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I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you. The ego needs to be bruised in order to deflate the head of the youngster so learning can begin. I too ha

by brc 17y ago

I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you. The ego needs to be bruised in order to deflate the head of the youngster so learning can begin. I too had my ego bruised and spirits crushed by hard-marking, discipline demanding examiners. In each case, they're the only the ones I remember. All the wishy-washy as-long-as-you-tried ones are as forgotten as they were useless to my learning. Half the battle in teaching young people is making them realise the scope of the things they don't know, so they can appreciate how far they have to travel. Call me old-school, but I don't see how you can do this without brusing a few egos and crushing a few spirits. It's precisely the ego that says 'this is good enough, I'll submit that'.

sophacles 17y ago
If only I had known 10 years ago what I would claim ignorance of today...
trjordan 17y ago
I suppose I should have been more clear. There's a difference between drowning a paper in red ink and words like "trainwreck" and actually showing error. More bluntly, yelling at a student for being stupid and showing a student where they made their errors are entirely different, and I would argue that the second is much more effective. To my point above, the vindictive teachers were not necessarily the most insightful, and they were not the ones who deflated my ego. The comments that hurt were the terse ones that showed both that they clearly understood what I was trying to say, and that I was wrong. Pointing out a logical inconsistency in my argument in a polite way is a much less abrasive and much more effective way of teaching. Perhaps I should say that a students ego often gets in the way of producing increasingly better work, but being a dick to them isn't always the answer.
- brc 16y ago
  >Perhaps I should say that a students ego often gets in the way of producing increasingly better work, but being a dick to them isn't always the answer. And I would agree with you there. As long as the point is driven home that the work is below par, and the reasons why, without any fancy wrapping or ego-massaging. Being direct without being a dick, though there are plenty of people who don't know how to do one without being the other. I'm still appreciative to a Grade 8 maths teacher who humiliated me in front of the class for slacking off during the semester and letting grades slip. Because I sure worked hard to prove him wrong next time. I don't know if there would have been any other way to get through to me at that time.

by brc 17y ago

sophacles 17y ago

If only I had known 10 years ago what I would claim ignorance of today...

trjordan 17y ago

I suppose I should have been more clear. There's a difference between drowning a paper in red ink and words like "trainwreck" and actually showing error. More bluntly, yelling at a student for being stupid and showing a student where they made their errors are entirely different, and I would argue that the second is much more effective. To my point above, the vindictive teachers were not necessarily the most insightful, and they were not the ones who deflated my ego. The comments that hurt were the terse ones that showed both that they clearly understood what I was trying to say, and that I was wrong. Pointing out a logical inconsistency in my argument in a polite way is a much less abrasive and much more effective way of teaching. Perhaps I should say that a students ego often gets in the way of producing increasingly better work, but being a dick to them isn't always the answer.

brc 16y ago
>Perhaps I should say that a students ego often gets in the way of producing increasingly better work, but being a dick to them isn't always the answer. And I would agree with you there. As long as the point is driven home that the work is below par, and the reasons why, without any fancy wrapping or ego-massaging. Being direct without being a dick, though there are plenty of people who don't know how to do one without being the other. I'm still appreciative to a Grade 8 maths teacher who humiliated me in front of the class for slacking off during the semester and letting grades slip. Because I sure worked hard to prove him wrong next time. I don't know if there would have been any other way to get through to me at that time.