Effectiveness of Teachers

     After reading chapter 4 of "College Culture, Student success," it has occurred that there are different methods to being an effective teacher. Azar Nafisi, Mike Rose, and Paul Roberts have excellent selections about personal experiences of having or being an effective teacher.  In each of these passages, a teacher had shown an interest in the students education which ultimately led to an effective teaching in the students opinion.
      An example of effective teaching is when Mr. MacFarland took an interest in Rose's writing and realized that Rose was not placed on the correct education path. Rose even states: "Jack MacFarlane couldn't have come into my life at a better time."(Rose, 139) This is an example that supports the effectiveness of a teacher because MacFarland was able to spike an interest in Rose that no other teacher was able to. Even past English teachers were not able to peak interests of Rose. The purpose of MacFarland in Rose's life was to establish an interest in Rose's education so that he may decide to better his future by going to college to receive a degree in English. Personally, if more teachers took this kind of action with students at a young age, maybe more students would have the ambition to continue their educations beyond high school. If my teachers become more involved with my struggles in history, I might have enjoyed the material and strived to achieve grades that were above average. The effectiveness of one teacher could be improved by playing such an influential role in the students life.
      In the case of Azar Nafisi, she was the teacher and opened up he house to students to join her in a reading session about books that were banned. It seems as though the students are timid at first, but through this interactions with Nafisi, the students became more confident in their readings and were reluctant to share their opinions or experiences. Nafisi showed manners of effectiveness by allowing her students to feel confident when they shared their experiences and opinions. These women, well, students were able to positively benefit from this positive interaction. In a way i can relate to this article because my high school English teacher showed me that reading the same types of books aren't very challenging or interesting. She was able to help me read other genres which led me to begin reading british literature, old horrors like Dracula, and even science fiction novels. This was an effective method to teaching her lessons because it allowed me to become more open minded in selecting books for assignments, and other experiences.
     Paul Roberts wrote the selection "How to say nothing in 500 words." In this selection he is very persuading and provides some very effective advice for writing papers.  "If you want the reader to believe college football is bad for the players, you have to do more than say it," Before reading this article, my arguments would typically look like a fourth grader had written it, where the explanation is " because I said so." A majority of Robets statements were quite effective, which helped me attempt to correctly write my rhetorical analysis. Also, Roberts was able to write out a step-by-step process that would help any lost writer establish a good argument. Although I did not take the more unusual side of the argument, I was able to provide evidence that helped strengthen my argument. Roberts work was quite effective for a student to apply to any paper they write.
    In conclusion, I believe that some teachers are able to be effective. The effectiveness may be different based on the student, but I feel strongly that any teacher that shows a genuine interest in the students educational successes, like Nafisi, students will show a genuine interest in the material being taught. Many teachers use different method in teaching, but there are some students that need an extra push and who better to help than a teacher.
    
    

Take this quiz!

     "Take this quiz" by Adam Robinson  is a guide to students about their grades and why they are earning lower grades than expected. Throughout this passage Robinson provides a quiz in which all the answers are false. He also provides numbered explanations for why the answers are false. This quiz was meant to serve as an understanding of your attitude toward academics. Students with the best attitude typically have a score that is close to zero. Also, Robinson discusses 12 principles that students believe in. In his discussion of principle 5, I was really able to relate to that. Principle 5 states: Making mistakes (an occasionally appearing foolish) is the price you pay for learning and improving. In my own academic achievements, I view my mistakes as areas that I need to address and take proper measures to regain the correct understanding of the material.
      After I take an exam and receive that grade, I will then look back at my mistakes to make sure it was either a misunderstanding of the concept of just one of those foolish answers. Depending on the mistake made, I will review my notes to compare the correct answer to the incorrect answer, which in turn helps me grasp the understanding of the material. If I had made a foolish mistake, it teaches me that I need to be more careful when reading the question. Out of the 12 principles of Robinson's discussion, I fully support his 5th principle, in that mistakes are made to help improve the understanding of the student.

Symptoms of Math Anxiety

In the article, "Symptoms of Math Anxiety" by Shelia Tobias, she discusses the different causes of math anxiety. She also goes further into her discussion by using evidence from graduate students to help support her argument. One of the graduate students she discuss, finds his mistakes "interesting" because they are a "window into (his) thinking". Through my personal experiences, I am able to relate to this student because I find that mistakes made are a great learning tool that helps build my understanding of my own abilities. It will also show me where I went wrong so I can try to better understand the correct path I need to take to get to the solution. Even though this section is only on mathematics, I feel as though I am able to connect this passage to other subjects such as chemistry, biology, and even English. "... the only was we know how to respond to our failure to understand a difficult concept is to quit."( Tobias 152) I find this line misleading because it is encouraging people to take the easy road when something becomes to difficult to understand, I would prefer to ask question and work hard to achieve the understand I need to succeed in the material at hand. I have always been told that the only dumb question, is the question that is never asked. This has been a way for me to feel ore confident about the material because chances are, another person in the class will have the same question, which is another reason to not quit.