One bad teacher can ruin everything

Don't tell me it's not true. Don't tell me that you've NEVER had a single teacher that intimidated you and made you feel itty bitty. Don't tell me you've never had a bad teacher, resulting in bad grades for you. It happens to the best of us.

I'm not sure if there have been studies on this, or if there are statisctics to prove this or back me up on this. I'm just going from my experience.

If you have a bad teacher for a class, it usually results in bad grades; and sometimes even hatred of the given subject. In elementary school, you have the same teacher throughout the entire school year. This means if you're stuck with a teacher you dislike; wether it be their teaching methods or their personality, you're stuck with them all year unless you switch teachers or even schools. Children are very sensitive to criticism at a young age. According to Kohlberg, a renowned Moral Developmental Psychologist, young children aged 7 to 11 operate on a conventional level. "The conventional level of moral reasoning focuses on the expectations of others as the major motivation for doing what is right or wrong. At first, children are seeking approval of others (Psychology and You: Third Edition, McMahon)."

How does this tie in with my topic? Well think of it this way. If a child in this age range has a teacher with higher expectations than that child can reach, approval from that teacher cannot be obstained. Therefore, the child loses confidence and feels like nothing is good enough. Take my little brother, for example. When he was in second grade, my little brother had a terrible teacher. She was a mean old lady who always degraded him and put him down. No matter how hard he tried in school, nothing was good enough for her. If he needed help, she refused to help him. Therefore, he wasn't motivated to do his work. His self esteem went way down, and he ended up hating school. It got SO BAD that my parents moved him to another school. They wanted the teacher to get fired, but I'm not sure if that happened.

Another thing that can hinder a child's learning capabilities is the teacher's teaching methods versus the child's learning style. If the teacher exclusively uses a visual method of teaching and the child is a more kinesthetic learner, there's going to be a problem.

For example, when I was in seventh grade, I had a math teacher who was funny and a great person, but a terrible teacher for me. His teaching style just didn't work for me. He was my math teacher. He taught his lessons so fast that I couldn't make legible notes as to how to solve the problems. I was a visual/audio learner, and the way he taught clashed with my learning style. Because I wasn't able to memorize how to solve the math problems step-by-step, I didn't know how to do the work; and no matter how many times I asked for help and went over the lesson with him, I still didn't understand. His way of teaching made no sense to me. The end result was a badly bruised confidece in my math capabilities, consequently leading to my failure of all three years of math in middle school. (I had the same math teacher for three years because I went to a small school.)

Yet another aspect of why children might fail their classes is that they might feel intimidated by their teacher, or they might claim that their teacher "hates them". Though this may not be true, the child misinterprets the teacher's actions, words, or facial expressions in a negative way; therefore getting a negative vibe from that teacher and construing the teacher's actions and such as signs that the teacher is directing hatred towards them.

For example, at the same school as mentioned previously, I had a bad science teacher. I guess she was a good teacher, but she was very intimidating to me, and made me feel itty bitty. She had this one certain look that was ice cold, and it would make a soldier squirm in his combat boots. All it took was this one look to make liars collapse and tell the truth, and misbehavers act like angels in a snap. I failed practically all three years of my science classes not just because she intimidated me, but because she made me dread that class, and I was too young to tough it up and get my work done anyway. Not only that, but I went to a very advanced middle school. Some people consider it a boarding school or a private school, but it was neither of those. It was just extremely strict and incredibly advanced. I suppose lack of confidence in myself caused me to fail those classes. No one ever said to me, "You can do this. It's easy. Look." it was always "Why are you failing these classes?!" as if I were doing it on purpose.

But what's curious is the fact that I re-took those very same classes in high school since I needed them for my credits to graduate; and strangely enough, I passed them with flying colors; with the exception of my biology class, again. He was a bad teacher as well. I'm mostly a visual learner, and all this guy would do was stand and talk and lecture for the majority of the biology class. Not only that, but his voice was boring and dull. His voice seriously sounded like a mixture of Kermit the Frog and Ben Stein. Needless to say, I failed that class and am taking it again this year. Although most of my classmates in that class are sophomores while I am a senior, I mostly ignore their immaturity and focus on the assignment. I like my new biology teacher muh more because he has us copy down notes. That's perfect for me since I am solely a visual learner. I learn things by seeing them and writing them down. So I have a good grade in my biology class this time. I guess the third time really is a charm.

Anyways, as I was saying; my math classes proved to be much more successful the second time around. Was it because I'd previously learned the material, or was it because my new teacher's style of teaching worked better for me?

I don't think it was the first scenario, because if that were the case, I'd have passed my classes, no? I think it was the latter of the two, because my new math teachers were excellent teachers. Their methodss of teaching worked for me so much more than those of my junior high school teacher's. They taught me at a much slower pace, in step-by-step directions, so it was much easier to take notes to refer to if needed. I haven't had a bad grade in math since I left junior high. I think it was mainly the teaching style that threw me off in junior high, although all of the three aspects I mentioned can immensly afflict damage on a studen't confidence to succeed.

I was just wondering if anyone thinks I have a point, or if anyone has experienced something similar. I think I've figured this out. Back when I was struggling with these subjects, I had no idea what the cause of my struggle was. But now that I'm taking psychology, it's helped me to learn why people react in certain situations, and what influences their reactions. I love psychology. It fascinates me.

Well, I'd love some feedback, so feel free to comment.
Thank you for reading,
Kaitlyn