Teaching Mistakes -- Do Any Of These Apply to YOU?

Periodically, I list the entries on this blog that have gained the most readership over the years.   I am not always sure why these postings have become so popular but you might find a few of these thoughts to be especially interesting as you start a new school year.

(1) – What Do We Add? – July 22, 2010

(2) – Introduction – Teaching (Financial Accounting) – January 7, 2010
(3) – What Is the Purpose of a Final Exam – May 12, 2010
(4) – What the Catcher Tells the Pitcher – August 21, 2011
(5) – A Good Suggestion – June 1, 2013
(6) – What Is the Best Book You Ever Read – June 23, 2012
(7) – The Future Is Now? – August 13, 2012
(8) – How You Test Is How They Will Learn – January 31, 2010
(9) – A Note to My Students – January 15, 2012
(10) – We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us – May 22, 2012

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I was hunting through some old materials this morning and found the following paragraphs that I had written a number of years ago.   It is a list of what I think are five big teaching mistakes.   You can see that I even count them down heading toward Number One.    I thought these thoughts might be helpful as colleges open their fall semesters across the country.   You might disagree with me completely but the thinking process and the debate are what I am seeking more than conversion.   Some of what I write (here on this blog and other places) seems to get stale with age.   But, I thought these words still apply just as well in 2013 as they did when I first wrote them.  

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Mistake Number Five:   Overreliance on Power Point Slides.    I never use Power Point slides in my own classes but, if I did, I would make sure to ask a question on the student evaluations each year about whether students liked my usage or not.   I certainly understand how they can be very handy (especially since textbook publishers even create them for you) as a way of organizing material.   However, I think they send a message to students that you are simply going to read Power Point slides to them as they sit there in the semi-dark trying to stay awake.   Okay, I know that most teachers will say that they throw up the slides and then discuss the material but I have heard way too many students say “that lazy guy just reads Power Point slides to us that he didn’t even take the time to produce.”   The way you view the process and the way your students view it might be radically different.   Plus, I am not certain that it is easy to use Power Point slides to create active interaction with students.   If the slide provides the information, where is the conversation, where is student thinking?    My recommendation – just ask your students on their evaluations:   “Should the professor use Power Point slides more or less or the same amount as now?”   If a lot of students say “less,” I would pay serious attention to that advice.   If they say “more,” then go for it.

Mistake Number Four:   Failure to Engage Students with the Material.   College teachers often seem to have a belief that students bring an active curiosity and desire to learn with them to class.   If (when) that proves false, they appear to be mystified.    “Why do they take my class if they don’t want to learn the material?”    Well, they must take 30-40 courses to graduate so they have to sign up for something.   Over my four decades in this business, I have had a few students who walked in with an “I am dying to learn all about Intermediate Accounting” attitude.   But, a vast majority of them walk in with a neutral attitude; they need to be convinced that they are not wasting their time.   After spending 80 percent of their lives learning stuff like the state capitals, the periodic table, how to outline a sentence, and the Pythagorean theorem, many students have had the joy of learning mashed out of them before they get to you.

How do you engage students?   One possibility is to link the coverage to some personal benefit – how will their lives be better for knowing this material?   “Learn it because I say so” doesn’t hold too much power over the young people of today.   Or, show the student why you find the material interesting.   If you have read this blog for long, you know that I’m a huge proponent of trying to puzzle students.  Why is it done this way?  What does this accomplish?  Why was this action taken?   If you simply assume your students are truly curious about the Pythagorean theorem, you may be upset when they fall asleep in class or seem more interested in texting than in learning.

Mistake Number Three:   Writing Tests that Reward Memorization.    We all have heard that the purpose of college is to help develop critical thinking skills.   That is a great and worthy goal.   But students will learn based on how they expect to be tested.   If you base your tests on memorization (“name the four criteria for a capitalized lease”), you can forget about developing critical thinking skills.  If you want students to go beyond memorization, your tests have to go beyond memorization.   “If the US had not made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, what are possible impacts on the growth of slavery in this country?”   Okay, that may lead to an answer that is hard to grade but it allows students to demonstrate their understanding and thinking.   If they expect to be tested in a certain way, their learning will be directed in that same way.  Textbook publishers often provide test banks.   Those questions are primarily designed to test memorization.    You set the tone for your entire course by the way you test your students.   Work to write thoughtful questions and you will be surprised by how much more thoughtful your students will become.  

