The Imaginary Letters

After teaching for 10 years, I had received two letters from my past students with both positive and negative comments about my teaching. The positive letter from my student was very encouraging and motivating. However, the negative letter raised a lot of concerns on my part. The student didn't really enjoyed my class as much as others because it was too easy and not challenging enough. I wished I knew before so that I can make the course more challenging for students to stretch their brains than just simply giving them the information that's required to be learned for the curriculum. I should have created more complicated math problems that they could solve, such as a fun math brain teaser or an interesting math riddle that get students thinking.

The student also commented on my lessons telling me that the materials I provided was too superficial (or not enough information provided). I should provided them with more background information or the history of the contents covered in class than just telling them what it is we are learning for the today, how to get the correct answers, or what teachers are looking for. I feel that just by simply telling them these concepts without challenging them might be too superficial.

One more comment made was that I gave too much homework. I guess not all students like to do homework after class. Maybe I could give them a bit of homework time in class (say, for the last 15-20 min of class) so students could feel more motivated to do work since they were already learning the topic anyway. It would also be a good opportunity for them to talk it out, walk around the class and seek help from myself and others. Perhaps some students just felt less motivated to take out their textbook and get started right away - they might have been distracted doing practices at home or not have enough resources. I thank my students for their emails and letters! It's still a good time to modify my teaching strategies and some of the other things I hope for as a teacher. Thank you!