Lets face it. Nobody likes that guy [or girl] – the one who always pipes up and corrects the teacher. Its annoying, and usually he disturbs class just to make himself look smart.
The unfortunate fact is that we should all be that guy. I realized this today as I was sitting in Math class when my teacher asked a question. I replied with what I thought was a fairly obvious and logical answer – but my teacher disagreed with me. She then went on to explain to the class the correct answer – which was the exact same method I had suggested moments before, but using confusing terminology.
After she had finished this topic, she then went on to explain about arc-overlap graphs. While constructing an example, she made a mistake. Now, I will admit that I corrected this mistake out of vindication – but to my surprise she was quite happy that I corrected her – and she began to praise me for my “sharp eyeâ€.
It was at this point I remembered; at the beginning of the term, she openly called for students to correct mistakes like this. The reason being, that if the mistake was not caught students who were taking notes would write down an improper example.
Come study time:
- the students might be confused as to why their example didn’t work
- the students might learn the material incorrectly – assuming that the example was correct
This started me thinking; why is it that it’s so hard to be the person that corrects the teacher – especially when it’s a fairly critical function for effective learning? As much as I really dislike my math teacher’s style of teaching, in acknowledging the fact that she makes mistakes, she really enhanced the classroom experience.
In my own experience, I find that once I learn a concept I eventually discard the details and retain a general idea of how the concept works. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been doing an assignment or homework, complaining that “Being able to produce specific answers isn’t a good test of my knowledgeâ€. It is painfully true – spitting out answers is not an accurate test of knowledge – but it is a very good way to learn the concepts.
A few of my professors admit to being awful at basic concepts of math such as addition or multiplication – but they understand the high level concepts that rely on these basics. Logically speaking, the only way they learned these high level concepts was by practicing them through homework and assignments just like us, churning through the gruntwork to get the results.
That said, it’s entirely likely that our teachers may have become foggy on the details. As people who know these high level concepts, teachers aim to pass on their knowledge by making us learn the details – even though their examples using the details are prone to having mistakes. As students who are paying to learn these concepts – it should be us that prompts the teacher to correct their mistakes and thereby further the learning environment. In time, when we have a good understanding of the ideas, we can forget the concepts but retain the ideas.
By being quiet and scribbling down everything the teacher says, we don’t really commit ourselves to learning. We’re just memorizing information, and that is not the same as learning it. My point is, the classroom should really be a learning environment – and sitting quietly in your chair writing down what the teacher says verbatim does not take advantage of the possibilities presented in a classroom.
[Update] Fixed some typos – thanks Laura.
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