I've spent the day - going on 14 hours now - grading finals. The scores are bad. Bad as in, "Were these people sitting in my classroom?" bad.
At one point I said to Ann, "If I was grading someone else's class I'd be thinking, 'This guy can't teach. There's no way his students should be getting these scores.'"
There were bright spots. A few students who asked questions during class performed very well on the final.
I'm not ready to throw in the towel but I'm also not expecting any "Teacher of the year" award.
I can imagine your disappointment. You are a passionate teacher! Of course, I would still like to see if you could teach me, the totally dense one when it comes to economics!
ReplyDeleteIt kind of makes you wonder what kind of teachers they had in the past that let them cheat and get away with it. Apparently they are not accustomed to a teacher with moral standards.....at least in the classroom!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDottie is correct. The fault is not yours, but the students' and their other teachers'. The idea that a bunch of failed students is the teacher's fault is predicated on the assumption that the majority of students are motivated, adequately prepared before getting to your class, and have reasonable study skills. This assumption isn't always true, here or in the US. I've taught students in both countries that simply didn't know how to learn, or don't want to. I've taught the same material in the same manner to Korean and Japanese students, who began the semester not speaking very good English but who aced all the exams nonetheless. I've even had split Native-speaking American/ESL Asian classes where the Americans averaged D/F and the Asians averaged A/B on the same exam based on the same teaching. These results speak to the students themselves and the educational systems they come from. This term, I have a small class that's about 40% F and 50% A/B+. The F's are students that I gave 3rd and 4th chances to rewrite essays but who simply wouldn't exert enough effort or pay enough attention to detail or who simply don't speak English well enough to get the idea. When a 4th draft still has words like "Blgh," and I've pointed it out 3 times, I'm not culpable. I've tried to help polish the turd, but the turd-submitter won't deign to polish it herself. If her maid was better educated, she'd probably get the maid to polish it for her...
ReplyDeleteDo they graduate over there and have to go out and look for a job or is school just an inconvience that they must take to get their appointed job. I am with Miriam I don't understand economics, but just reading your blog I've picked up some understanding on what may work and what don't. I've never seen you teach, but I have seen your passion at family get togethers and I can't imagine there would be a whole of difference.
ReplyDeleteGood question. I don't know what the job market is like or if it is really necessary for many of them to work. The least valuable car in the student parking lot is a five year old BMW.
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