Here at Boston Latin Academy, you are expected to work harder than the average Boston Public School students. You’re expected to get good grades, maintain a high GPA, and be a contributing, respectful member of the community and environment. However, achieving these things can be hard when you aren’t provided with the necessary tools to do so. One specific tool needed to ensure success in any student — especially students at BLA — is effective teaching. While I can go on for pages and pages about why our school collectively fails at providing effective and adequate teaching to their students, I’ll keep it fairly brief and candid.
Let us first acknowledge the fact that every student and teacher understands that everyone learns differently and has their own preference when it comes to learning or teaching. However, many people ignore the fact that there are certain universal methods in teaching that benefit all students. For the purpose of clearly conveying my argument simplistically, let’s consider language classes.
Learning another language can be very difficult — especially for those who have never learned a second language. Thus, language classes require teachers to have the skill to approach every student differently depending on their needs and level of familiarity with the content. Of course, these “must-haves” must be present across all subjects, but stronger in language. Whenever you are learning and practicing a language, it is imperative that you have a teacher that takes their time with the students, thoroughly and adequately walks through the lessons, and is understanding of where every student is currently at in terms of the fluency of the language. Teachers should not begin teaching a class full of students who have little to no experience with the language, by speaking the language. That, is absurd. That, is not effective teaching. Similarly, teachers should not assume that a student has a certain level of content knowledge and familiarity solely based upon the level of the language they are taking. Language is not something that is black and white. It is complex. Language itself, is complex.
Now, you may have asked yourself after reading the previous sentences: “Why is it ineffective teaching?” I’ll tell you why. It is ineffective teaching because the student hasn’t gotten a chance to refresh their minds on the language — assuming they’ve taken it before — or they just simply will not retain anything because they’ve never taken the language. Either way, the words of the teacher are going over the heads of the students resulting in a “learning environment” where no one is actually learning.
So what should we do? If students are just beginning a language for the first time, they need to be walked through the lessons in the language they speak so they can internalize and understand what the teacher is saying in regards to the language. Whereas, if students have had experience with the language and need a refresher after a period of not practicing said language, the teacher should have review lessons before jumping into the deep end — something that happens way too often. This will help students build a foundation for their future, higher-leveled language classes rather than them spending the entire time trying to decode the language and hoping to learn a few words from connecting the dots — dots they either haven’t been given, or need help remembering.
If we stick to this type of teaching, it will be defeating the purpose of even learning the language in the first place. I, for one, feel disrespected when I go to a class expecting to learn something, when the outcome is the contrary. I don’t want to play guessing games; I want to learn. We all do. I don’t want my time wasted. I want my time to be spent doing what I intended to do when I rolled out of bed at six o’clock in the morning — to learn.