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Do teachers really count? Somehow an ingrained message delivered by a seemingly insidious teacher can consign both the teacher and the message to immortality. At least one such experience has been useful for my forty years of experience.
I could not believe I had signed up for a second class from this instructor. The first one left me nearly brain-dead. In that first one-- Kinesiology, I had to memorize the origin and insertion of every muscle in the body. The frightful curmudgeon whom everyone called "The Doctor", demanded not only to know origin and insertion points but to trace the sequences of stress on the bone surfaces when muscles were used in a simple (or complex) activity. Did you ever have to list every point of stress on every bone surface used when doing something like running to the mailbox, stopping to throw a rock, and returning to sit in a chair? Well I did. I must have been insane to tackle a second class under this instructor, but it was one of those situations where I needed that specific class for my accelerated graduation, and no one else taught it that semester. The class was small; only eight others dared face this old football coach who constantly barked and growled at his students in his demands of excellence.
This second class was termed Tests and Measurements. The first day Wolfman Fang began by announcing that the class would learn to measure things such as agility, coordination, and strength. "Yeah, right! This term we will learn to build a machine to calculate pounds of pressure in a hand squeeze," I sneaked under my breath to my neighbor. I nearly lost my place in the class that very day as the growling monster hovered directly over me. "Simple Tools, simple tools, simple tools," came the retort. Wolfman had it in for me from that day on.
Now many years later, I am grateful for both the message of "Simple tools for measurements", and a monster--well, really an instructor-- who demanded excellence. Let me share how "Simple tools for measurements" works.
For several summers, I have worked in a special Ricks program called College Skills Seminar. CSS is a condensed, very concentrated, program helping to preserve Ricks' open door policy by providing a way for students with problems to be considered for admission through assistance in solving the problem. The problem may be as simple as a foul up in paper work when making application such as neglect to get and ACT score on time, or it may be an actual deficiency in skills implied by a lower GPA earned because of sickness, accident, family emergencies, or learning disability. Since the mission at Ricks is twofold, spiritual and academic, students whose spiritual assessments are high in spite of the academic deficiencies can qualify to study under CSS Ricks professionals five weeks on a probationary status earning minimum credits. For the students who do well, the door swings open for a fall semester, but for those who do not, the door swings shut at the end of the five-week training. This criterion invites a very wide range of attitudes. One candidate may have a very high self esteem because the reason for the low GPA could be too much time in extra curricula activities before the personal emergency, while another may have a very low self-esteem and GPA because of a failed math class when a personality conflict existed with the teacher. Students with learning disabilities saturate the vacancies in this program, and of course learning difficulties leave all degrees of self confidence but mostly insecurity toward academics. Every session includes a class clown who survived high school by jokes and popularity but realizes skills should be reinforced before trying college. This broad audience requires a first day miracle, for it is on the first day that the instructor must exert a complete and flawless compilation of first impressions connecting prerequisite scores to body language and outgoing appearances as well as social skills to academic performance--for fifty students. That first day the teacher must conclude who to praise, who to control, who to assign as class leader, and to whom to assign extra tutor help. What a tremendous responsibility! I thought I needed Merlin's help to master such a feat, but the answer came in . . . yes, a "Simple tool of measurement", Wolfgang's message to the rescue.
My tool works like this. I listed the things to be taught in the course and handed the student what I called an inventory sheet. The inventory begins by requesting the student contribute distinguishing characteristics, past experiences, or acknowledge learning disabilities to help the teacher connect a name to an identity. The second half of the inventory contained categories with the following instructions. "Mark the categories below with a plus or minus sign. The plus sign means you are strong in the area; the minus sign means you are weak." These categories were then listed since I was the writing instructor: spelling, vocabulary, grammar, paragraphing, sentence structure, staying on topic, titles, introductions, controlling ideas, summaries, organizing information, adding details, creating interest, matching audience, writing confidence, research writing.
Once the data per student was gathered, I counted the number of minuses and logged them beside the ACT score, and GPA. (Question marks or no marks were counted as minuses.) The profile created by the scores became an indicator of who and what type of support help was needed based on confidence level and work habits. The data could be completed the very first day of class. Here is an example:
Student #A ACT 16 – GPA 3.22 – Negatives 14 = hard worker with low confidence. = #1 Student #B ACT 17 – GPA 2.25 – Negatives 5 = lazy with high confidence. = #2 Student #C ACT 18 – GPA 3.35 – Negatives 6 = hard worker and high confidence. = #3 Student #D ACT 16 – GPA 2.22 – Negatives 13 = lazy and low confidence. = #4 The #1s were assigned to the tutors for constant praise and encouragement. The #2s were put on my list for constant pressure to demand good performance. The #3s were given reigns to govern themselves. The #4s were put on both the tutor list for praise and my list for pressure.After my two tutors and I had become personally acquainted with the students, we compared notes as to the successfulness of our initial way of determining correct support help for each student. The consensus was that we were tuned in perfectly. In every case, our simple ability assessment tool had revealed those needing praise, pressure, additional instruction, or to be left alone. What a simple tool for magic insight!
I have used other equally simple tools for various classroom insight. For example, when wondering how fluent an international student is, I combine three things. First, I strike up an informal discussion asking about things back home to see if the student can slip into past tense comfortably. Second, I watch to see if the student takes notes in the native language or English. Third, I observe if the student smiles at any idiomatic usage or humor used in the classroom. If the student does well in these three simple tests, I don't worry about the performance in my classroom, but if the profile reveals a weakness in any one of the three, I immediately saturate the student with language support help. Using simple ability assessment tool has produced a high success rate with international students in my writing class.
These simple--but effective--ability assessment tools have helped to produce excellence in my work for many years. Mr. Wolfman Fang, your model to demand excellence lives on in my teaching as does your image of hovering over me reciting "Simple tools." I suppose this makes both the message and you immortal. Though it seems an eternity since I dared venture into your classroom, I am still feeling the difference of what you put into my profession. Yes, in a very profound way, a teacher counts.