(Not-so) Evil Teacher
I took a jaunt over to Rate My Professors, and looked at some of my favorite teachers from USC. The comments under one, Dr. D (female), suddenly jarred something into place.
Two of the comments:
It was the last one here, in particular, that got my attention. "Oh and she tries to trick you!"
She does. She'll purposely put matching questions (is such-and-so A, B, C, or D?) that have possible answers that sound very much alike. She will mark you down for not closing your nodes (on a tree diagram, each part of grammar is connected by slanted lines; where they meet, you have a node,) even if everything else is right. I was a good student, most of the time, an A student. I could never wring anything above a B out of this professor, even though I had her twice, for two different classes. She is a hard, but, imo, a fair teacher. There is no rancor in her grading.
But, that's beside the point. The quote - that she tries to trick you - is the key. She expects you to actually learn the material, not just study what you know will be on the test. She teaches students to think, to critically examine the material, and to make judgments based on that consideration. People, teachers in particular, gripe about "having to teach to the test." I don't see why this is necessary. If the students are taught, from the early grades, to critically analyze their lessons, they'll not only do better on the tests, but they'll be able to tell you why this is a right answer while that is not.
Critical thinking is not taught in today's schools, because it was not valued in yesterday's schools. Things were dumbed down - the grade ahead of mine had to learn the Bill of Rights and the Preamble to the Constitution in the eighth grade. Our class, so we thought, dodged that bullet, not having to learn either one, just know them on sight. Elementary school choirs stopped having kids singing in harmony - it was too difficult. Kindergartens and first grades stopped teaching phonics in favor of whole word learning, something like the Electric Company (Mmm - att, matt. Sss - at, sat.) And, kids couldn't read. Now teachers, educated under the dumbed-down rules, can't spell, or determine which of several homonyms to use - there, they're, their; to, too, two; sight, site, cite - and the list goes on (pdf file) and on...
Critical thinking, which used to be taught in schools, and reinforced by "trick questions," is now a commodity that schools must pay for. According to the producer of the Big Six, it's called "...information literacy, information communication, or ICT skills, or a process..." I call it "Critical Thinking." And now, because it was not valued, it must be bought with taxpayer dollars - $189.95 + S/H as of the fall of 2010. Nearly $200, to teach kids what we had for the price of a good teacher.
And, a good teacher will trick you. She (or he) will grade harshly. She will expect you to put time into your studies. She will be the most dastardly evil you have ever known. She'll take points off instead of awarding points - that just means that you start with 100%, by the way, where are the critical thinking skills here? - because that's what makes a student notice and, maybe, learn. She'll cover the most demanding material in class, but still expect you to do the assigned reading because, yes, you will be tested on it. Because that's what good teachers do, or did. I had a raft of them all through my schooling. Dr. D (female) was, frankly, a refreshing change to the teachers who gave points too easily, who wanted to be buddies and pals, and who only taught to the test, forget anything else in the readings. The students commenting on this instructor don't know what a real gem they had, any more than we knew that those awful, evil, hard, unyielding, teachers in our day, were really doing us a favor. Too bad that's gone.
(And, looking at those comments - what were they expecting? To start with a hundred, then work their way up? Boy, talk about a lack of critical thinking!)
Two of the comments:
- "Hard grader. She takes off points on homework for what you do wrong instead of giving you points for what you do right. wouldn't take this unless you have to."
- "She is evil! Not only will she not cover everything she puts on the tests but she basically requires you to dedicate all of your time outside of class to her class. She only covers tree diagrams in class but the entire text is on the test...Oh and she tries to trick you! PS she wrote the book and it has many errors!"
It was the last one here, in particular, that got my attention. "Oh and she tries to trick you!"
She does. She'll purposely put matching questions (is such-and-so A, B, C, or D?) that have possible answers that sound very much alike. She will mark you down for not closing your nodes (on a tree diagram, each part of grammar is connected by slanted lines; where they meet, you have a node,) even if everything else is right. I was a good student, most of the time, an A student. I could never wring anything above a B out of this professor, even though I had her twice, for two different classes. She is a hard, but, imo, a fair teacher. There is no rancor in her grading.
But, that's beside the point. The quote - that she tries to trick you - is the key. She expects you to actually learn the material, not just study what you know will be on the test. She teaches students to think, to critically examine the material, and to make judgments based on that consideration. People, teachers in particular, gripe about "having to teach to the test." I don't see why this is necessary. If the students are taught, from the early grades, to critically analyze their lessons, they'll not only do better on the tests, but they'll be able to tell you why this is a right answer while that is not.
Critical thinking is not taught in today's schools, because it was not valued in yesterday's schools. Things were dumbed down - the grade ahead of mine had to learn the Bill of Rights and the Preamble to the Constitution in the eighth grade. Our class, so we thought, dodged that bullet, not having to learn either one, just know them on sight. Elementary school choirs stopped having kids singing in harmony - it was too difficult. Kindergartens and first grades stopped teaching phonics in favor of whole word learning, something like the Electric Company (Mmm - att, matt. Sss - at, sat.) And, kids couldn't read. Now teachers, educated under the dumbed-down rules, can't spell, or determine which of several homonyms to use - there, they're, their; to, too, two; sight, site, cite - and the list goes on (pdf file) and on...
Critical thinking, which used to be taught in schools, and reinforced by "trick questions," is now a commodity that schools must pay for. According to the producer of the Big Six, it's called "...information literacy, information communication, or ICT skills, or a process..." I call it "Critical Thinking." And now, because it was not valued, it must be bought with taxpayer dollars - $189.95 + S/H as of the fall of 2010. Nearly $200, to teach kids what we had for the price of a good teacher.
And, a good teacher will trick you. She (or he) will grade harshly. She will expect you to put time into your studies. She will be the most dastardly evil you have ever known. She'll take points off instead of awarding points - that just means that you start with 100%, by the way, where are the critical thinking skills here? - because that's what makes a student notice and, maybe, learn. She'll cover the most demanding material in class, but still expect you to do the assigned reading because, yes, you will be tested on it. Because that's what good teachers do, or did. I had a raft of them all through my schooling. Dr. D (female) was, frankly, a refreshing change to the teachers who gave points too easily, who wanted to be buddies and pals, and who only taught to the test, forget anything else in the readings. The students commenting on this instructor don't know what a real gem they had, any more than we knew that those awful, evil, hard, unyielding, teachers in our day, were really doing us a favor. Too bad that's gone.
(And, looking at those comments - what were they expecting? To start with a hundred, then work their way up? Boy, talk about a lack of critical thinking!)