A very serious thread about your educational experience (pls help)

[Prix with a Silent X]

So some of you might know that I'm doing education-related study. I wanted to know if any of you might share specific methods that your teachers used with you that really helped you or made an impression. If you were a person who loved school, this is probably pretty easy because you probably had good teachers. If you don't or didn't like school, anything that made your experience a little less awful that you could share would be good, too.

If you can remember the name your teacher used for specific activities that is sort of education jargon-y that would be neat so I can look up stuff to source, too. (Example: I had no idea what a KWL chart was, but it's a thing that I could google and find a source I can cite about.)

I'm talking about methods of teaching, particular formats of lesson, activities you did that helped you learn. This could be for any grade level, but especially late middle, early high school is what I'm interested in.

Anyway I don't know if anyone feels like contributing, but if you want to that would be nice. I really what to know stuff that worked for people, and it would help me out in the near future.

[just Beamu]

Huh. Well, the only thing I can recall from high school that was particularly helpful compared to the rest was when the teachers were more casual with the students. Seemed to help most people if they could remember the information as being part of a conversation. High school was kinda easy in general for me so I'm probably mostly useless for this, sorry I can't really contribute more.

[Zurvan]

What beamu said pretty much applies to me as well. I cared more about the teachers that I was more friendly with/were more casual with their students at times, people are more relaxed in such an environment and with that it's likely they'll absorb more. Being passionate about what you teach also helps I think, two of my previously mentioned teachers had stories or fun facts about their subjects that they worked in the subject matter and was also relevant. You could tell they enjoyed what they were teaching.
Then again I also had a sarcastic grumpy English teacher that most of my class enjoyed simply because of her ramblings and funny way of swearing.

[Rafflesiac]

Montessori is Good Civilization.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Montessori is Good Civilization.

I looked this up and some of these methods are being incorporated into the classroom quite commonly now. I'm taking a SPED class right now, and it sounds decently familiar. Working as a sub, I also saw stations being used a lot. I also worked in one school that has mixed-age classrooms, but they can really only do anything but Related Arts with actual mixed class groups prior to third grade because of the rigorous standards for test preparation that happen after that. This particular school used to to do K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 all mixed together in specific ways, but now they have to limit everything past K-1. When they first built that school, some people from Japan came to see it for some reason. It was in the local news. Idek. It's a nice school.

If anyone else sees this thread, what I'm looking for more specifically is: Is there a specific example of a lesson you remember? Things like "My teacher used guided/fill-in-the-blank notes." "My teacher used small group/round table discussion." "My teacher used foldable organizers." They might sound like gimmicks in your recall, but this kind of thing does stick with some people, and that's what I'm looking for. Specific examples of stuff you liked.

[Seika]

Memorise things. Get tested on them. Memorise more things. Get tested on them too. Memorise everything. Get tested on everything.

[just Beamu]

It was just that for me honestly

[black1blade]

I like teachers that are lax to an extent and respect their students but also expect them to do work. Especially for exams, teachers that do their best to inform us of what is on mark schemes so we know exactly what to put on questions are great too. My bio and chem teachers are both like that but my phys teacher not so much. In the mocks for the additional science exams (which I haven't properly started revising for yet) I got A in chem and bio and B in phys so I think that's indicative of what sort of teaching style works for me. I'm also really grateful to the maths teacher I've had for the past 4 years as he selected me to be in the fast track even though I wasn't necessarily getting the highest scores in tests, he could see that I had potential which made me feel good about myself and I tried really hard to do my best at maths.

[GundamFSN]

If anything, the teacher that left an impression to me the most was the one who used his working experience of said subject as a teaching guideline, but even while doing so he still stayed faithful toward the materials that need to be taught to us. He doesn't like it if we just memorize stuff for exams. The main key to pass his exam was to pay attention and understand his lecture and answers the questions from there.

Theories are not always applicable in practice, but they do serve as a guide despite the expectation, is what he likes to say.

Another teacher was, she'd pay full attention to her students whether when she was teaching or giving us exercises. Common things that she likes to do is walking around the class checking if each student is doing their exercise properly or not. She's quick to point out the mistake that a student made and offers a resolution to it. I'd dare say that she went as far as trying to understand each of her student's shortcomings.

My school provides powerpoint slides that is used for teaching the courses, but they don't use them. Though the female teacher always bring a notebook with her. Judging from the yellowing of the book,which looked like it was beaten up by time, it seemed that it was the same note from her schoolyears.

Having a clear voice and an easygoing personality also helped a lot btw.

[palad1n]

Well, I've always disliked maths since as long as I can remember, and it only worsened as I entered high school all those years ago. My math grades for second and third year were awful (waaaay below passing score) because I nearly didn't care anymore, but I distinctly remember that I managed to get a pass in my first year. This is thanks to my teacher, widely feared in the school as the "strictest, scariest teacher you don't want to mess with" in a school where discipline and order is actually pretty good, for always asking the students to practice.

