I know I don't usually write two long posts in one day but inspiration has struck. I was taking a break from working on my long to do list and decided to look at Facebook for a minute. I happened to click on one of my favorite high school teacher's pages. I was rather upset by his status.
"brains oozing out my ears after too many papers from students who can't follow directions, let alone read and understand a simple story."
The think that upset me wasn't that his students' papers weren't any good. That often happens in high school especially in English classes. I wasn't even upset that he was upset. I would complain too if I had to read awful papers. I think the thing that bothered me was that he was putting all of the blame on his students. Now, I know this teacher pretty well and I know that he models how to write the way he wants you to quite well. He gives you an example to look at and describes what he wants very clearly both before assigning the paper and after. But what if that wasn't enough for some students? What if it isn't that they can't follow directions but that they don't understand his directions? He is also putting the blame on them for not being able to read and comprehend the story. Isn't it his job to teach them how to do that? Maybe this is just my professors talking here but I feel like there is more he could do. I feel like he should go back to the drawing board and find a way to help the students understand better and get better grades. Dr. Grace, Dr. Theresa, Clarissa and Dr. Thorson would all be very disappointed in me if I ever talked like this. Should I make some suggestions to him? Or has he already given up on these students? Is it to late for him and for them?
No comments:
Post a Comment