Mistake Number Two:   Most Teachers Talk Way Too Much.    Teachers get nervous during silences.   They feel uncomfortable.   Consequently, they rush in to fill up the quiet with words and words and more words.   The less the teacher talks and the more the students talk the better.   The teacher should guide the conversation and make sure everyone gets involved.   After that, the less said by the teacher the better.   However, that is hard to do.   The students would much prefer for you to do all the talking because then they can turn their brains off and just write down what you say.   Don’t let them play that game with you!   Push them to talk.   I use the Socratic Method so I just call on them in rapid fire fashion but you can push them to talk in many ways.   If you have read my Teaching Tips book at https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~jhoyle/   you know that I believe in the 50-50 Rule.   That is the teacher should never do more than 50 percent of the talking.   Push your students to do their 50 percent.

Mistake Number One:   Failure to Force Students to Be Prepared for Class.   In my opinion, the single biggest factor in having a great class is the preparation level of the students.  If they are not prepared, what can they possibly add to the class?   They can just write down notes.   But, when they are well prepared, they can add ideas, suggestions, a different perspective, and the like.   A class with well-prepared students can be a true joy as the conversation and the thinking range throughout the topics under consideration.   To me, that is education at its very best.   That is why I became a teacher.   (Later comment:   this, of course, is now well-known as a “flipped classroom” – I should have made up a cute name for it when I first came up with the idea.)

How do you get students to prepare for class?   First, I think you have to be very specific as to what you want them to do.   Don’t just throw out vague assignments.    College students do not do vague very well.   They ignore vague.    Tell them exactly what you want them to do.   Second, make sure the subsequent class actually incorporates that assignment in some way so students do not feel like they were being asked to do busy work.   I remember being infuriated in college when I would spend hours on an assignment that was never mentioned by the teacher in any way.   I certainly did not make that same mistake twice.   Third, don’t hesitate to be confrontational if the assignment is not done to your satisfaction.   College students are adults.   If they had an assignment at a job and did not do it, they would face the wrath of the boss very quickly.   You don’t have to treat them like delicate flowers.   If you give an assignment that you use in class and students are not prepared, talk to them about the need for doing the work.   I never scream and yell at my students but I certainly let them know if I feel they have not upheld their half of the class work.   I often stop students as they leave class with “you did not seem prepared today and I fully expect better from you at our next class.” 

If you want to see an improvement in your teaching, pick one of these five and work on it for awhile.  Or, pick a different one that you think applies to you.   But you do have to make an effort to work on it.   Just contemplating mistakes doesn’t do you or your students any good.

BE THE STREAM AND NOT THE ROCK

Last week, in each of my three classes, we were covering some extremely difficult material.   The students came to class well prepared for the most part.   They did a good job of analyzing and discussing the issues.   They came up with reasonable solutions.    They were certainly not perfect but they demonstrated a solid understanding of some truly complicated concepts.   I was proud of them.   They had come a long way.

We are now down to the last few days of the semester.   I was extremely happy to see such a good effort here near the end.   Even a grump like me had to be pleased.   Virtually every student in class had demonstrated a real improvement since we began back in August.   They not only knew more financial accounting but, just as importantly to me, they knew more about how to be good students.  

At times like these, I am always reminded of a quote that I heard a number of years ago, one that I think is terribly relevant to teaching:   "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins--not through strength but by perseverance."   Every semester I set out to be the stream.

In other words, no matter how frustrated I get with my students during the semester, if I keep my long-term goals in mind and if I pound on the students day in and day out to get to that goal, I WILL WIN.   I will simply wear down their resistance and teach them how to do what I want them to do.  

As long as I keep them moving toward the goals, we will get there. 

Okay, I never have a 100 percent success rate.   If a student sets out to fail, there is not much I can do about that.   However, most students really do not want to fail.   They would actually like to learn the material (at least at some level) and make a decent grade.  

To me, then, the only real question is whether I will get them to do what I want them to do so that they will learn the material and get that decent grade.

And the answer is:   "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins--not through strength but by perseverance."

I am convinced, when the students walk in on the first day of the semester, that I am the stream and they are the rocks and I will get them to learn what I think they need to know because I am going to stay focused on my long term goals.   To be a good teacher you need that extreme level of perseverance (or maybe “infinite patience” is a better way to put it).   Perseverance is a great help in becoming a good teacher.  

