The Ol' Switcharoo
After just finishing my first year of teaching, I'm finding that many of my students feel like I pulled a fast one on them. They perceived me as being a "nice" and enjoyable instructor but then when they took the final exam and received their grades, they feel like I was overly harsh or difficult. I'm struggling with knowing how to avoid the perception that I somehow pulled fast one.
Hi Timothy,
One way to avoid this problem is to condition your students to your testing format throughout the course. Give the smaller quizzes that use the same format as the final. Also, give them study guides that give examples of how they will be tested at the end. This way there won't be any surprises, you can still be the "nice enjoyable" teacher you are but everyone will understand the way the course is going to be conducted and evaluated.
Gary
