An Honest Critique of the Student and the Teacher;

Part 2

Tavi Maas-DeSpain

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to understand the shared relationship and responsibilities between students and teachers, and what can be improved in this framework according to both parties.

This is part 2/2 of this article. Part one can be found being in the previous publication, which is available in the REACH archive. While the previous article focused on student opinions, the interviews in this instalment are from teachers in and out of TEACH NorthWest. The questions themselves and how they are presented is similar to the way they are done with the students. This will allow you (the reader) to contrast the testimonies of both teachers and students separately. 

First, what actually is the relationship between a student and a teacher? (according to the teachers)

Teachers’ opinions on what the “symbiotic” relationship is between students and teachers mirrors very closely to the students' reflection on the topic; that teachers should act as a professional mentor to students and encourage reflection and engagement with the class material. One teacher we interviewed stated that “[teachers] provide information and teach students how to sort and consider that information, how to help them critically think and take in information and how to put that into practice in their lives, how to apply that in life.” The students' responsibility in this dynamic is to be ready to take in that information and to be educated. 

How do teachers generally feel about the relationship between themselves and their students and what do they look for?

Teachers interviewed generally feel they have a good relationship with their students, and a good rapport with them. One struggle mentioned is trying to figure out how much a teacher needs to be “pushing” a student, and how to employ the expectations placed on a student, trying to find that balance of fairness and lenience. One teacher said “I try to temper high expectations with understanding and support but I'm also a human so am not always as successful as I would like. I just try to keep a growth mindset so I keep improving.”

What are some frequent criticisms that teachers have about their students?

Though teachers have mostly nice things to say when referring to their students, there is still room for improvement. One of the issues teachers can run into is feeling as though students aren’t respecting the classwork by not paying attention or just treating it as a joke. This can diminish the experience for other students, while also being demoralizing for the teacher who spent a lot of time preparing the curriculum. “Not paying attention, not giving time or energy to the lesson. I put a lot of energy and time into the things that I'm bringing to them and for them not to respect that or each other and the ones that do want to learn and do want to interact, just kind of treat it as if it's a waste of time, that's what I'm critical of,”says the teacher. Procrastination can also make teachers feel a similar way, especially if it goes without communication. One teacher wrote, “ I feel it too and I know it's not as easy as deciding not to procrastinate. You won't learn without doing and/or failing so you just need to start. There are some pretty doable things to set yourself up for success. Having a camera on in virtual classes, deciding to close Discord until you're done with school, actually having a notebook where your notes live, and having a scheduled time where you work on school. If you take time to set yourself up for success, you'll actually be able to relax instead of the constant nagging worry about not being productive,” says the teacher.

Conclusions

It's important to reflect and criticize in order to instigate change. Not to scrutinize the other or to point blame, but to work and communicate together in order to meet in the middle and gauge the best outcome for all parties. The last question we asked both parties was “What are some things you feel teachers/students could do to benefit this “symbiotic” relationship?” The most common response from both parties was mutual communication and respect. One student stated that “making sure you're taking in student feedback and making sure you're listening to what they have to say because often students have very good things to say. If you're not listening, you're missing out on a lot of knowledge. So many students have great ideas and it's just thinking about all the teachers that don't listen to students' ideas and it's like, ‘oh you could be’ and there’d be so many more good things,”says the student. Another thing students wanted to see more of was teachers who encouraged insight from the students, not just for the curriculum but also to learn from the students. One student wrote “I think that generally, teachers who see students as people with their own contributions to the subject are usually the best teachers.” they continued “everyone is different, and everyone has different ways of thinking and creating, and the value of having all these people with all their different perspectives is sometimes pretty much lost in a class.” Lastly, teachers themselves desire seeing more engagement from students and to bridge the gap more when it comes to communication with teachers and other students.. “Meet teachers and meet other students halfway at least so that they don't put it on the teachers and their peers to do everything. To come to class with eagerness and energy at least more often than not, obviously not everybody can do it all the time but to be an active participant in the process. I think that would enhance the experience and relationship.”