Instructors vs. Learners
I received a long e-mail from a former student who has been continuing his education at another, distant school. He says:
“The teacher gets so upset and overreacts when I don’t produce the exact picture in *his* head. Can you touch upon the fact that not everyone has been doing this audio thing, art thing, whatever thing, for 30 years? Some of us are still learning.”
I have a saying that the best teacher in the world can make your worst subject interesting enough so you can learn it. And the worst teacher in the world can take your favorite subject – your major! – and make you want to give up or run away screaming.
Some teachers seem to have unusual ideas about what it means to develop learners. I’m not a teaching expert by any means, but I do know this:
- The classroom should support mutual respect and be a safe place for learners to question the material, interact with it, experiment, and ultimately lead down the right paths. It is NOT a combative power struggle.
- Instructors need to challenge learners, not knock them down repeatedly.
- Instructors need to nurture learners, not piss on their failed attempts.
- Sometimes you need to be the coach and more often you need to be the cheerleader.
- You need to give learners opportunities to make mistakes and to learn from them and therefore grow into the knowledge and proper methodologies.
- Ultimately, learners need to discover the learning themselves. An instructor can’t make them learn (something akin to leading horses to water), but the instructor must setup the opportunities for discovery.
- And the road to discovery is very often paved with dismal failures.
- Embrace the problems and help guide the learners to build their knowledge. This takes time. It takes patience!
Often my students get the opportunity to fix their mistakes on the bigger projects. There is no point of handing in an audio file and getting some feedback without the chance (and encouragement) to revisit the material and address any issues brought up.
I am always amazed when students apologize when asking for my help. I often get an e-mail that starts: “I hate to bother you with this, but I don’t understand ….” It is *never* a bother. As an instructor I am here for my students, and helping them is the whole reason I teach in the first place. When a learner works hard and tries, it usually leads to an AH-HA moment. It all starts to make sense to them. I didn’t teach it. I just supported the material and supported them. THEY LEARNED IT ON THEIR OWN.
YAY!
The question becomes: Do you want students to just learn the material? Or do you want them to learn how to think through issues and then be able to apply what they learn to overcoming challenges? Instead of knowing that a cardioid mic has a heart-shaped pick-up pattern (knowledge), I’d rather my students know that making sure noise is behind the cardioid mic can result in a better signal to noise ratio and therefore cleaner dialogue recordings (practical application).
So, my advice to this student is to step back and see the whole picture. I make no apologies for this teacher’s style. But I do know there’s nothing to be gained through confrontation. However, there could be a lot of real help and understanding there, but it just might be a bit harder to get from the instructor. Don’t give up. Ask for specific feedback and then ask for ways to combat any criticisms brought up. In other words, ask for help. Demand help. Offer respect and demand respect in return. Be the student who wants to gain 30 years of experience in a semester. Work through the issues together toward your educational goals. Don’t fight, but don’t give up the fight either.
