Watch what I say

One of the fears in teaching is having a student misinterpret a point.

Here's an example:  Equity theory says that people are more motivated if they believe the rules of the game are fair.  If you think there is a tilt against you, it is reasonable to think, "Why work hard?  I'm not going to win anyway."

To make the point I say to my class, "What if I said, 'Fujeirah is a beautiful city.  I will automatically give everyone from Fujeirah an extra ten points on each quiz.'"  The students joke that they'd all say that they were from Fujeirah... but also come to realize that those not from Fujeirah would be unhappy and unmotivated in the class.

Lesson learned, I hope.

In one class I went to explain how I taught this in the US:  "In the US I would say, 'What if I said blue eyed people are better people so I will give them an extra ten points on each quiz?'"  I can't use that example of favortism here because, well, I rarely have any blue-eyed people in my classes.

But my point was not that I like people from Fujeirah better or that I like people with blue eyes better... it's using a story to explain equity theory.

Fast forward to tonight when I had dinner with a former student.  During the dinner he said, "In my class two years ago you said blue eyed people were better..."

And this misunderstanding was from one of my best students.  Ugh.