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. It sounds to
me like that instructor felt that they were some form of “gate keeper” rather than a
teacher. g This is a great example of when someone perverts “maintaining high
standards” and turns it into an insurmountable experience. g 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. g Our role is
to teach, to attempt to help the student learn a topic and succeed, not to force them
into failure. g There are times that someone may not be suited for a profession and
that may come up, needs to be dealt with. g 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. g As our readings state, holding a higher standard does not
mean an absurd standard. g 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.
g g g g g 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.
g g g g g 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.
g g g g g g g 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.
g g g g g g g 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)
