Think Ahead 10 Years. What Would Students Think of You?

Student who likes you:

Hey Mom

I had the most wonderful year learning Math 12 with the best teacher that I have ever had. He made sure that the mathematics that we were doing were relevant to our daily lives. He gave us clever stories about the mathematicians that 'roamed the earth'. And he made it fun. We didn't just do work individually in class; we did a lot of group work. We even got to make 3 dimensional models of things like cubes and 20-sided dice. I had loads of fun.

Also, he's so helpful when we're doing work because he walks around the classroom checking up on us every now and then. I find that it helps when he asks questions that lead to the answer and does not just tell me what the answer is.

Oh and his teaching style isn't always lecturing and having us do work. It's a combination of many things including video, interactive presentations, and all really cool stuff.

I really enjoyed my time in his classroom. Thanks for enrolling me into this school!

All the best

Student A

Unhappy student:

Hey Mr. Vicente

I figured that I would write you an e-mail discussing my opinion of your teaching style. In my opinion, I think that you speak too fast and cover the material inadequately. Sometimes you mumble and your jokes are never funny. You're almost never available after school because you're too busy with other school activities and I find it hard to ask for help in class. You always put me in a group with people who are smarter than me and I feel that I don't learn because they are always just doing all the work instead of me. I just wish that you would spend a little more time helping me with my difficulties.

On that note, I feel that when you ask a question, you always seem to pick on me when i look so confused. Is it that you want to humiliate me in front of my students? I don't appreciate that so much. Just give me a chance to understand whatever you say in the class before throwing me into the fire.

Sincerely

Student B

As a reply to Student A, I hope to be able to do whatever he or she mentions in the above. I think it'll be cool to have a dynamic and engaging classroom.

As a reply to Student B, I hope that whenever I single out a student, I hope that they understand that I do it so that they can accomplish something. When I put a weak student with good students together for group work, I hope that the good students teach the weak student, and hope that the good students don't do what they do to student b.