If you have read my blog previously, you know that I always have two long-term goals right from the beginning of each semester:

--On the last day of class, I want my students to say “I never knew I could work so hard, I never knew I could learn so much, I never knew I could think so deeply, and it was actually fun.”

--On the last day of class, I want my students to say “I understand this material so well that I can solve problems without needing the teacher.”  

I think those are educational goals worth achieving.   They make people better.   However, your goals may be radically different than mine.   That is absolutely fine.   I just feel like these two goals work best for me.   You need to determine what goals work best for you.

I also have facilitating goals that I use to help the class get to my long-term goals.  

--Every day, I want my students to come to class adequately prepared based on specific assignments that I have given them previously.   If they are not prepared, I am upset with them.

--Every day, I want my students to participate by analyzing new situations I pose in class.   I want their knowledge to always be pushing into new and unknown territory.  

--Every day, I want my students to go beyond memorization to achieve a level of understanding that allows them to solve questions and problems at a deeper level.

--After class, I want my students to organize the material that has been covered that day to help them come to a more concrete level of knowledge.   I don’t want them to quit when they just have “jello knowledge” but to keep working until they have a solid understanding.   Most student leave class with a squishy level of knowledge (jello knowledge) that requires more thought, work, and organization before it is truly solid.  

Does it work?   At first, of course not.   But, that’s normal; that is no reason to give up.  If I keep pushing them and guiding them and working on their mistakes, they gradually improve.   Learning is a slow, methodical process.   My only concern is whether I can get them to my goals by the last day of the semester.   And I have a strong belief that "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins--not through strength but by perseverance."   Keep pushing and they will make it.  

Always!

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER BEST ABOUT LAST SEMESTER?

Several weeks ago, I wrote a blog entry describing my discussion each semester with my juniors about the best book that they have ever read. In the blog, I explained that I thought education needed to be more than just conveying material. It also needs to be about helping students to broaden their horizons and become better rounded members of our society. If we are just going to teach stuff, computers can probably do that better than we can.

I got quite a number of emails about that post – most were positive although some were a bit mystified as to why I would do that in an accounting class. Heck, I would do that in any class.

So, okay, let’s take this thought a step further. What is your favorite class memory of the spring semester? I assume virtually everyone who reads this post is a teacher. What is your favorite teaching memory from the spring? (If you don’t have one, you probably need to make some serious changes.)

One of my favorite memories is of a photograph (now taped to my wall) taken with a camera phone of 8 freshmen students at the University of Richmond who are standing in front of the stage of the Virginia Opera waving at me. Why are they there? Why are they waving at me – their accounting teacher?

Although most of my students are juniors, I do teach an Introduction to Financial Accounting class which will often have freshmen. Last spring, I got an email from a friend who had some free tickets for a performance of the Virginia Opera and wanted to know if any of my students would like to go.

If I had sent out a note to my students about free opera tickets, on a school night no less, the silence would have been deafening—probably only broken by the sound of sarcastic remarks.

Most freshmen in college have never experienced an opera. The tickets were free. I wanted some of them to go. So, I wrote an email to the introductory class and explained that I had these tickets and would gladly give them out. And, I would add two points to the grade on their second test for any student who went. I give three tests each semester and a final exam so two points on one hourly exam has virtually no impact on a student’s overall grade. But, it is a tangible reward. No matter how small, students feel like they are being paid to go.

Believe it or not, a total of 13 out of my 30 students asked for tickets and went to the opera that night. Many of them came back the next day to tell me about the experience. I have not been to many operas (but I’ve seen enough to have a favorite - Tosca).  However, I could, at least, talk about the opera a little.

Is accounting where we should teach opera? That’s a ridiculous question. But I do not believe that any class should be limited to teaching just material. Computers can do that. Classes should also be about helping people learn how to live and experience.

And one serious key to achieving that goal is to offer a reward. Even if the reward is terribly small, it seems to jump start the students. And, that’s what I wanted.
Let me give you a second example that has worked for me for years. I teach juniors in Intermediate Accounting II. That course is terribly hard and very challenging. For many years, I have offered those students five bonus points on their final exam (a bit more reward than for the opera but still not much) to go out and do things in Richmond. If a college is in a city, I believe students should take advantage of that opportunity. Over the years, I estimate that 95 percent of the students in that class have taken advantage of the offer and gotten all five points. They’ve left campus and done something interesting – for a mere five bonus points on the final exam.

