha. Your comparison of a distraction is a great one specially since this may only come to mind to a female as we have had to deal with those kind of things. Also, universities are recognizing more learning by doing and as a summer programs coordinator for summer camps here at VT. We exposed high school students to all 8 colleges and all had programming that was mainly hands on. The few that were a lecture styles we immediately saw their focus decrease. Even though it is clear to all the 8 colleges here at VT that hands on learning is essential, I am sure they all have at least a couple of lecture classes. So this leads me to the conclusion, that people are aware of the issues with lecture classes but they still will continue to have them.
