Spotlight by Emily

Spotlight by Emily - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

How do I make my students care enough to learn the material? I'm sure every teacher has wondered this at some point. In the years I've been attending school, I've had many professors and teachers try different methods. Some give extra credit questions so students will study more in order to get those extra points. Some give hours of homework because they have given up on making students care and hope they retain some information through repetition. Whatever the method, most educators typically try a nice approach that makes students like them. However, the best professor I've ever had used a different method. She used a method that made me dread going to class. She used public humiliation and the general fear of public speaking to our advantage, and I'm so glad for it. I'm sure that those other methods work for many students, but personally I find homework a waste of time that I rush through and extra credit doesn't really make a difference anyways. However, the knowledge that I might be called to the front of the class to explain a concept was enough motivation for me to study every little detail of my notes and even read the book.

It's a rare person who likes being made to look like an idiot in front of a class of 200 students, so this method is effective for not just me but most people. In addition to learning all of the material and getting a good grade in a difficult class, by the end of the semester I found that my fear of public speaking had completely disappeared and now I have no anxiety or reservations when giving presentations. So while the class was difficult, and in the beginning I would have given anything to drop the class, by the end of the semester I recognized what the professor was doing. Instead of lowering the bar and allowing us to skim by, she raised the bar and made us rise to it.

While it might have seemed as if she didn't care, I think her method showed more care for our education than other teaching methods that simply give a good grade for learning nothing. Therefore, I believe the best way to help me to learn is to subject my work to the critique of my peers.