What do they have to do to get those five points? Here is what I tell them (highly edited):

“It is always sad for me to see students live here for four years and miss out on some of the most interesting aspects of the area. Your college experience should be about more than campus (and off-campus bars).  Therefore, to encourage you to get out and about, I will add one point to your final examination grade for each of the following activities that you do between now and the date of the final exam. However, I’m only willing to give you up to five extra points. Here is a list of what you can do to add points:

"---Visit Maymont Park and walk down to the Japanese Gardens. Walk around the pond. If it is turned on, stand under the waterfall (well, make sure it is summer for that). Truly one of the most beautiful and serene places in all of Richmond.

---Go to the Westhampton Theatre near campus and see a good movie. After you go to the big modern theatres, it is hard to believe that a movie theatre could have real antiques in the lobby. Plus, it has the most intellectual movies in town (by far). If you’ve never seen a great foreign movie, here’s the place to start.

---Visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Check out the Faberge Eggs and the 19th century Impressionist. Always neat to see a real Van Gogh or Renoir. They have a wonderful collection of American art as well as art of India and you can also see a statue of Caligula from about 2,000 years ago. Amuse is the restaurant there (third floor) and it is quite nice – excellent place to take your parents and impress them with your savoir faire.

---Visit Agecroft Hall. This is a 500 year old manor house that was taken apart in England piece by piece and rebuilt on the banks of the James River by a tobacco millionaire about 80 years ago.

---See a movie at the Byrd Theatre, especially when they are scheduled to play the mighty Wurlitzer. The movies are nowhere near as interesting as those at the Westhampton but the experience is marvelous. You feel like Al Capone is probably sitting nearby in the audience.

---Go to St. John’s Church on Church Hill and see a reenactment of Patrick Henry’s call for liberty speech. I never have enough students do this one. It is a genuine touch of US history.

---See a play put on by Richmond Shakespeare. There is something about seeing a few people put on an entire Shakespeare play that is great. Or, if you are really adventuresome, drive 90 minutes up into the mountains to Staunton and see a play at the American Shakespeare Theatre. The plays and the theatre there are fabulous.

---Go to the Poe Museum and learn about one of Richmond’s favorite sons. Yeah, I know he is buried in Baltimore but he spent most of his life wandering the streets of Richmond.

---Have a sub at the best deli in Richmond (and possibly the world). It is Bernie’s on Forest Avenue. Where else can you go where you are absolutely the only person in the room who has not already eaten there 1,000 times?

---Cross the Huguenot Bridge and take River Road toward town for a mile until you get to the Pony Pasture. Park your car in the lot and climb out onto the rocks of the James River. “Peaceful” doesn’t even begin to describe the experience.

---Go to the Virginia Historical Society and visit their exhibits. Richmond is nothing if it is not about history.

---Go downtown and visit the Museum of the Confederacy and the White House of the Confederacy. How could you stay in Richmond for four years and not do that?

---Head over toward the Richmond Airport and visit the Richmond Aviation Museum. It is not the Smithsonian but they do have a nice group of fascinating planes.

---Check out Hollywood Cemetery. Yes, visit a cemetery – it is one of the loveliest and most interesting places in Richmond. If the office is open, get a map to locate all the famous dead people. Park your car and just stroll around. It’s a place where you really need to walk. Take a date, walk around, hold hands, watch for ghosts, look at the statues.

---Go over to Willow Lawn Shopping Center – go around to the back and there is the Barksdale Theatre. Live theatre is always fun and at the Barksdale, you are only five rows or less from the stage.

---Go to the Science Museum and wander through their exhibits or watch a movie in the Imax Theater. Okay, a lot of places have Imax but the Science Museum is built in the old Richmond train station and when you walk in the front door, it has the feel of Grand Central Station.

---Drive a few miles south of Richmond and visit Berkeley Plantation, supposedly the home of the first official Thanksgiving.

---Go to the Carpenter Theatre at Center Stage and see an opera by the Virginia Opera. This fall they are doing The Pearl Fishers and Die Fiedermaus. Yeah, I know you are an accounting major and couldn’t possibly appreciate opera but that’s what I thought when I was your age and now I wonder how I could have been so ignorant. How do you know if you never try? Don’t take too much pride in being a hillbilly.

