I have a confession; I want to be nice. Why does it seem like I can't be nice (and likable) and help students learn at the same time?
I can't seem to maintain standards and be nice all at once. I don't know how it's done. It seems like the only way to be a "nice" professor is to loosen standards, or get rid of them all together.
I discussed this with a colleague last semester, and he admitted to me that while his students like him, he wishes he were more like me. When I asked what he meant, he said that he wishes he could be a little tougher on them. Well, I wish I could be nicer, like him, but I still think standards are more important.
So how do you balance being nice and holding students to standards? Are there things you're willing to back down on (due dates, for example)? Do you just smile a lot? Do you even care about being nice?
Maybe it's the pressure of not yet having tenure that has me feeling this way. Did you stop caring about being nice or likable once tenure was granted?
Are you funny? Self-deprecating (to a point)? Students seem to like us better when we are human beings in front of them. Taboo subjects: sex and politics. I don't keep up with a lot of the current pop culture (I don't have cable TV and with 2 kids I don't have time anyway) so that gives them a chance to know more than I do about something...
ReplyDeleteI was teaching in Major Metro area years ago when I started class by asking about a video I'd seen--"All About the Benjamins". I was perplexed because I didn't remember what a Benjamin was--and my students gleefully told me. I laughed and spun it around: "I'm a teacher--when's the last time you think I saw a $100 bill?" They laughed, and we got underway.
I have standards (students get a rubric that tells them A, B, C, D work) and I stick to them. I repeatedly tell them that if they need help, to come to my office hours--even if they never show up, my doing that increases their perception that I'm available.
Of course, some students will never like you. I get a few of those every semester--the ones who don't get my sense of humor and wait to fill out the evals with malice aforethought. The nice thing is, they're outliers.
Whatever you do, for the love of all that is good and right in the world, DON'T RELAX YOUR STANDARDS!!! Students don't like pushovers any more than they like hardasses. You'll find your balance.
Funny really does help if you're tough. But if you can't be tough and funny, be tough and unfunny. They don't have to like you to learn.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little easier for me, as I'm in mathematics. The handful of students who abuse due dates, and miss tests, just fail anyway.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, students react favorably to teachers who they perceive as being fair, organized, and clear about expectations. I've known plenty of teachers who demand a very high level of academic rigor, but are perceived as "nice" by the students. Chrome is right: niceness has little to do with standards.
ReplyDeleteMy students generally think I'm "nice", whatever that means to them. And let me tell you, I picked "Surly" for my screen name for a reason. I am not naturally a ray of sunshine, and I've made an effort over the years to think about the way I come across to students, who can be very prickly and sensitive about how they are treated by teachers.
I pay attention to my moods and make sure I don't bring my own crankiness about outside stuff into the classroom or into meetings with students.
Humor is my default initial response to student idiocy. If Jack Ass gets up and walks across the front of the room to throw out a piece of trash, I playfully mock him rather than give him the death stare or a public reprimand. Then, privately after class, I ask him to "do me a favor" and not walk around during class, because it's disruptive. Scolding, even when it's perfectly justified, just gets their hackles up and isn't usually productive. Don't get me wrong, I'll go to DEFCON 5 if I have to, but generally they respond pretty well to a light touch and an explanation.
I also make an effort to talk to them before and after class just casually. If they have a book from another class out on their desk, I ask them about how they like it, etc. You never know what you'll learn, and it helps build a rapport that's especially important in a class involving group discussion.
If there's something I can joke about, I bring it up if I feel like it. Faking a comedy routine that's not really in your character, though, will be seen for the sham that it is.
I also go out of my way to explain the reason that the work they're doing in my class is important for them. This helps get more "buy-in" from them and generally leads to better attitudes and less friction.
Anyway, that's my input, from someone who has grappled with the same issue as Mesto. I hope it's useful.
Students like teachers who give high grades and offer little homework.
ReplyDeleteStudents respect teachers who challenge them.
Students love teachers who act in a way that reveals they need to be loved.
I may be wrong.
I don't get close enough to my students to find out whether they like me or not. I try to make sure that there are elements of the lecture classes that are entertaining as well as informative, because I think they'll learn more that way.
