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Nicely put...I wish I had written it.
I included the whole note just in case someone deleted it not knowing what
they had missed.
joe
On Wed, 1 May 2002, Michael Edmiston
wrote:
> It is difficult to analyze Tina's situation from a distance, but when she
> says students think she is uncaring and mean, I can identify with that
> problem many times over. I identify with it partly from personal
experience
> in my early days of teaching, and also from many years as department chair
> and dealing with students complaining to me about other faculty in the
> department being uncaring and mean. The advice I give here is for all
> teachers who might find themselves in similar situations.
>
> MAJOR POINT ---> I believe it doesn't matter how well you know the field,
> how well you prepare the curriculum, how well you deliver lectures, how
well
> your labs integrate into the course, how well you write tests, etc... none
> of this matters if the students think you are uncaring and mean. Or stated
> in another way, students must believe you have their best interests at the
> core of your mission. You are there to help them learn the material and
> succeed with their goals. If they cannot see you in that light, then
you're
> in for a long haul.
>
> REPEAT THE LAST TWO SENTENCES ---> You are there to help them learn the
> material and succeed with their goals. If they cannot see you in that
> light, then you're in for a long haul.
>
> This doesn't mean you give them grades they don't deserve. This doesn't
> mean you water down the material. You must cover the material and you must
> hold students to a standard. Some students will fail. But while all this
> is transpiring students must trust that you are not an adversary; they must
> view you as an advocate.
>
> How do you pull this off? Especially today when so many students equate
> caring, friendly, advocate with "easy." That's the trick, isn't it...
> getting students to realize you are friendly and caring and you have their
> interests in mind, yet at the same time you aim to deliver a legitimate
> program at the appropriate level of rigor.
>
> Here are some thoughts on this. These are not in any particular order.
>
> (1) Be sure to be fair and even handed with all students. When my
> evaluations say, "Professor Edmiston is a hard prof, but he is fair" then I
> know I am on the right track. The poorer students dare not think I
like the
> better students more, or I give the better students advantages. If a
better
> student gives a poor answer, and a struggling student gives an equally poor
> answer, I dare not give more points or respond more positively to the
better
> student because I think, "Well she really knows better," and I dare not act
> more positive in class toward the better students and more abrupt with the
> poorer students.
>
> (2) Fair also means that I listen to students if they think I have graded
> them incorrectly or too harshly. This doesn't mean I will cave in to their
> request for more points, but I will listen to their complaint and I will
> take time to explain why I did what I did. Sometimes I do make errors, and
> as soon as I realize I have made an error then I admit it. I don't try to
> save my professorial face and make excuses. I apologize, fix the
error, and
> thank the student for pointing it out to me.
>
> I keep track of statistics for each question on each exam. Sometimes I
will
> take the time to discuss a class-wide problem with the class. "Only 20% of
> you got problem 14 correct. Let's talk about this and see what the problem
> was. Did you not understand the question or did you not know the answer."
> In the beginning they might all try to say the question was confusing,
but I
> don't let them off that easy. They quickly learn that my next response
will
> be, "How would you have worded the question, or how would you have tried to
> assess the class understanding of this concept." We can't spend much time
> doing this, but even doing this a little bit shows the class that you are
> trying to understand what happened to make the whole class miss a question
> so badly. Sometimes I find the question really is confusing, or I find
that
> the whole class indeed has a misconception of some basic physics
principles.
> I can't go back over it, we must move on, but I will try it differently
next
> year. More important, students see me trying to understand their problems.
>
> (3) Make sure to invite all students to confer with you, but especially go
> out of your way to get the struggling students into your office. You may
> have to break the ice by starting to talk to them as they are leaving
class.
> Or if you see them in the lobby, sit down and start talking to them. Ask
> them about their goals and why they are your class.
>
> If you are in your office or another private place, they will probably tell
> you what grade they think they need (to keep a scholarship or to get into
> medical school, etc.) but if they don't volunteer that information then
ask.
> Just be direct... "What grade are you hoping to get in this class?"
