This is My Personal Teaching Philosophy
Pete said he would eat an ant and write an essay about it if it would give him a good grade.
In fact, all he seemed to care about was getting an A.
“Well, which one do you think I should do?”
“Think of your audience. You’re writing to college students. I want you to decide.”
“Well, which one would get me a better grade?”
He said this with a smile. And I smiled back, but it was just my mouth. My eyes were in a different mood.
The truth is, either one would get him a good grade if he wrote it well. What won’t get him a good grade—and this is what’s so ironic—is focusing on the grade. Trying to write an A paper is making the wrong thing the goal—putting the wrong thing as top priority. C. S. Lewis said something along these same lines: If all you care about is being loved, you’ll never really reach that goal. But if you make loving others your goal, you’ll be loved in return as part of the deal. As long as Pete only cares about getting an A, he’s not going to be a great writer, and it makes it less likely that he’ll get an A. But when he starts to care about the writing, he’ll have a good shot at both.
Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the Starship Enterprise said, “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.” I’m no Trekkie, but I think it’s a good line.
For all three big papers this semester, Pete chose topics that he thought would be pleasing to me. He’s tried to find topics that were academic, and he’s tried to guess what my interests were. I’ve got to give him credit for trying to tailor the message to the audience (the actual audience, not the imaginary one). But the result was that they weren’t all that interesting to him. So (worst case), he ends up with a grade he doesn’t like and three papers he doesn’t like—papers he doesn’t even want to share with anyone he knows because he thinks they’re boring. Best case is that he gets an A on his transcript—a little character on a piece of paper. And that’s it. Aside from that—empty handed.
Pete has locked himself into a no-win scenario.
Now I’ve picked a bad example here. Students, this is what not to do. Pete is an extreme example of the concept. But I’ve noticed the same tendency in most of my students. And it’s something I struggle with myself.
I care a lot about good writing. And as a teacher, I rate writing by the grades I give out. But the grades aren’t the end. Writing is important too, but it’s not the end either.
So here’s my advice: Try to find value in every lecture and assignment. This may mean asking your professor to let you customize the assignment to your interests and future. But it may also mean changing your own mindset—it may mean learning to see the value in something that you at first thought was boring.
Whatever you do, make sure your work has meaning beyond the day you take the final.
You have to find your own greater good. It’s something bigger than an essay. And it’s something way more important than a grade. Maybe you don’t know what it is yet. Maybe your goal for now can be to find that bigger thing in life. But finding that thing is how you beat the no-win scenario.
Three More Things
Here are three more ideals that I hope you’ll help me employ in our classroom:
In psychology, mirroring refers to how people mimic each other—so someone smiles and you smile back, or you make sure your mood isn’t too gleeful when you see your friend is frowning. Essentially, it’s picking up cues on how to act by observing those around you. We’ll practice mirroring in our classroom but in a slightly different way. Instead of mirroring each other, we’ll be mirroring the professionals (and heroes) that we want to become like. As Steve Jobs said, “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” So for each assignment, we’ll be finding models to emulate.
We’ll also be giving and receiving peer feedback on every assignment. Hearing praise is easy. But hearing about your weaknesses can be hard. Throughout the semester, we’ll practice how to accept criticism graciously, and, more importantly, how to give criticism in a kind and helpful way.
When I was an English undergrad, I learned a lot from being a writing tutor. In fact, I think I learned more as a tutor than I did in my actual writing classes. Now, as a graduate instructor, I find myself learning from grading paper after paper. Recently, during one round of grading, I realized I was gaining a sharper eye for good writing. And suddenly it hit me: I—the teacher—was hogging the most valuable learning experience. Since then, I’ve noticed that this is the case in many classrooms. But it shouldn’t be that way. In our class, you, the students, will take back these most-valuable learning experiences. You’ll critique each other. You’ll define your own problems and goals for the class. You’ll organize the curriculum. You’ll motivate your peers. And in doing this, you’ll be having more-valuable learning experiences.
