Where’s the Wow?
AJ Hoge wonders about causes of what he calls the “dismal success rate” in foreign language education. Since so much time is spent on assessment, for which students are held accountable, why is it, then, that students aren’t grading teachers on equal terms. If teachers were held professionally accountable for the grades they received from their students, maybe we would see some immediate changes in the way teachers carry out their livelihood. AJ writes:
As teachers its time we stopped cowering like sheep - our mission is to create “Wow experiences” for our students (using TP’s terminology again). Not good. Not competent.Wow! When was the last time you heard a student say “Wow!!” after one of your classes? (Be honest).
If your answer is the same as mine… you’ve got a lot of thinking to do.
Claudia Lewis wrote:
I agree with the idea that we as teachers need to have more “wow” responses from our students. Often times I feel very rigid in my class schedule so that I can make it through the curriculum. Then I forget to add the “fun” part of education. It is usually when I am having fun that they have more fun learning and then the “wow” response is natural! We just finished a unit on mysteries in my fourth grade class and one student exclaimed “this was the best project I have ever worked on”. That was all I needed to hear!
Posted 07 Dec 2005 at 6:00 am ¶