I really enjoyed reading about your experience with your math teacher, Mr. Gonzalez. It
seems as though he had a great impact on you both personally and academically. That is
something that I have seen referenced in our readings for this week- great teachers have
positive impacts on their students. Bernstein (2019) notes that excellent teachers care about
their students. From your post, it seems as though Mr. Gonzalez cared about his students.
It is unfortunate that your junior college English professor did not possess those same
qualities. Giving prompt feedback is noted by Bernstein (2019) as one of the 7 principles of
effective teaching. I have had classes where teachers did not give prompt feedback as well
and it can be very frustrating. As a matter of fact, for one such class, I submitted my final
paper with a comment that noted that since I did not receive feedback from the teacher on
certain questions I had asked, I would expect not to lose points on that section.
A strength of your post was your statement about allowing God to lead our lives. I agree
that God's calling on our lives should be the most important guide for our career decisions.
Ephesians 4:1 (King James Bible, 1769/2017) implores us to walk worthy of the calling that
God has placed on our lives. May we each strive to do that through our education and in
our careers. Your example of a poor teacher is an excellent example of a teacher who lets
their job become ego based. a It sounds to me like that instructor felt that they were some
form of “gate keeper” rather than a teacher. a This is a great example of when someone
perverts “maintaining high standards” and turns it into an insurmountable experience. a
Rather than concentrating on educating their students, they instead make the experience a
series of unreasonably high obstacles, which means they are actually failing as a teacher
and performing more the role of admissions or a licensure board.
Its important to remember that schools and academies have admissions offices who vet out
potential students before they get to us, then at the conclusion of education there is a
licensure, certification or board process for a lot of careers. a Our role is to teach, to attempt
to help the student learn a topic and succeed, not to force them into failure. a There are times
that someone may not be suited for a profession and that may come up, needs to be dealt
with. a If the standard of the class is dropping out or at most getting a B, I would say that
the issue is the teacher, not the students in this example. a As our readings state, holding a
higher standard does not mean an absurd standard. a I also appreciate teachers who have
clear syllabi and stick to them. On that note, it is nice that Liberty uses standardized syllabi
and curriculum for their courses; this practice likely would have offered many benefits at
other colleges I've attended. The discrepancy from class to class, from teacher to teacher,
often results in widely differing educational experiences for students, which is a scary
thought when one really thinks about it. We may interact with or receive services from
different professionals (think medical professional for an extreme example) who have had
insufficient education, but earned their degrees/licenses anyway. These professionals may
practice their professions in ways that come from an incomplete and/or misinformed
background.
a a a a a a To continue, I wanted to note that we see teachers like what I've mentioned all the
time--- teachers who don't know how to educate students, don't know how to work with
certain students (think about some special education teachers for an impactful example),
and/or those who slap on an inappropriate label, such as a mental disorder or behavioral
condition (i.e., behavior analysts, physicians, psychologists, etc., qualified to do so or not,
formally or informally). As a special education teacher and as a parent, even as a friend or
colleague, I've heard many people jump conclusions and label someone just because of a
few characteristics the person at hand may exhibit, temporal or not. In about 100% of the
situations these labels have been misused, undeserving, and/or inappropriate. Having
standardized classes and curriculums that follow the classes' syllabi is extremely beneficial,
and perhaps important. Having teachers who do not follow their syllabi, teachers that do not
understand their own content, teachers that do not know "how" to teach (i.e., getting
students to actually learn and retain the content's knowledge), etc., hurts many.
a a a a a a With that all in mind, I truly respect teachers who operate with a high regard for their
students' abilities. Personally, I found myself aligning to Bernstein et al.'s (2020) principle
of having high expectations for students. As a teacher and parent, my philosophy is that if
you hold your learners to high standards, often higher than what others may think someone
at a certain age is capable of, is essential, as learners will rise to the occasion of those high
standards. As teachers, we must not underestimate our promising and bright learners!. Your
story reminds me of the importance a teacher’s influence can have on the student’s
experience. I have encountered courses in both of my graduate programs where the material
was interesting yet the teacher nearly ruined the experience for me. I recall one course
where my motivation level dropped significantly due to a poor-quality professor and I had
to muster up everything in me to continue learning a critical topic for my degree and
professional plans.
a a a a a a a a In the case of my negative teacher illustration, the primary positive outcome was the
decision for me to quit the program. My previous PhD program was at a supposed
“Christian” university, but I longed for a true biblical integration which I found at Liberty!
It also helped me solidify more of a learning orientation, driven by developing my skills
and understanding the course content well, rather than a performance orientation, driven by
grades and winning favor with my professors (Bernstein et al., 2020). I fully believe this
mindset shift was facilitated in part by this poor teacher/university experience in that the
excessive busywork was a tipping point, causing me to take a step back and reflect on what
I really wanted. It allowed me to recognize my goal in a graduate program was to become a
master researcher and practitioner in my field. I knew I wanted to carry my skills into both
business and ministry and needed a change to accomplish this.
a a a a a a a a The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16 that we are to commit our work to the Lord (v. 3),
the Lord makes everything for its own purpose (v. 4), and although we plan our paths, it is
God who directs our steps (v. 9; New American Standard Bible, 2020). Therefore, I know
nothing of my time in a less than ideal experience is wasted, and He directs my steps
toward becoming the best possible teacher.
References
Bernstein, D.S., Frantz, S, & Chew, S. (2020). Teaching psychology: A step by step guide
(3rd ed.). Routledge.
New American Standard Bible (2020). BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/
Links to an external site.. (Original work published 1971).
References
Bernstein, D. A., Frantz, S., & Chew, S. (2020). Teaching Psychology: A Step-by-Step
Guide. Routledge.
King James Bible. (2017). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1769)
