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).
d d d d d d d d d 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.
d d d d d d d d d 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.
d d d d d d d d d 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.
d d d d d d d d d 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: d 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
