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Teachers, Listen to Us!
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| Former-Teacher | Date: Saturday, 05.03.2011, 10:54 | Message # 16 |
 Dean
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| Can you create a list of qualities for a university teacher?
I would like to test and assess myself. Meanwhile, more and more students are lazy and uneducated. In a wider perspective, that's one of the reasons why the goverment decided to cut public spendings on education and create a two-level university education - four years for the mojority and two years for the most seeking. The second step will be to completely get rid of state-funded university education.
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| lovefootball) | Date: Saturday, 05.03.2011, 19:17 | Message # 17 |
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| Do you think such measures are necessary? And is it teachers' fault? Well, I'm not sure I have some definite opinion concerning university teachers. A lot depends on the general impression , I mean the behaviour pattern, style,speech, age and so on.
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| Nekavaen | Date: Monday, 07.03.2011, 23:53 | Message # 18 |
 Head teacher
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| I suppose a university teacher should… Be:
tolerant, kind, creative, shrewd, uninhibited, energetic. Know:
the target subject and psychology. Be ready to:
use modern technologies;
spend precious hours of his/her life on producing self-made lesson plans of high quality;
admit that students are also people and have both duties and rights as well;
prefer verbal evaluation to numeral marks;
give students enough time for doing home tasks. Avoid:
mockery, curses, open discussions of the students’ results without their permission.
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
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| lovefootball) | Date: Tuesday, 08.03.2011, 17:31 | Message # 19 |
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Dean
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| I guess, a person who possesses all these characteristic features will "go like hot cakes" in any profession)))) Still, why are you against marks? You think they are subjective, humiliating and groundless? But verbal evaluation isn't enough, it can only stimulate but not discipline or establish any standard, I think.
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| Nekavaen | Date: Wednesday, 09.03.2011, 09:36 | Message # 20 |
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Head teacher
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| I’m sure nobody and nothing can make a person work if he or she doesn’t want to do it. Marks don’t contribute to discipline: lazy students and hooligans pay no attention to them. On the contrary, grinds worry only about these numbers and when a teacher gives them “4” instead of “5”, they think their life is ended and nobody will respect them any more. Despair, tears, hysterics… I know one thing for sure: if marks can’t be done away with, we should create and test a new system of evaluating the knowledge of our pupils. I vote for privacy first. I think it’s a great problem that the results of every test are discussed all the time and teachers praise those who were successful and name out loud the names of those who failed. Even the results of all exams at our Uni are hung on the wall so that everybody could see them. What for, I wonder? Maybe, it would be better to send the results to a person by e-mail so that only a teacher and a student knew them. I know my opinion is very subjective but I can’t keep silent now. I hate marks. For me they are connected with great stress, shame and envy.
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
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| lovefootball) | Date: Wednesday, 09.03.2011, 21:26 | Message # 21 |
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Dean
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| Maybe, it's a fear of being underestimated? I can't agree with you fully but I guess I understand you. The point is that very often the original sense and role of marks are corrupted, especially at school, where the bad mark is a sort of verdict, that presupposes "trial" at home, endless grinding and some punishment. Still, I tend to think that it depends on a family, I was never blamed for marks, my parents always held to the opinion that the main things are efforts and knowledge.
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| MissJane | Date: Thursday, 10.03.2011, 09:31 | Message # 22 |
 Union organizer
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| Well, I think marks and grades are simply "inanimate", they don't show anything - just a commonly accepted level of knowledge/skills that a student is supposed to acquire to get this particular mark. But you know, sometimes verbal evaluation can do even greater harm and cause even more serious stress than all these 'numbers'. Words mean more than we sometimes think of them. If you are easily offended, then words can be of bad service to you. So it's all individual.
And I believe that nowadays it's not a problem to get verbal assessment. Just come to your teacher and ask him/her to tell you about your progress in detail. It's hardly possible you'll be refused.
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| lovefootball) | Date: Thursday, 10.03.2011, 20:43 | Message # 23 |
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Dean
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| Agree but unfortunately it's often done by parents but not their children, that's why a lot of teachers have the image of a tyrant or a spitfire) By the way, do you think there should be any difference between marks at school and at the Uni? Is it enough for students to be treated with ordinary grades or do we need something...I don't know, more profound?