---Drive to Petersburg and see The Crater. If you read the book or saw the movie “Cold Mountain,” you know that the Northern army tried to blow up a huge part of the Southern Army by tunneling up under their line and setting off a gigantic store of dynamite. Well, the hole (actually 1/3 of the hole) is still there. It is just a hole but it has been there for nearly 150 years and it really gives you a genuine feel for the Civil War.

---On 14th Street downtown, you can take a boat ride through some of the canals built hundreds of years ago to get cargo around the rocks in the James River. This is a really fun thing to do on a nice afternoon. Your parents would love it. When you finish, enjoy the Canal Walk.

---Spend an afternoon in Williamsburg (or Jamestown or Yorktown) and finish with dinner in one of the taverns (try the King’s Arms if you can get in – they all require reservations well in advance).

---Take a walk through Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Most of the year, it is filled with hundreds of thousands of flowering plants.

---Visit the Monumental Church. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall raised the funds to build the church after a horrific fire on December 26, 1811. The fire killed 72 people, including the governor of Virginia. The bodies were burned so terribly that they are all buried together. John Marshall raised the funds and had the church completed by 1814.

---A short bike ride from campus is the Wilton House Museum, a James River Plantation house. Built around 1753, it was the centerpiece of a 2,000 acre tobacco plantation. It was here that the family entertained George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

---Visit the Richmond zoo. Okay, it is a bit of a drive and it is in the middle of nowhere but how often do you get to see a white tiger or feed a giraffe.

On the Other Side of the Desk

Occasionally, someone will ask me to give them my number one piece of advice for becoming a better teacher. Teaching is such a complex art that I really think that is close to impossible. However, I do think there is one thing that every teacher (and I do mean every teacher) should do that will help them immediately to become a better teacher. Can you believe it? I’m almost guaranteeing you success with just one piece of advice.

Every teacher should get a reality check by enrolling as a student each year in a class in something about which they have no real knowledge. In other words, they should walk around to the other side of the desk and put themselves into the student role just as a reminder of how it feels to be the struggling one. I don’t mean for a history teacher to take another history class. There’s no benefit. I don’t mean for an English teacher to take a class in poetry. I mean for a history teacher or an English teacher to take a class in quantum mechanics.

Two weeks ago, I started a class in tai chi. For those of you who do not know, tai chi is a moving meditation.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that my teacher is patient.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that my teacher is willing to answer even the dumbest question.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that my teacher always repeats the movements slowly until we all catch on.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that my teacher is a kind person and a very good teacher.

I am not athletic. I have never had a good sense of body awareness. For me, this class is a real challenge.

The teacher will make a small movement that looks ever so easy when he does it. He does it without any strain or thought. Then, I’ll try to make that same slight movement and just cannot get it right. Suddenly, his simple has become my complex.

He doesn’t make fun of me. He doesn’t roll his eyes at me. He doesn’t imply that I’m a loser. He doesn’t call on a better student to show me up. He doesn’t become frustrated or impatient. He gently takes my hands in his and he moves them for me to show me what I am supposed to be doing. And, sure enough, when he leads me through it enough times, I can do it. And, I have this wonderful sense that I have managed to accomplish something. I’m excited and ready to learn more. I always leave the room feeling better than when I walked in. But, really it was the teacher who had the success more than me.

I believe that there should be a law that every teacher has to take one class each year that is out of that person’s comfort zone. I think the quality of teaching in our world would automatically get better if we all did that.

We all get so settled into the teacher role that we really lose track of what it is like to be the student. It is awfully hard to be a great teacher if you don’t understand what it feels like to be a student.

Okay, there it is -- there's your one piece of advice.   You can take it or leave it.   However, don't ignore the advice and then tell me that you want to become a better teacher.  

This is not new advice from me.   A few years back I wrote a teaching tips book and in one of those essays I talked about my habit of taking classes just to remind myself of what students experience in my classes. Here’s what I said at that time.

“Recently, I took a class on large-format cameras. Five of us were enrolled. This group took photographs for one entire day. I worked to replicate every step demonstrated by the teacher. The film was developed overnight so that we could discuss the results. On the following day, the teacher started class by saying, ‘Four of the film packs came out great but, for one, every picture was blank.’ It was my pictures that had been ruined; I felt so dumb.