>
> If they have an unrealistic goal, don't initially balk, but don't make
> unrealistic promises either. "You want an A. Well, I'm sure you're
capable
> of doing A work in this class, but we both know that isn't happening right
> now. Let's see if we can figure out why that is." Then talk about study
> habits, class attendance, what grades they've gotten in other classes, etc.
> but the most important thing is to see if they can identify, with my help,
> what is the biggest problem they are having in my class. We then try to
> come up with a plan to improve this.
>
> I don't make deals. I don't say, you will get a B if you do this.
>
> I don't give extra credit assignments.
>
> If the student needs help studying for exams or working on assigned
> problems, I try to find a tutor. If the student has trouble writing lab
> reports, and the problem is grammar, proofreading, etc. I make arrangements
> for them to get their lab report to the writing lab so tutors can work with
> them. I point out that this requires the report to be written at least a
> day before it is due.
>
> If students are having problems with the science part of lab reports I
offer
> to skim the report the day before it is due and point out problem areas. I
> do have strict rules about this. The earlier, the better. I will not skim
> a lab report later than 3:00 pm on the day before it is due. I do not
> guarantee I will be in my office outside of office hours. If you want
me to
> read your lab report a day or two early, and you aren't going to come
during
> a posted office hour, you had better make an appointment.
>
> Skimming lab reports the day or two before sounds like a big effort, but it
> is not. The most important thing it does is get them to write it two days
> before it is due so they can make a second draft the day before it is due.
> Otherwise they turn in the first draft on the due date, and that first
draft
> probably got printed at 3:00 AM the night before. Simply getting them to
> have the first draft ready a day early, and treating it as a first draft
> rather than the final draft is a major accomplishment, and it is well worth
> the effort. Any time I spend skimming the report and making a few
> suggestions is repaid many times over by a much easier to grade lab report
> turned in on the due date. Also, students only do this a few times and
then
> realize they don't really need me. In a class of 25 students I will have
> four or five students take advantage of this offer, and they only do it for
> the first three or four reports. But knowing this service is available
> helps students realize I am there to help them succeed.
>
> (4) I try to be happy. This is often very hard for me, especially when
I am
> mired in political hassles at the college. But problems with the
> administration are not the students' fault. Also, my calculus based
physics
> class has been at 8:00 AM five days a week the whole 24 years I have been
> here. That is really tough. But I try real hard not to be a grouch.
>
> (5) As you try to be friendly, do not become a friend. I'm 52 years
old and
> most students are 19. They're probably not going to try to be friends with
> me because of the age difference. But I see younger profs fall into the
> trap of trying to be friends with students, and then either (a) the
students
> don't understand what happened when they get a bad grade, or (b) the
> professor has to sacrifice integrity to maintain a friendship. I will joke
> around with students; I will ask them about themselves; I will try real
hard
> to make them view me as a human being while also convincing them I view
them
> as human beings. Yet, I try to maintain the posture that I am the
professor
> and they are the students. This is a difficult balancing act, but worth
> striving for. If students view you as a friendly and caring mentor (not
> friend) then you should be able to get them to perform better, or at least
> accept the blame for poor performance. When things go badly for them I
tell
> them I am sorry, and I think they know I am sincere. When things go well
> for them I compliment them and tell them I am happy for them.
>
> SUMMARY --> I could make many more suggestions; perhaps I haven't even
> listed the most important, but these are enough to show that there are
> things you can do to make students realize you are there to help them, yet
> you do not have to sacrifice your integrity. It doesn't work with
everyone.
> A few students still get D and E grades in my classes. But enough students
> realize I am there to help them, and I am approachable, that even those who
> fail typically accept the blame for their failure. Many who originally
> hoped for an A will take a B or C and feel okay about it. Those who
get the
> A know that they really accomplished something.
>
>
> Michael D. Edmiston,
Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
> Professor of Chemistry &
Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
> Chairman, Science
Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
> Bluffton College
> 280 West College Avenue
> Bluffton, OH 45817
>
Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. 219-284-4662
Associate Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556