In my own experiences as a student, whenever an instructor has provided
feedback on course assignments expeditiously, I have considered this to be
positive teacher behavior. To begin, expeditious feedback allows me to believe
that my instructor respects me (and my classmates) enough to keep us out of
limbo. In turn, this tends to foster in me respect for my teacher, which facilitates
a positive attitude towards the course itself. Just as importantly, timely feedback
allows me to discover what the instructor liked about my work and/or what s/he
did not like, so I am able to do a better job on the next course assignment. As
per Bernstein et al., (2020), in their list entitled, Seven Effective Principles of
Effective Teaching, number four urges teachers to Give Prompt Feedback. Over an
academic semester, students are most capable of achieving optimum
performance when they are informed in a timely and consistent manner about
what they are doing correctly, and what areas they to improve in (Bernstein et al.,
2020).
b b b b b b b b b b In a paper entitled, What Makes Effective Feedback: Staff and Student
Perspectives, researchers Dawson et al., (2018) administered a survey on the topic
of the importance of teachers’ feedback to their students. The survey was
completed by 4,514 students in multiple universities. Per the study participants,
what makes a teacher’s feedback on course assignments effective included the
following qualities. Firstly, feedback is provided in a timely manner, so the student
has time to process and then implement the teacher’s suggestions in the next
assignment. Other qualities of effective feedback included it being: detailed, clear
not vague, personalized, having an optimistic tone, and being applicable to the
student’s own work.
b b b b b b b b b b An example that I have come to think of as negative teacher behavior is
when instructors assign group papers to the class. While teachers may espouse
that group assignments promote the formulation of teamwork skills, this has not
always been my experience. While I have been a part of group papers that went
well, they have not always necessarily been a positive experience for me. That is
because there often seemed to occur what is known in psychology as a diffusion
of responsibility. That is, less conscientious students behave in ways that indicate
they feel a diminishment of their own personal accountability. In other words,
students function as if they are off the hook because someone else will do the
work. In the case of a group paper, when group members who are not particularly
good writers contribute sections that require lengthy revisions another group
member must take the time to revise the deficient writing.
b b b b b b b b b b Per Bernstein et al., (2020), number two on their list of seven effective
principles is Encourage Cooperation Among Students. While I agree that the
promotion of cooperation among classmates is a good thing, graduate-level
students are often too busy to meet (either on Zoom or in-person) to plan and
complete a group-assigned project, whatever it may be. What is more, when the
group project is complete it often reflects the efforts of a minority of the group
members and not every member. Relatedly, I think that if teachers utilize group
work they should reserve it for their undergraduate students. At any rate, I have
ultimately come to think of group assigned work as the negative behavior of a
lazy teacher who is not striving to do her/his best work. They are lazy because
they get to grade and provide feedback to fewer students.
b b b b b b b b b b In the Book of Proverbs, chapter 30, verse 9, King Solomon writes, “The
Lord your God will cause you to be overflowing from all the hard work of your
hands in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your animals, and in the fruit of
your soil. Once again, he will rejoice over your prosperity, just as he did with your
fathers…” In this Holy Bible verse, we gain confirmation that God the Father will
reward us when we strive to do our best work. Conversely, it makes sense that
when we don’t do our best work, God the Father will only be able to reward us in
a way that is commensurate with the quality of our work. God the Father wants
me to always do my best, and he will help to do so if I continually pray and ask
him for his guidance.
Question: b Do you believe that God will help you to do your best work if you ask
him?
References
Bernstein, D. A., Chew, S. L., Frantz, S., & Lucas, S. G. (2020). Teaching psychology:
A step-by-step guide. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Dawson, P., Henderson, M., Mahoney, P., Phillips, M., Ryan, T., Boud, D., & Molloy,
E. (2018). What makes for effective feedback: Staff and Student Perspectives.
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(1), 25–36.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.14678