“The following week, I taught my own classes with more patience and care. Many students face such heavy frustrations almost every day; their confidence is shaken constantly. Understanding the student perspective can help as you organize a class. How long has it been since you took a course, especially one where your knowledge and ability were strictly limited? Occasionally, feeling lost is a good position for a teacher.”

We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us

My department chair (Darrell Walden) sent out the following link to an article from The Washington Post. You may have to register to read it but it is well worth your time. (If the link doesn’t work, just go to www.washingtonpost.com and search for “Is college too easy” as of May 21, 2012.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/is-college-too-easy-as-study-time-falls-debate-rises/2012/05/21/gIQAp7uUgU_story.html

Darrell summarizes the story quite well in just a few words. “Over the past half-century, the amount of time college students actually study — read, write and otherwise prepare for class — has dwindled from 24 hours a week to about 15, survey data show. And that invites a question: Has college become too easy?”

As I travel around the country talking about teaching, I very frequently hear faculty members complain that “college students are not like they used to be.” My feeling (after 41 years in this job) has always been that college students really do not change much over time. However, as this article pretty well documents, what we ask our students to do to get a good grade has become less and less demanding. For many students, college is barely a part-time job. The students have not changed but a college education has.

Two words say it all: grade inflation.

If you don't demand much, don't be surprised when students give you exactly that much.  

I have even heard the speculation that the heavy student drinking that is prevalent on so many college campuses today is partially a result of the boredom that comes from being under challenged.

Okay, I have lived long enough to already know the response to my rant here.
---Polls will tell you that most people believe public education is falling apart nationally but that their own local school does a pretty good job.
---Polls will also tell you (at least I’ve been told this) that most people will argue that Congress is completely incompetent but their own member of Congress does a pretty decent job.

So, my guess is that a lot of college faculty members are going to read The Washington Post and respond “Yes, most students don’t work very hard these days but my class is the exception. If every class was as difficult as mine, college education would be much better.”

Hmm, that always reminds me of Lake Wobegon where all the children are above average.

Is the problem that our students are lazy or is the problem that we do not push our students enough?

Either way, are we willing to allow our students to "earn" a college degree with so much less work?

I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

Just a quick reminder (because I know adoption decisions for the fall semester are being made as I write), if you would like to receive a copy of the second edition of my Financial Accounting textbook (written with C. J. Skender of UNC and published by Flat World Knowledge) which just came off the press a few weeks ago, all you need do is send a note to faculty@flatworldknowledge.com.  Okay, I’m biased but I honestly believe you will get the best textbook on the market AND your students will each save $100 to $200. In these days and times, those are two very good reasons to give it a look.   (If you are interested, drop me a note at Jhoyle@richmond.edu and I'll send you a survey we did of all the students using the first edition just to see how they liked the book.)

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I have written this type of blog entry before over the years BUT last night at 9:47 was my very favorite time of the entire semester by far. Right before I entered my final grades for the semester into the university's computer system, I sent the following email out to 15 students (9 in Intermediate Accounting II and 6 in Introduction to Financial Accounting). I had pushed these young people unmercifully the entire semester. People just don’t like to be dragged out of their comfort zone and I had pulled and pushed them daily to be prepared and to think and to work.

Consequently, I really wanted them to know how proud I was of them.

I know they will get a formal report of some type that will show the grade of A. But, somehow that just doesn’t seem to be an adequate amount of recognition. I want them to feel very special.

I often think that the reason we don’t get as much outstanding work as we want from our students is that we don’t acknowledge personally those people who actually do outstanding work.  Why work so hard if no one is going to notice?

Here’s what I wrote last night. I really would urge you to consider doing something similar. It might seem corny to you but I bet that it won’t seem corny to the students. (I cannot tell you how many students have written back to me over the years to tell me how much they cried when they got my note about them making an A. I obviously don’t set out to make anyone cry but it does indicate how special the recognition of their hard work can be to a young student. I often say that the world would be much more efficient and effective if we all gave out a lot more pats on the back.)

**

May 1, 2012

Congratulations!!!

