aa aa a I have to say that I feel that I have been pretty lucky overall in the
education system, having had good (and at least adequate) teachers. I did
have one particularly negative experience early on during high school. There
have been some other instances here and there where I felt the instructor
could have provided more in terms of a particular teaching task or timely
or sufficient feedback. Overall, however, my experiences have been pretty
positive. aa
aa aa a aa aa a aa aa I will begin with a recent positive experience that involves one of
my favorite subjects; adult foreign language acquisition. My interaction with
this instructor was not via a traditional university course, but via an online
French language course designed for adult learners. I will share her name
in case any of you are also interested in learning French. I highly
recommend her classes and method. Her name is Alice Ayel, and her class
information can be located at aa https://www.aliceayel.com/. Although there
was no traditional syllabus for such a course, the course description and
the information provided following registration were very organized and
transparent. We knew before the start of the course what we would be
studying, her teaching philosophy, the primary methodology, and what was
to be expected of us throughout the course. Several examples of her
character and behavior during the course were commendable and
advantageous for learning efficacy. Chickering and Zelda (1987) published in
the AAHE's (American Association for Higher Education) bulletin a list of
seven principles considered to be foundational for effective teaching. I will
relate several of her positive characteristics here concerning these seven
principles. First, despite this being an online course via Zoom, the language
instructor was accessible not only during the classes (and would be sure to
involve each student in a speaking manner), but she also made herself
available outside of class via email and even text. Her accessibility allowing
for student-instructor contact reflects the first principle to "Encourage Student-
Faculty Contact ."To assist us in increasing our language confidence, we
had the opportunity to send her voice recordings of us speaking French and
would offer feedback/assistance. This openness provided a mechanism to
further practice our speaking skills outside of the more public Zoom
classroom. This not only reinforced learning but provided an additional
opportunity for those students who may suffer from foreign language public
speaking anxiety. Something else this instructor did that I highly admired
was her creativity in using a less conventional teaching method. In
secondary schools, teaching a foreign language is usually heavily focused on
acquiring knowledge of grammar. Alice shared her methodology with us at
the onset of the course. She uses a natural, child-like learning method
initially designed by University of Southern California linguistics professor Dr.
Stephen Krashen (1992). His method focuses less on grammar, and more
on teaching language in the manner of how we learned as young
children…via direct speaking situations, visual and auditory cues, context, and
pictures. Young (1992) describes how this method can be useful to reduce
foreign language anxiety that many adult learners suffer from. Via this
method, Alice would tell us a story or a fairy tale. She spoke slowly and in
a repetitive manner to repeat certain words. As she told the story, she
would draw pictures on a whiteboard of the scenes and characters. Via this
relaxed and fun method, we hardly felt like we were doing "work". This
technique is reflective of principle number seven, "Respect Diverse Talents
and Ways of Learning". With the storytelling, the student was able to
engage via auditory, visual, and written means. Finally, in accordance with
principle number four, Alice would give prompt feedback after students
spoke. She did this in a relaxed and jovial/encouraging manner. Like a
"language parent," she would repeat what the student had said (to confirm
she understood). However, instead of immediately and obviously correcting
the student, she would "model" the correct phrase in French. This immediate
confirmation of understanding, feedback, and modeling of the language in a
very safe and supportive manner served well to increase the speaking
confidence of each student.
aa aa a aa aa a aa aa a aa aa Now on to a not-so-fun experience. My scholastic weakness in
life has always been math. As a result, I tend to suffer from math anxiety.
During high school, I performed well enough, earning all As and Bs.
However, math was always the subject where I had to exert more effort.
During the middle of my senior year, we moved to another state. Aside
from the normal stressors of moving during a pivotal time in one's life, I
was forced to start over with a new math instructor. This new learning
environment was disastrous for a student with math anxiety such as myself.
It is not in my nature to complain or pass the blame on an instructor, but
this teacher exhibited some unprofessional characteristics I had not seen or
experienced before. What I remember most is preferential treatment towards
certain students and unprofessional behavior. She would display favoritism
towards the football players, and three or four of them sat around her desk
in a visible "clique". The instruction was minimal, and her control over the
classroom was minimal (reference #3 of Table 1.1 – not maintaining
classroom order). I also have a memory of what will sound crazy, but it
happened. One day she was playing around and chased one of the football
players around the room on top of the desktops in a joking manner. The
classroom was chaotic, and not having adequate, professional contact with
the instructor, I began to drown further in a sea of math anxiety. I ended
up failing that algebra class. It was the first and only class I ever failed. It
was undoubtedly my worst learning experience. In relating this negative
experience to Chickering and Gamson's (1987) principles of effective
teaching, what was lacking most was #1 Encouragement Student-Faculty
Contact and #4 the providing of Prompt Feedback. aa aa Overall, what I felt
this instructor could have done better was to reach out to me more in an
accountable way when I began to fall behind in the math skills and the
work. In doing so, perhaps she may have also been able to find a way to
enact principle #7 with me by locating or trying an alternative way of
learning those math concepts that were giving me trouble.
aa aa a aa We have all had both good and bad classroom experiences that we
carry forward with us to learn from. Overall, our scholastic journeys are
long and often cumbersome and challenging. The scholastic endeavor
reminds me of a marathon race. We can draw support from each other, self-
discipline, creative problem solving, and engage in the continuous learning
process to become better teachers. During a marathon, we will have these
highs and lows. As Saint Paul reminds us,
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the
founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of
the throne of God". (New International Version, 2009, Hebrews 12:1-2). What
does "running the race" look like or mean for us as students, educators,
and as Christians? To me, it reflects the dedication to keep going, keep
learning, and reach out to each other in encouragement during this process.
As we run the race, we serve to spur one another on towards excellence.
References
Alice Ayel - Le Francais Naturellement. (2022, May 18). Retrieved June 21,
2022, from https://www.aliceayel.com/
Bernstein, D. A., Frantz, S., & Chew, S. (2020). Teaching psychology: A step-
by-step guide (Third ed.). Routledge.
Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in
undergraduate education. AAHE Bulletin, 39(7), 3-7.
The Gideons International. (2009). The new testament and psalms: New
international version.
Young, D. J. (1992). Language anxiety from the foreign language specialist's
perspective: Interviews with Krashen, Omaggio Hadley, Terrell, and Rardin.
Foreign Language Annals, 25(2), 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-
9720.1992.tb00524.x
