Students Say Teaching Counts

Students say that good teaching matters! First and foremost, students want teachers who connect with them. Students would like teachers who are caring, involved, interested, and enthusiastic and who recognize them.

Michigan students recently responded to recommendations for high school reform made in the final report of the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education & Economic Growth, December 2004 * at a series of school reform summits held at various southeastern Michigan schools. The National Civility Center in conjunction with the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MAISA) conducted the summit series.

Content was another area of concern for students. Students want to know that what they are learning truly has a relationship to them now and in the future. In addition, students indicated that they want to be challenged by material and have the opportunity to select courses that make them stretch their abilities.

A third major point that students responded to was the method of learning. Students indicated that they accept responsibility for their involvement in learning but realize that learning is a partnership between the teacher and the student. Students very clearly and empathetically stated that they learn best when:

• Students have hands-on experiences.
• Teachers have a passion for what they are doing.
• Students have a reason to learn.
• Students are self-motivated.
• Students have opportunities to use ideas.
• Students have a real need to know or be able to do something with the knowledge.
• Students have a chance to conduct research.
• Students are given time to learn.
• Students can form relationships between what they are learning and what they already know.
• Students can get one-on-one help from teachers.
• Students have a chance to practice skills.
• Students make learning fun.
• Teachers make learning fun.

A fourth major concept important to students was context. Students see learning context as the relationship between the teacher, the student, and the content. Students indicated they are looking for safe, secure places to learn. Students were not just concerned with their physical safety; they also were concerned about their emotional, psychological, social, and intellectual safety.

A fifth concept was choice. Students indicated they know that they learn better when they have the opportunity to select courses that are related to their goals for the future. Several students talked about the value of selecting the right career pathway and then making sure that the courses they take are sequenced to that path. Students indicated that it isn’t enough to hear “you need this” they want to know why they need the course, topic, or skill. Repeatedly, students indicated that they want to see the connection between what they are required to do and the real world they live in now and will work in, in the future.

Source: Summary, Student Comments, School Reform Summits, January through April 2005, Conducted by the National Civility Center in Conjunction with the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA).

*In June 2004, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm signed Executive Order No. 2004-32 and announced the formation of the Lieutenant Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth, chaired by Lt. Governor John D. Cherry Jr. The executive order charged the commission with identifying strategies to double the number of Michigan residents with degrees and other post-secondary credentials of value within ten years. For more information, or to read the full report, visit www.cherrycommission.org/.

Students from Ingham County Speak

High school students in Ingham County were asked:

• What has made your high school experience successful?
• What barriers have you experienced?
• What suggestions do you have to improve the high school experience?

And they said…

• Treat us as individuals and give us a voice.
• Ask us to get involved in high school reform—we’re the ones living it.
• We need choices and flexibility in scheduling to get what we need to graduate—and to get what we need and want for our future.
• Help me see the connections—if I’m not going to use it directly, help me understand where it’s getting me.
• I think most students need the opportunity to have hands-on experiences. I’m not going to learn it until I do it.
• What do grades really tell us? Grades need to be based ONLY on our work and achievement, not on attendance or behavior.
• Please use textbooks for reference, NOT as the main way we learn. For lots of us, the “read it, learn it” method doesn’t work.
• I would like to see teachers helping us to really understand instead of having us memorize for tests.
• I hope in the future students have the chance to choose courses based on what their goals are for the future.
• Our classes are so big, we can’t ever get individual attention…and teachers have a hard time teaching in ways that all kids get it.
• Maybe we need different pathways that get us to the same graduation requirement in different ways.
• I get frustrated because I don’t understand and never get the help I need. Because I’m frustrated, I get in trouble and sent to in-school suspension.
• I hear schools are going to have more graduation requirements—well, if classes being required aren’t the ones we all need for life after high school, what good are they?

Top of Page