Motivation for: "I don't need this, I could learn all this on my own"
A student told an administrator that the course he was in was worthless. He got no value out of it and could learn everything he needed on his own. It would save him a lot of money if he just quit. this was after he was the only one to fail my final.
I talked to him about the surprisingly lackluster performance by a bright student on his exam and he acted as if it didn't matter then blasted the entire program in an email to my supervisor.
How can I counsel this student and motivate him to not only commit himself to learning but most importantly to succeed?
Fidel,
The more we share the more we learn about how to improve our instructional delivery and be more effective instructors. Keep on sharing with others.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
teaching styles comes in to play, not everyone learns the same. it is frustrating but forums like this are great to get ideas from fellow teachers/instructors
Marc,
Tough situation and I'm not sure I have a clear cut answer to your question about what to do next. I would start by having a talk with the student and have him, if he will share with you what are the reasons he feels the course had no value to him. In the majority of cases like this it isn't the course but some other factor that causes a student to lash out like he did. If he doesn't want to have a talk with you suggest to him that he talk with your supervisor and lay out his concerns. It is easy to blast someone and hide behind an email so your supervisor should not take what was said in the email as being valid. Only one to one input should be considered in a situation like this.
Look at the course evaluations and see if there is a common thread of discontent among the students. I would guess that this one individual will be the only one and your overall evaluations will be good. Make sure that you share these evaluations with your supervisor so he/she can see you are a good instructor and that you are providing quality instruction in your classes. If the evaluations are not good then it is time for a serious examination of what you are doing and you need to create a plan for instructional improvement.
Don't let this one student destroy your success and reputation as an instructor. We all hit students like this at one time or another so learn from this and move on because you have many other students with whom you have had success. They should be by which you measure your abilities as a teacher.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
