My high school and college education would be classified as very traditional. Mostly lecture-style. I always felt a great sense of accomplishment when I took classes that seemed intimidating at first, but I learned the material, mostly by memorization, then got an A in the class. High school advanced biology, in particular, required a great deal of memorization and it gave me a lot of confidence. I am never intimidated by needing to memorize anything.
I went to a very large university where it was not unusual to have 200-300 students in some of the basic courses. I was comfortable with this, and always took the responsibility to go to the instructor's office hours if I needed additional help. The instructors were leaders and the students were followers. I do think this more formal approach taught me to become more resourceful and determined about figuring questions out on my own before asking for an instructor's help. This seems to be considered painfully old-fashioned by today's standards.
Several years after graduating and moving to Albuquerque, I took a undergraduate course at UNM in a subject that interested me. About two years later, I took another undergraduate course at CNM in another field. In both classes, I was shocked at the behavior of the students. Instructors for both classes had earned doctorate degrees and were well-known and well-respected. Most importantly, they were absolutely fascinating storytellers. When they could get a word in edgewise, that is. The students dominated the class with their yakking about themselves and their thoughts and opinions. I went to office hours in both cases, and mentioned how dissapointing it was that we couldn't hear more from the instructors. Both instructors said they understood and apologized and sadly said they were expected to let the students "drive" the class.
Had so much changed in a few short years since I graduated or is this the difference between a large (conservative) midwestern university and a more liberal southwestern college? I don't know. I think today's education system does not do much to establish respect by the student for the position of teacher and therefore many teachers aren't learning to function as leaders. Effective leadership is EVERYTHING for a teacher.
its nice to hear from someone that has had an educational experience, that i feel is very different then the one i have experienced. I feel very much so that classrooms in college should, most of the time, be more discussion than lecture. This reasoning is not because i feel that teachers should not be respected, but because it seems that almost everytime i HAVE had a class that was predominantly lecture, the teacher has seemed very disinterested, like all they are doing is fulfilling their JOB requirements. They usually dont seemed dedicated and passionate about their field. Maybe they are just burnt out and have had too many classes like the ones you described above where student disrespect them and now they have just given up. But in my experience, whenever a teacher encourages discussion and is there to help a constant discussion INSTEAD of just lecture, to me, they have seemed drastically more interested and passionate about what they are teaching. It's like they really love and know so much about their field, that they truly want to hear what other people have to say, i mean, whats the fun of just listening to yourself speak for an hour?
ReplyDeleteit was nice to hear your experience in a more traditional college and i would like to discuss further with you about why that system worked for you, as it is very interesting to me as well.
If the students were engaged with the subject being taught I think that student participation is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI understand the feeling of going to a small school. I started off at a branch and then went to a main college. I liked the anonymity.
ReplyDeleteThere are reasons that we don't even know why we go through things, but eventually it turns out that it is always for the best!
Isn't it interesting how our experiences inform what we think is good and right. Clearly teaching can come in many forms. Like you, I have had many lecture classes that were engaging and interesting, but like Seth I have also sat through dry, boring lectures that meant nothing to me or my learning. I look forward to hearing more from you this semester...
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