I Am a Better Judge

Sorry for not posting for a week or so.  We were on break at Purdue so it was time to hang out at home and reflect on my life and career.  Upon reflection, it struck me that I am a better judge of student performance than I ever was before in my career.  Quite a revelation really because I see thinks differently now when reflecting on my teaching and its impact on student learning.  I see things that students do for what they are -- not what I had hoped or prayed they would be based on my teaching -- and judge accordingly with little or no emotion.  It does not mean I care less about the students or the quality of my teaching or my commitment to the craft, it just means I am becoming a seasoned teaching professional! 

I remember back in 1989 when first starting to evaluate student performance as a novice teacher.  I would anguish over each and every grade, given to each and every student, in each and every class, on each and every assignment especially when grades fell below a B.  One reason for my anguish was that I was an A student all through college -- well except that one accounting course -- and worked as hard as I could to set the curve or make an A in all my classes and wondered if my students had the same approach to their studies.  It would have been the "end of the world" for me to get a B when I was a student and would not want to have that impact on my students due perhaps to my bad teaching (although bad teachers never got in the way of me making the A).  I have since learned that not all students feel the same way.

I was unsure of myself when first teaching and wondered how anything and everyting I did impacted student performance. I wondered if the grades earned by students were a reflection of the quality of my teaching and not that of the student's desire to learn the materials.  I also wondered if I had picked the right text to help students learn the course materials?  Did I say the right thing, at the right time to explain the course materials so the students would comprehend the day's lesson?  Was I giving good feedback?  Was it timely?  Was I too abstract or too concrete?  Should I wear a tie or dress casually?  Should I show up early to class or get there just in time to commence teaching.  Did I tell too many jokes or anecdotes or not enough?  Did I need office hours?  Was I approachable?  Was I too casual or too strict?  I wondered about these things and many, many more over the years as to their impact on student peformance.

But not now!

I am a better judge of student peformance today.  In fact, I know it without even being conscious of how I know it, which must have evolved gradually over time while assessing and evaluating the performance of literally thousands of students over the past 20 years.  I have indeed learned how to behave as a professor for the students that attend our program at Purdue.  I am more aware then ever before about the way to plan, direct, organize and control a given class based on the description and objectives of the course.  Hands down, I am a better judge of student performance today than at any time in my career.  It is a part of me and I am a part of it with little or no need to second guess myself on the effect my teaching may or may not have on student performance.  I know it.

So today, if you are able, reach out to a novice teacher in your program.  Invite them to coffee and empathize with them a little bit and see if you can assist them on their journey to find their comfort and competency as a quality teacher and judge of student performance.  I am sure they have their misgivings about their teaching and its impact on student peformance -- if they give a damn -- and could use a bit of mentoring and assurance that their day will come when they can separate who they are from what they do and assess or evaluate student peformance for what it is and then help get it to where it needs to be before the class comes to a close -- if that is indeed the desire of the student(s), too. 

See you next week in Charlotte at the FELC Summit!