This week I read
"Why Good Classes Fail" on mediatedcultures.com. It made the point
that classes can use all the proper techniques and still fail due to a lack of
enthusiasm and genuineness from the professor. We have a couple of professors
who are really big into problem based learning. They love to tell us that it is
the best way to learn. They are even passionate about the subject material, but
no one in the class is connecting. Other teachers use project based learning
(but don’t shove it in our face that they are doing it), and it works. I
personally believe the problem is in relevance and connecting with the
students. Both of the classes that these teachers have taught are in areas that
very few, if any, of the students think they will work in. I still think both
of the classes are valuable to the curriculum; however, I think the focus needs
to shift. Sorry, I know that is very vague and confusing, but I don't want to
call out the class more than I have. Basically, I think the focus needs to
shift to more current day practicability.
The other issue appears to be that the professors have failed to connect
with the students, and the professors almost always step back so that we can
solve our own problems. It is definitely valuable and necessary for students to
facilitate their own learning. If we were given all the answers that would an
issue too. However, when we get stuck and are unable to preserve they are still
unable to help us. Occasionally, they will finally explain a few classes later,
but at that point we have stopped caring
because we can no longer deal with the frustration.
This was left in the
comments of the article:
When a Teach for
America researcher “called up teachers who were making remarkable gains and
asked to visit their classrooms, he noticed he’d get a similar response from
all of them: ‘They’d say, “You’re welcome to come, but I have to warn you—I am
in the middle of just blowing up my classroom structure and changing my reading
workshop because I think it’s not working as well as it could.” When you hear
that over and over, and you don’t hear that from other teachers, you start to
form a hypothesis.’ Great teachers, he concluded, constantly reevaluate what
they are doing.” (A. Ripley, 2010, The Atlantic)
I think this summarizes the biggest problem I
am having with my class. According to previous students, they have been
teaching like this for a while, and it never works. Reflective teaching is
always important. Just because theoretically it should work does not mean
realistically it will. I also think this is an important thought to keep in
mind as an OT, especially as a new one or veteran. Sometimes, we get so caught
up in the idea that theoretically something should work or it has always worked
in the past that we forget things can be changed and they probably should be.
Reflection and constant experimentation are some of the best ways to create a
successful practice in my opinion.
(Sidenote: one of my undergraduate professors also left a comment. It's
a small world.)
