My bad learning experience occurred in Chemistry 2. My teacher was an older lady and she assumed we all knew what we were doing. She didn’t know how to explain
the material, so I often found myself either sleeping or talking to other students in the class. I felt as though the class was a waste of time and didn’t help to improve my chemistry skills. For those teachers who assume students already know the material and don’t actually teach them the material, I feel as though they should not be teachers. Teachers like this do not help me at all and I feel that they are just wasting time.
With my good learning experience I knew the material I needed to know very well. I knew why answers were what they were and I was not just memorizing definitions as to why that was the answer. I felt that with my bad learning experience I was just memorizing information I needed to know without knowing the real reason behind the answer. This explains the banking concept that Paulo Freire talked about. The banking concept is where the teacher is just giving information to students and telling them to memorize what he says without any explanation. They do not learn this way and that’s how I felt in my chemistry 2 class. I knew the information for test but after the test was over the information meant nothing to me.
There are many different teaching and learning styles. Every student learns at different paces and by different methods. I feel that teachers should try and find out what helps students best and teach in the way that makes them learn the most. Most teachers feel that as long as they are teaching something that they are being an effective teacher.
We should stop assuming complacently that our children are being educated just because we have many schools with lots of teachers and myriad administrators. Currently they learn very little, not because they are stupid, but because they are
taught very little. It is easier that way for everybody, the kids, the teachers, the parents. (Haag P. 438)
With what Haag says I feel the same way. I feel that some teachers are just there for the check they don’t put any extra effort into helping students learn. There are some teachers though who care more about the students’ education than the money, and then there are the students who are just in school because they have to be. So when you have a teacher who likes to help students learn often the students doesn’t care to learn. Then with the students who want to learn they often end up with the teacher who could care less.
With knowing that there are different teaching and learning styles I have learned to accept that I wont always get the “good” teacher. By this I mean that I have to adapt to the way a teacher teaches and accept it. I have to make the best out of my learning experiences in order to achieve the goals I have for myself. I know that I wont always be able to get taught the way I like best so I have to learn different ways to get by with what the teacher teaches. Learning doesn’t always come easy and I just have to find ways to be able to teach myself the right way to study material that isn’t always covered by teachers.