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| Nekavaen | Date: Sunday, 13.03.2011, 22:50 | Message # 24 |
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Head teacher
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| I think we don’t need any grades at the Uni. The stipend is rather small and there isn’t a big difference between the amount of money a straight 5 student gets and the amount that’s available for a person who has one or two 4-s. When you graduate and come to a job interview, nobody cares: “Is your diploma red or blue?” Miss Jane is absolutely right: words matter more than numbers. I suppose I personally dislike numeral grades because they are “silent”. Teachers often give them and don’t explain why they decided to use this or that mark to evaluate the answer. But when the estimation is verbal and oral, teachers are likely to explain in detail what particular problems a pupil has or what he succeeded in. I know wise teachers always make the students aware of the origins of their grades. I wish we could get verbal and anonymous evaluation. Yes, it would be nice to come to teachers and get tete-a-tete consultations about our progress. Added (13.03.2011, 22:50)
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I hate it when teachers say that next time there will be a difficult test and with a kind smile assure the students that it will include only those things that have been studied at the lessons. Then it turns out that the test consists of tasks that can’t be fulfilled with the knowledge we’ve acquired. You look through all lesson plans and spend the whole night reviewing definitions and rules to come and see that it was all in vain. I agree that study should develop our brains and breed our feelings and unusual and unexpected tasks in which students face new ways of work and discover something themselves are a must in this process. Let’s do it at ordinary lessons! But what’s the use of including confusing tasks based on information, we haven’t discussed at all or just “touched” when talking, into assessment works?
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
Message edited by Nekavaen - Monday, 14.03.2011, 18:29 |
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| Former-Teacher | Date: Monday, 14.03.2011, 09:42 | Message # 25 |
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Dean
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| I wish more netters were participating in this discussing  Only Nikavaen has listed the qualities a university teacher should possess. Lovefootball), can you make up such a list? MissJane, can you?
Some of the thoughts and insights give rise to a new debate - To be or not to be a good teacher! This is a new thread.
Well, why not? It might turn out to be a fruitful debate.
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| Nekavaen | Date: Thursday, 24.03.2011, 10:21 | Message # 26 |
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Head teacher
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| I am always irritated when a teacher (of foreign languages) forces the students to watch his or her favorite movie and then doesn’t accept criticism. I always say what I think and get hauled over the coals for that. It’s so stupid to claim your interlocutor doesn’t understand art just because several movie scenes that move you to tears don’t touch him or her at all.
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
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| lovefootball) | Date: Thursday, 24.03.2011, 20:51 | Message # 27 |
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Dean
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| Well, I think a university teacher should
-treat students as ordinary people who have the right to make mistakes and have their personal environment,which is (!) inviolable;
- show his respect and tolerance to students' self-expression (without any sarcasm!);
- possess a grain of indifference, I mean be tough-skinned because his work is connected with estimation, critic, lies, reproach and gossip on the part of students and colleagues.
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| MissJane | Date: Friday, 01.04.2011, 20:39 | Message # 28 |
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Union organizer
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| I can't but agree with everything that has been said above but basically any good teacher (whether a university or a school one) can be characterized by several very primitive statements:
* a good teacher wants to teach;
* a good teacher makes pupils understand and accept that he/she is a teacher;
* a good teacher doesn't work for money only.
These are the underlying principles of teaching as a profession. To my mind, all the other qualities derive from this frame.
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| lovefootball) | Date: Saturday, 02.04.2011, 18:39 | Message # 29 |
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Dean
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| That's true. And as for money, it just can't be the main motivation because of salaries. My teacher usually says that she works for her own pleasure. Of course, it's only a joke but as we know many a true word is spoken in jest...) I think the second point from your list requires a lot of efforts and skill. Unfortunately, some teachers, especially young ones, aren't held in respect. Whose fault is it? Is it a teacher who simply can't form contacts with students? Or young people are too conceited and ill-mannered?
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| Nekavaen | Date: Sunday, 03.04.2011, 10:26 | Message # 30 |
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Head teacher
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| I support two ideas that are very important, from my point of view. Firstly, the way people treat us doesn’t depend mostly on our age. If we have knowledge and skills – we can do our job well at any age, and colleagues and students will respect us. I study at the Japanese department and almost all teachers I meet at the lessons haven’t yet reached the age of 25. And we have NO problems with the discipline. Secondly, there are two approaches to defining the age of a human – biological and psychological or spiritual. The passport may say “She’s already 60” but the person will be active like if she were 17. No wonder, she is able to build trusting relationships and create an atmosphere of free communication at the lessons. And there are those who have just graduated but have an “old soul and mind”, if we can say so. The lessons are boring and students are afraid or just don’t want to speak openly about what they feel. In such a case, the cause for possible students’ misbehavior is the unwillingness of a teacher to do his or her job properly. It’s extremely hard to achieve ideal pedagogical harmony when working with mentally challenged children or juvenile criminals. But I think if your students are ordinary learners, it’s always possible to find an approach to them and organize the educational process in the way that will be advantageous for all its participants.
It is not human to be without shame and without desire. (Ursula K. Le Guin)
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