ReplyDeleteI worry about people who care too much if their students like them. They aren't here to like us or be our friends. We aren't here to be their buddies. We, and they, should find our friends among our peers.
As a math prof, it becomes somewhat clear cut as to the determination of a students' grasp of the material. The rubric falls into four categories: 1) the student does not demonstrate any concept of the material; 2) limited conceptual understanding; 3) substantial understanding; 4) mastery of the material.
ReplyDeleteI taught a class last semester in logic and set theory. Part of the grade was homework. I assigned, collected and graded every homework set and tested the students on the material covered in the homework. After the first three HW sets, the students realized that I was actually looking at their work and grading accordingly. They commented that this was the first time this happened-they could not understand why I was doing it. I had a very simple answer-you learn this material by doing it. They thought I would put a smiley face or a star on the paper and give them credit and I told them there was no way that would happen. As it turned out, once they understood where I was coming from, they acted accordingly and started to take the course seriously (most students sign up for this course just to satisfy a degree requirement in a community college) and performed much better when they realized they would be held accountable.
I believe that we get what we are willing to, as instructors, willing to accept. Once the student realizes this, if they have any interest in passing the course, will act accordingly, attending classes and doing the work.
As a student, I find that nice professors are, well...nice. On the other hand, the professors who are a little sarcastic sometimes inspire me to work harder, "just to show them."
ReplyDeleteI'm enough along in years to genuinely not give a flying fuck whether some 20-year-old with his pants on the ground thinks I'm "nice." It's a very comfortable position to take. I encourage you to try it out. Someone here a while back said something like, "This isn't summer camp, I'm not your friend." I rather liked that.
ReplyDeleteMy evals are good, I get a proper bell curve every time I teach, so I figure I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I only remember the handful of really sharp students, and occasionally exchange a few friendly words with them, the rest just fade into the past, and I'm sure they don't remember me 10 minutes after they get their final grade, so really, whether they think I"m nice or not doesn't matter a bit down the road.
I don't relax my standards, but I thoroughly explain and justify my assignments, grading rubrics, etc. I give ample opportunities for questions and treat students' concerns and ideas seriously.
ReplyDeleteI give students input (or, at least, apparent input) where I can, such as agreement on how many questions we'll have on our pop quizzes. I feel it helps them have a sense of control over their course experience.
I have a stated penalty for late assignments, though I don't think I've ever applied it. As long as a student comes to me in advance to tell me about a problem, I'm usually flexible with time. I'd rather have students get the experience of creating good work, frankly, even if it takes them extra time. I also rarely demand documentation of absences, I just ask for an explanation. (As someone who doesn't participate in the 'mainstream' medical system, I came to class ill too many times myself as a student, because I had no option to get documentation.) If someone's going to try to cheat the system by lying, she'll have to live with her conscience much longer than I'll have to deal with her in my course.
I'm also, I think, just a naturally nice, friendly person. My upbringing was in a locale known for the friendliness of its residents, and I've never full adapted to the apparent baseline life-dissatisfaction prevalent in my new home city. Besides, I also have to live with my own conscience at the end of the day, and at the end of my life -- and what's more important to our development as human beings than considerate, ethical, and loving interactions with others? (Does this sound too mushy? I believe it wholeheartedly, nonetheless.)
I don't care if they like me. Or hate me. But I usually get high evaluations, I think in part because by the time the last week of class rolls around, I have scraped off the lot that would have complained most.
ReplyDeleteWhat keeps my evaluations high is that the students may not like my policies but they understand them, and they perceive me as even-handed. They also know I am available to them and want them to succeed. But I'm not "nice".
It is the good students that always appreciate me most, because what they hate is an undisciplined classroom and teacher that doesn't have the classroom or the classwork under control. The one that cancels class and talks out of her ass a lot of the time. The one that doesn't care if half the class straggles in late and looks at facebook or texts the entire time. That doesn't care when papers are due and never turns them back anyway. That hands out candy A's and B's because she's too lazy to give them real grades.
Or more succinctly: oderint, dum metuant.
ReplyDelete