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).
e e e e e e e e e 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.
e e e e e e e e e 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.
e e e e e e e e e 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.
e e e e e e e e e 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: e 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
