Winston Lin
Different classes often create different learning environments.
Every year, a few days before the first classes, new conversations about the school year to come are in full swing. In particular, everyone asks these key questions: what teachers did you get? And how is mine compared to the others?
While every teacher can and should have their own approach to the classroom, this split can be jarring at times. And while injecting one’s own personality or unique spin on a class adds to the diversity of classes, these differences can be as far-reaching as to fundamentally change the approach to the core curriculum that is trying to be taught.
These differences are made clear in a few areas: summer reading, for example. Some teachers choose to spend extensive time on it, treating it on the level of one of the other core texts of the course. There might even be some form of accompanying essay, among other things. But to other teachers, the summer reading is an afterthought — something that makes sure that students don’t completely forget about English, history or whatever subject is in question. Effectively, some of these courses, especially ones in English, have a very different approach to the first couple weeks. But other changes can last beyond the start of the year.
Some teachers teach an entirely different kind of class – one year, it goes from in-class discussion to a lecture-based one, or one year, the old way you used to be quizzed on vocabulary is now actually completely different. Maybe the way you used to annotate books would get you a C in your new class. There could be that “harder” teacher, where the class you get into could have a significant impact on the grade you’d get for the same effort. And while some difference is both inevitable and acceptable, no one should have to feel that whether they get an A or B could be up to the luck of the draw.
This paradigm means that one student’s experience with the “same” class can be wildly different than another, potentially down to every single nook and cranny of grading and the classes themselves.
While there are multiple valid teaching styles, these differences can leave students confused and scrambling to try and “figure out” their teacher as opposed to keeping their focus on what is actually being taught.
And instead of extracting long-lasting habits about how to approach a subject, they may constantly be jumping between different ways to enable themselves to get the grade they want. This situation will often leave students anxious to get a specific teacher, or to have to learn a new kind of class. It’s clear that’s not the best way to go about things, especially when at a school of pretty like-minded and extremely well-qualified faculty.
The silver lining to this dilemma is that, for students, it allows them to preview and try out different kinds of teaching and see what works best for them. Admittedly, high school is an important time to learn what types of classes work and what don’t. But at the same time, these differences could be just within each individual class, cycling through different teaching styles to see what works best for students, as opposed to students having an entire year of one style and then having to rapidly adjust to a new one in just a few weeks of the new year.
Allowing teachers some flexibility to teach how they want also lets them inject unique personal aspects into their classes that they are uniquely qualified or motivated to teach, like Dr. Steg with philosophy. These allow different classes to have appreciable differences that end up blending together into a diverse and well-rounded education that plays to the strengths of each teacher’s abilities.
So, while the school should continue to promote diversity of thought and innovation in teaching, there needs to be some higher-level conversations about how teachers can avoid the disjointed situation where students often constantly switch up their in-class strategies. Maybe this involves each department deciding to fundamentally nail down more core tenets of how they want to teach and not just a vague guideline of which concepts should be covered. And there would have to be some assurance that these expectations would be met and not just ignored.
Academic departments should also find ways to take in more student input so that they can align curricula and class organization not only with what teachers think is right, but what works best for students. But as of right now, these decisions largely seem to be opaque and behind closed doors, even as well-intentioned as they may be. Reaching out to students about what they want to see and making clear what changes they can expect will go a long way in helping us prepare, understand what’s new and have confidence in the year ahead.
The school could also try to lean into the different methods students themselves prefer, so that those who prefer a specific teaching style can learn from a teacher that matches it. But these decisions remain more about luck and how schedules happen to come together.
Either way, any of these changes would have a significant impact on how well students can form expectations for their learning. They won’t have to worry as much about getting a specific teacher or specific type of class. Between building trust and confidence in students and also allowing departments to better standardize their curriculum, the benefits will extend to both sides of the classroom. Reflective departments that accept student input would also make sure that outcomes are as good as possible and that the classroom experience is constantly innovating and reflecting the way students are best prepared to learn.