5 Things Teachers Do That Students Hate
by Guy E. White on 22 September, 2014
Are you guilty of any of these student peeves? You probably are.
Every year, I ask my students for feedback about my course, my curriculum, and my teaching. It’s a guided process that involves a questionnaire. My favorite question on the survey is “What do you wish all/most teachers would stop doing?” Here’s what I usually hear.
Over the years, I’ve been able to peruse thousands of student binders. What is clear to me is that not one teacher has a similar “system” to his or her class when compared with another. What results is a maze of “to-dos” and “how-tos” that is quite dizzying to students.
They are confused, asking, “How do I submit an assignment to the teacher?” “What type of writing instrument is required?” “Where do I have to write the assignment or assignment number?” The list goes on and on.
Here are some top student peeves that I have gathered throughout the country over the last ten years:
1. Assigning and Not Collecting
Even with the best planning, teaching can sometimes be off the cuff. We get inspired, we assign something, and we got lost in other matters and forget to collect the item. Students end up with a pile of papers for their class in their binders and have no idea what to do with them.
Worse yet, these represent hours of work that are unaccounted for in the grade book.
2. Slow Feedback, Slow Grading
It can sometimes take months for a student’s work to be graded and returned with feedback. In the meantime, students have little idea how they are performing and have to make educated guesses about their performance based upon class work.
As a rule of thumb, if a grading period (every six weeks, in most districts) passes without an assignment being graded, it should probably not be counted in the student’s grade. It’s ancient history.
3. Rigid Views on Technology/Phones
What once required a trip to the library can now happen on a student’s desk via his or her phone. Yet, so many educators take a rigid position on phone use. If you complain that there are not enough computers on campus, but also don’t let your students access their phones for certain assignments, there is a disconnect.
Phones have a time and place and it’s great to teach students how to self-regulate that. In my classroom, phones are part of most “define, describe” portions of each lesson. Also, phones are great for sharing out reflection if students are Twitter- or Instagram-enabled. Do you have a class hashtag?
4. No Assignment List/Useless Syllabus
Students want a concise 1-2 page list of all assignments that they have in your class. They want this so they know what’s expected of them. This is especially handy when a students is absent: they know exactly what they need to do while they are gone. Without this, they have to ask you what assignments they missed. Isn’t that a pain?
5. Unrelatable or Unapproachable
Students want teachers that are human beings. They love to hear stories, learn your sense of humor, and understand what makes you tick. When one holds these human parts of them back from their students, only a shell of the educator remains – and it’s hard to love a shell.
Dare to make connections to students by asking them what they want from you. What do you do in your classroom to make your work with students more productive and connective?
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