I am sending this note to the nine students who earned the grade of A this semester in Intermediate Accounting II. We started the semester with 52 students but we only had nine (17.3 percent) who earned the grade of A. And, you did – congratulations!! I very much appreciate the effort that it took to excel in such a challenging class. From the first day to the last, we pushed through some terribly complicated material. We never let up, not for one day. And, you did the work that was necessary. You didn’t let the challenge overwhelm you. I am so very proud of you and pleased for you. More importantly, you should be proud of yourself. I sincerely believe that all 52 of those students who started back in January had the ability to make an A. But you nine made it happen. In life, success comes from more than ability. It comes from taking on real challenges and investing the time necessary to make good things happen. I occasionally get frustrated that more students don’t set out to truly excel. However, I cannot say that about you.

As I am sure you know (or remember), I always ask the students who make an A in my class to write a short paragraph (well, write a short paragraph directed to next fall’s students) and explain how you did it. I find this is important. You nine understood what I wanted you to do and you did it. So many students never catch on to what my goals are. It is always helpful (I believe) when the A students one semester tell the students before the next semester “Listen, everyone can make an A in this class but you really have to do certain things.” What are those things?

I only ask two things: be serious and tell the truth. There's really nothing more that I can ask of you.

And, write that paragraph for me before you forget.

Have a great summer. Work hard, learn a lot, see the world, experience great things. There is plenty of time to be a boring adult after you graduate. Open your mind and pour as much into it as you can over the summer.

Congratulations again. It has been a genuine pleasure to have had the chance to work with you.

JH

A Story For My Students -- Learning to Deal with the Unexpected

There are many times in teaching that a teacher needs to explain things to students. In many college classes, they are young people with limited experience. Occasionally, they simply don’t understand, especially when things are not as they have experienced them in the past. Part of my job as a teacher is to explain things beyond my subject matter.

There are stories that can sometimes help them come to a better understanding. I often have students come to my office after I return a test. They are upset that they didn’t make the grade they had wanted or expected. It is common for me to hear something like “I cannot tell you how hard I studied. In fact, I studied with Mr. A and Ms. B and I knew just as much as they did. We worked every question from class 8 times apiece. Yet, they made a 95 and I made an 83. What am I supposed to do?”

I guess this is on my mind because one of my students told me this afternoon that the 83 he got on a recent test was the first grade he had received in college under 98.

To the student, the facts are clear. He or she did the same work as Mr. A and Ms. B and they made significantly higher scores on the test. At this point, the world doesn’t make sense.

Here’s one story that I sometimes use in cases like this. “Assume you have two tightrope walkers. They both can walk a tightrope. It is a mechanical skill and they both can do it. But, for whatever reason, the first person is just more comfortable. Maybe, the first one practices more carefully. Maybe, the first one thinks more about the mechanics of tightrope walking. Maybe, the first one sits in his room at night and thinks of what odd things can happen and then dreams up a proper response. Or, maybe, tightrope walking just comes more naturally to the first person. Everyone has different abilities in life.

“So, both people are high up on the tightrope one afternoon and they both look great. Suddenly, a very unexpected and very harsh wind blows up. What happens?”

The student realizes the expected answer. “The first person hangs on and the second person falls off.”

And, my response is: “Yeah, exactly. As long as things go as expected, they both do fine. It is the ability to react to the unexpected that usually makes a difference in life between great and adequate and the same is true on tests.

“My guess is that if I had asked exactly the questions on that test that you expected, then Mr. A, Ms. B, and you would have all done great. Doing great when you are faced with the expected is not a big challenge.

“However, I want you to learn how to react to the unexpected. To me, that’s what will make you different out there in the real world. I suspect that you were not as well prepared for the unexpected as I wanted you to be. That is where you probably need to get better in the future. First, of course, you have to be able to do the expected. That goes without saying. Everyone knows that. But, then, if you really want to be great, you need to move on to the unexpected. You need to sit in a dark room (or you need to converse with Mr. A and Ms. B) and think about what unexpected things could happen on the test. If you never grow to the point where you can start dealing with the unexpected, then you are never going to flourish the way I want you to. And, you are capable of doing this. I’m not asking for the impossible. You can’t just be satisfied with being able to do the expected. It takes growth; it takes time. But you are capable.”

Does the story help the student? Sometimes, it does. Not always but certainly for some it makes sense and it pushes them to break through to a more in-depth understanding. I think too much of our school system (from kindergarten on) is geared toward teaching students how to face the expected. That’s fine and certainly necessary. But I don’t think any of our students are going to cure the ills of our world by limiting themselves to figuring out how to face the expected.

If they don’t catch on by themselves, sometimes a story can help.