Making A Difference

I believe that I make a difference for my students by giving 100% when I’m at work. My door is always open, when I’m in my office. Anytime I’m engaged with a student or students I don’t leave them until they are satisfied and ready to go onto “their” next task. I structure my courses and have policies in place that help encourage “right” behavior. Like my policy for final exams. I teach math which continually builds on its self. Thus it is important to know if students have learned all that you have covered over the course of the semester. Therefore, I tell my students, at the end of the semester, that if they can score a grade or more higher on their final exam than they are currently making in the course, then I’ll assign them the next higher grade. Example, if someone is making a C in the class and gets a B or A on the final I assign them a grade of B. This has caused the class averages on my finals to raise 10 percentage points on average. It also seems fair to me. If someone can demonstrate that they have managed to put it all together by the end of the semester better than they had at each point along the way they deserve to have their grade reflect their ending level of knowledge. Another policies is, dropping their worst test score if they miss two or fewer classes during the semester. Thus encouraging attendance. I guess the bottom line for me that I think makes all the difference for my students, is that I put them first on my priority list when it comes to my job.