Hi all --
I have experienced the same problems of expectations in my 3+ years at
Bentley. I arrived with not-too-distant memories of being an undergrad at
Reed College, a successful graduate student and instructor in the
University of California system [Irvine], very high scores on stadardized
tests, and years of experience building my personal and intellectual
competence. Also, I have a little bit of a wild, geeky streak in my
personality, am decidedly an introvert, and was raised in a liberal/left
family where learning self-control and thinking for myself were highly
valued.
My students are, well, different than I am. They are for the most part
2nd generation college students from conservative, suburban high schools,
and mostly Catholic families. They may have good GPAs, but their SAT
scores on average are 300 points below mine. They are as a group
extremely extroverted, practical-minded, and avoid rocking the boat. As I
said to a friend once, "I switched high schools in 10th grade to get away
from people like this!"
In my 4th year, I am finally figuring out how to enjoy teaching these
kids, while still having reasonable expectations of them. Because almost
none are psychology majors, I don't worry about "coverage" in my intro
classes; rather, I work with the topics that I know my students are
curious about [children, nature-nurture issues, sexuality, etc.]. I ask
for practical, hands-on demonstration of competence rather than
identification of theories. The one thing I don't do is ask students to
recount a lot of little details, because they already know how to do that
[more or less]. My classes are relatively small [35 or less], so I can
get to know the students.
I know the validity of the Myers-Briggs tests is debated, but it has
helped me give myself a framework for working with students. I am
strongly IN [introverted/intuitive -- focused on inward things and
abstractions], whereas most of the students here are ES [extroverted/
sensing -- focused on practical things and details outside themselves]. I
have read that this dichotomy is very common between professors and
students [just think about what kinds of skills are taught and rewarded in
graduate school!]. Keeping this in mind, it's much easier for me to deal
with a student who wants to know exactly what I want on a given
assignment, or who gets frustrated with me because I rarely can tell him
or her "the answer." My students need as a lot of structure and don't
like surprises, and it's a stretch for me to meet those needs... but I
think I am finally figuring it out.
One suggestion for when a whole class does miserably on a test or
assignment: give them a second chance. I did this with my first major
assignment [an observational research project] this semester, because it
was obvious that a lot of my students hadn't realized that presenting
their data would require both attention to detail and good interpretation
and critique of what they had done. The students who redo the project
will receive the average of their old grade and their new grade for it.
Of course, it may be too late... I am "on probation" because of poor
student evaluations, and this may be my last year at Bentley. If it is,
because I don't want to move away from the Boston area, I'll likely drop
out of academia altogether. This is really frustrating for me...
------------------
Ann Muir Thomas, Ph.D. http://erebus.bentley.edu/empl/t/athomas
"The Accidental Jewess"
Bentley College, Waltham, MA
"You aren't belittled by being little. Only by acting small." --- Red
