Having been a teacher throughout my career and having taught all ages from small children to senior adults, I suddenly realized the possible partiality to which I just may have subjected my students for many years. Although no teacher means to judge students on the basis of their appearance, it is probably an inevitable consequence of living in a visually oriented society.
Ideally a teacher should by virtue of his or her calling simply teach the subject matter to which he has been assigned regardless of the people in the class. A first grade teacher is asked to teach all the students to read and to grasp fundamental math concepts, and the high school teacher may be asked to teach literature or history. The subject matter becomes the focal point and the delivery is professional, thorough, and objective. But in fact, is it?
How many times have we responded to the individuals in front of us? How often do we unfairly judge the student with excessive tattoos or unkempt clothing or bad hair or drawn appearance? How many times have we catered to the extroverted student on the front row with her hand in the air on every question? Research says humans tend to react to tall people quicker than short people. Do teachers do the same thing? I believe so.
What kind of teaching style would we have if we brought no preconceived ideas of what good students should look like? Would we present the information differently? Would our style be more encompassing and perhaps reach more people by being impartial and universal?
I have the opportunity to find out as I teach my first online course. In the chat room I do not know who is tall, short, ugly, pretty, well-groomed, unkempt, well-dressed, mean, nice, interested, or dull. I get the opportunity to assume all are eager, intelligent, mannerly, prepared, and presentable. In other words, I get the opportunity to teach the subject and the students can learn without fear of any partiality or judgment.
The grade is determined through objectivity and participation in on-line discussions. I am anticipating the next few weeks of impartial teaching and educational delivery. This is a new frontier for me. A land of adventure and I relish the opportunity to explore and discover the joys of online teaching.
2 comments:
I can see that online teaching is an opportunistic time for objective criteria in teaching; however, in the college teacher education program, we have a tendency to look at students as future teachers in the public or private schools which is what the students have declared at the time they entered the program. There are many variables other than content learning that are important as a teacher, such as appearance, attitude, work ethic, the ability to speak in front of others, presence of mind, and many others. How can these variables be addressed in online learning, or are they even necessary? Food for thought.
But I wonder...
How would you respond to a student who was a poor typer or speller?
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