What the “A” students hear: “Multiply by r-squared then subtract the distance formula from X.”
What the students learning this for the first time hear: “fheuiy3r2yr938yreiuhfiushX”
A student’s job in school is to pay attention and learn. But what if the teacher is the one making that task difficult? Sure, it’s easy to blame a lack of attention but what about the teachers who don’t even make a slight effort to help you understand the subject matter better?
Some teachers assume that if the majority of the kids get the material, they’re doing a good job teaching it. However, there is always that handful of kids who are completely lost. Why is this? That teacher isn’t teaching those kids. They’re not going over it twenty times to ensure that every student understands, and they’re certainly not taking the time to go over every question. They teach to the kids who get it.
No, it’s not completely fair to the kids who understand the material the first time around to have to listen to the teacher’s lecture ten times. But if having to sit through a review of yesterday’s lesson is helping someone get a better grade in the long run, isn’t it worth the little inconvenience?
Sure, it’s easier to only have to teach the subject once. A teacher is responsible for teaching the same thing to a bunch of other classes too. They don’t want to go over the material more than they have to. But their job as a teacher is to make sure their students understand their lessons. Not just half the class or the majority of the class, but every single student.
Yes, a lot of the time students are lazy and don’t do their work or don’t study, but being lazy is not the same thing as being completely confused every time the teacher speaks.
But how do you tell the difference between a student who doesn’t care and a student who doesn’t get it? The truth is you can’t. But if you teach the material well enough and don’t skip over the questions and needs of the kids who don’t get it, you won’t have to worry about the latter existing.
There is no worse feeling for a student than sitting in a class, furiously scribbling notes and hearing gibberish while the rest of the class understands. It’s like everyone else is speaking a different language that you couldn’t learn if you wanted to.
Yeah, most of the kids are fluent in this language, but teachers need to take the time to teach it to the students who are not. Getting a bad grade because you’re not being taught properly is worse than getting a bad grade because you haven’t studied.
graphic illustration by Camilla Ou
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