She'd give an exercise, give a time limit, then ask students to come forward and answer it. Those who volunteer and answer correctly get extra marks for tests, and if there are enough volunteers then the rest of the class is safe. Of course if there aren't enough volunteers (and this happens a lot) she'll start to randomly choose students to answer, and students chosen this way would always be asked about their answer (are you sure about that? why do you answer this way instead of that way? do you missed any workings or formulas?) even if it's correct. Of course the volunteers get asked too, but they're only asked if they're wrong. And anyone who answered wrongly are then chided or lightly mocked before she corrected it.

As they say, practice makes perfect. No one is safe in the class, and sooner or later it is guaranteed that you will get chosen, so I started to do exercises even though I hate it. And for someone like me, who never practice or exercise even for exams, this method is a lifesaver, because if there is something I hated more than math t is being embarrassed in front of the class. I even got some extra points to help my test scores along the way, so yeah. Even though other students dislikes her, I'm thankful.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Memorise things. Get tested on them. Memorise more things. Get tested on them too. Memorise everything. Get tested on everything.

This is exactly the kind of thing they're refusing to let us do anymore. Teacher-led class alone is to be no more.

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Thanks for this feedback! The latter teacher's method especially is what I've been taught so far.

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This is really good feedback for what I'm asking about. This kind of student engagement is sometimes implemented in a way that makes teachers seem harsh, but group assistance and group accountability is important in the way we're supposed to do instruction now.

[just Beamu]

I recall my school focused far too much on memorizing what would be on a test more than actual broad and in depth knowledge of the subject. With the exception of one teacher for US History who was probably the best teacher I ever had.

[eddyak]

The most important thing is the one done the least, in my experience: You need your damned tests back. You need to know how well you did, you need to know exactly what you got wrong and why, and what you got right by accident and why. Exams are basically worthless unless you know exactly why you got the marks you did.

[Mattias]

Probably won't help much, but one of my favourite teachers from High School literally gave no shits. He was retiring at the end of the year, and first day of class had a "any grievance which would go to the board would take a six month investigation, where I would be on paid leave, followed by a three month deliberation, also paid, by which time I'm out the door anyways, so I really don't give a fuck about what offends you." It was probably my favourite English class of all high school, even lacking the normal shakespere (He said he'd been hearing little kids not give a damn about old english for decades and just didn't want to pretend to care that year). I think it was his relaxed demeanor that bleed into the rest of the class.

One of my middle school math teachers (also towards the end of his career) was a prankster. Used to have a old brick in his classroom on his desk which he would slam down on the desk of people not paying attention while he was doing a lesson. And right nest to it he had a foam brick he's throw at people who were talking while we supposed to be doing silent work. Or he's do both while tests were going on. Really dissolved any tension in the classroom when the entire class breaks out laughing when the yappy kid dives out of his chair to avoid a foam toy.

[Prix with a Silent X]

Those honestly sound like unethical teaching practices that would get me fired on day one even if I didn't care about being an effective educator if I'm going to be one at all, which I do. I think that students who feel they are being acknowledged or considered in the classroom do well, but I am not asking for information about how to be a "cool teacher" who doesn't give a fuck. It isn't cool at all to not care whether students are educated or not. Still, thanks for sharing the anecdote.

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The most important thing is the one done the least, in my experience: You need your damned tests back. You need to know how well you did, you need to know exactly what you got wrong and why, and what you got right by accident and why. Exams are basically worthless unless you know exactly why you got the marks you did.

Yeah. We are learning about rubrics, and when I have helped family members or other students with their homework, having a rubric to refer to has been really helpful.

[Janx]

I had 2 teachers in highschool that really combined being relaxed, being knowledgeable on their subject, and making it fun.

The history teacher wasn't really big on dates, he was more on ideas. How cultures behaved, how they worked, what they believed in. He'd go on random tangents that while technically off-topic, were still history and fascinating. The guy knew his stuff, and he was eager to share. Had a bit of an unhealthy obsession with how much blue there was in the movie Spartacus though.

My physics teacher wasn't quite as...ranty, but he was also a sci-fi fan. So while he'd be teaching you physics he'd also talk about how things are portrayed in stories and how accurate/inaccurate they are, which helped created a great context. He also had the best scenarios which tended to involve doing things to seals and orphans.

[Prix with a Silent X]

You had me until that last sentence.

[just Beamu]

That last sentence can't be good

[Mattias]

Those honestly sound like unethical teaching practices that would get me fired on day one even if I didn't care about being an effective educator if I'm going to be one at all, which I do. I think that students who feel they are being acknowledged or considered in the classroom do well, but I am not asking for information about how to be a "cool teacher" who doesn't give a fuck. It isn't cool at all to not care whether students are educated or not. Still, thanks for sharing the anecdote.

Looking back I'm kinda astonished they got away with that kind of stuff. The early aughts were a different time. Also my middle school was a shithole, being the english students in a french emersion school means you don't get the most attention, or best teachers.

[just Beamu]

My school had a problem with teachers that just straight up preached to the class and tried to have prayer in the classroom. One teacher in particular in high school would show us Christian videos at the end of the week for half the second semester and would actually ask if anybody wanted to leave the room while she did so. I never spoke up because it was so very uncomfortable and awkward and would likely have led to much staring and whispers given the general attitude of most at my old high school.