Guidance

College or University professors have more free reign than K-12 teachers. Yes, professors do have standards they must follow, but it is how they carryout their lessons and "feed" students information in which they have the freedom.

For example, the semester I had Prof. Peabody for a Methods class, his assignments were "Here is the topic, go write." There were no guidelines on how to write or what type of writing - we could write a story, a poem, a dry paper...whatever we felt worked for us and the topic. He was available for help or questions - not about what to write, but with insight as to the "meat" of the assignment. Now, I don't know if it worked so well for him and our class because he had perfected his technique or if it is just because he is a great teacher. I do know that it doesn't work for all teachers/professors. I believe that reason is due to lack of planning and forgetting to give necessary pre-instruction.

For example, a professor who gives a list of assignments and their due dates and a skeleton of instructions. However, the only basis for the assignments are concepts which have not been discussed and have gray areas; and the instructions are not clear and use terms the students are not familiar with or can have different meanings to different students. The most unfortunate part of such "independent learning" is the assignments are graded based on mind-reading - that is, which students can read the mind of the instructor to know exactly what he is looking for.

It is times like these I look forward to having standards and guidelines to follow. There is room for independent learning and thinking, but the students will know what is expected of them and will have their own guidelines to follow. For example, giving a speech on anything you like - but, you still must cite your research and produce note cards or speech notes; these cover the necessary standards but still give students some freedom.

Comments?