Story Time

Thirty-five juniors and seniors in a tiny chemistry classroom, and not one of us wanted to be there. We were sent into this class because of a change in curriculum and we all needed another science. Needless to say we were not exactly thrilled to have a brand new teacher whom to us seemed like a mid life crisis career change. 

This man was exactly what you do not want your students to see: extremely nervous to speak to any of us directly, nervous about being in front of the classroom, and an obvious lack of control. I feel bad for him now. I don’t know whether it was the fact that he was so nervous he couldn’t keep his head straight, or he really didn’t know the material he was supposed to be teaching, but to us it seemed like he had no idea what he was doing as a teacher or a chemist.

We had absolutely no respect for the man. As an entire class we talked over him, evaded his discipline, and took full advantage of a period to goof off. I mean all thirty five of us. Looking back, the teacher (lets call him Mr. Doe), should have asked the other faculty for help- he lost control of that class on day one and never regained it. The dean coming in and sitting through a class or two could possibly have straightened it all out, but that didn’t happen. It got worse and worse.

Also, bear in mind that I did participate in goofing off, but I did care about my grades. I learned the material and did all the homework for everything we covered. I knew what I was doing when test day came.

Test day did not go well. Mr. Doe passed out a five page, one hundred and fifty question midterm covering the first half of the book- where we should have been if the class was orderly and all the material had been covered. In horror the realization swept over me that we had only covered half of the material, and I was only prepared for what we covered. I’m not sure if he created the test out of malice, or if he just took a test from the Internet and gave it to us- but it was impossible based on what we had covered. 

Being one of the ones that was well prepared for a midterm, I got a D-,  one of seven passing grades.

This was not a good experience; it ended with the teacher leaving on medical leave after the first quarter (I’m sure it had to be stress related). I don’t believe he ever taught again.  For better or worse there were no real repercussions for the students in the class.   The root of this whole problem was communication. The teacher did not teach us, or did we learn from him because there was a communication barrier that he couldn’t break through. It wouldn’t have taken much- a cool activity or help from another faculty member would have done wonders.  This test we took did not test us on why, how, or involve us as students. It was a horrible situation for both teachers and students, and is a great example of what not to do when it comes to teaching or testing. Do not ever test out of malice, and for the love of god, ask for help. When a classroom is as out of control as this one, something needs to happen. Ask the dean, ask the principle, ask everyone for help. If no one will help you,  find a new school.

Maybe it’s from this experience, or maybe it’s true for all students- but the worst thing a teacher can do, is betray their students trust by testing them on things that have not been covered. It goes deeper than the five domains- it digs down into where the students keep their respect; students’ respect is what keeps us in front of the classroom, and what keeps our sanity in-tact. Hold onto it, cherish it, and nurture it and then apply it for greater learning.