1 / 5

Who has the problem?

Who has the problem?. “what really annoys me ” “this is terrible ” “It's not what you want to hear” “there is a disturbingly large proportion of students” “busy bending over backwards and dealing with the difficult cases ”

isolde
Download Presentation

Who has the problem?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Who has the problem? “what really annoys me” “this is terrible” “It's not what you wantto hear” “there is a disturbinglylarge proportion of students” “busy bending over backwards and dealing with the difficult cases” “nothing very positive” “it’s a problem of quality” “it's just as well I'm retiring [soon] because I think my patience might break down” "They don't understand fractions, so when it comes to algebraic manipulation, it's not second nature and you can see them struggling." "..by the time people have come to us from school, they already have it absolutely ingrained in them that coursework is for marks. They don't get a mark, they don't do it. Okay, this is terrible. But if we don't mark coursework we know they wouldn't do it and so they wouldn't learn." "A-level mentality… is preparing for exams, learning methods, when you see this sort of question this is the way you should answer it and train, train, train…" "What really annoys me is that students don't use mathematical language and they use equals signs with gay abandon" “Some of them are very good, but..." "most schools seem to provide… a fairly instrumentalist algorithmic approach to almost everything" "They've been brought up with an exam culture of course at school, it's very test test test test."

  2. It’s not their fault... We • sought them out • invited them to apply • recruited them They • jumped the hoops • got the A-levels • didn’t design the curriculum It’s not even (completely) true... • They are diverse • Different interests, attitudes, abilities, aspirations • Many fascinated, motivated, hardworking, able • A tiny minority will follow a similar route to us

  3. It’s not the students who are strange... University lecturers were not typical students even at the time they were students... We liked our subject, worked adequately if not hard, and also perhaps had a style of learning that was atypical. Understanding what we were doing, finding out for ourselves, checking our results, as well as having a natural bent for mathematics, were likely to be our characteristics.... We probably most like teaching those who are interested and make an effort... John Appleby and William Cox, 2002

  4. Most staff work hard to help, but... • “I thought you learnt this at A-level” • “you need to go and look this up” • “in my day” • We sigh. We shrug. We take a deep intake or breath • We digress to explain very quickly • We feel disheartened Do students leave with a better understanding, and a sense of your disapproval at their shortcomings?

  5. Course ethos starts with our attitudes • Complaining about student failings is like complaining about the weather • Unless you’re going to leave, there really is no point • There is no paradise lost - we were always the exceptions • If they have “failings”, whose job is it to correct them? • Respect the students we have • Students as partners “How often do we tell them that, actually, they’re really rather good?”

More Related