Letters to Mr. Mak (10 years from now)
Letter #1
from the happy student:
Hey, Mr. Mak, long time no talk!
I’m just finishing up university right now (not a math degree, mind you), and I
thought I’d shoot you a message. I want to thank you for making math
entertaining and always making the class laugh. You made us all feel individually
important and capable of learning new things that we found difficult in life. Personally,
I want to thank you for listening to my problems that I was going through at
the time (sorted out now), and then for convincing me to go talk to the
counselor once you were feeling a bit over your head. At the time, I was a
little hurt, but I see now it was the right choice. I’ve been able to be
self-aware of myself and been able to overcome both academic and personal
struggles over the years. So, just in case you’re questioning your life choices
or whether you’re doing good things at your job, I thought I’d just say thank
you for everything.
Letter #2 from the not-so-happy
student:
Hey, Mr. Mak, I’m actually getting
my teaching degree right now and am just reflecting on your teaching style from
10 years ago. Please, take no offense, but I always thought that you were too
silly in class and didn’t focus on the course material enough. You didn’t
emphasize certain mathematical terms and vocabulary enough, so when I went into
university math, I didn’t understand a lot of what was being said. It sort of
seemed like you wanted to be liked more than you wanted to get us prepared for
exams and tests and things.
Reflection: The good letter is
emphasizing my strengths of connecting with students and being approachable.
The bad letter is stressing that I don’t want to prioritize entertainment OVER
learning the material in class; I need to maintain control of the classroom
while still being entertaining.
Good, thoughtful analysis!
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