Reflection Essay

733 Words2 Pages

In my time at CCBC, I have had several instructors that I have either passionately liked or disliked. Some were a joy to work with, having a clear passion in their area of study and instructing with a contagious fervor; others had “by-the-book” grading policies, and would give me zero points for answers I would support with recent scientific journals from respectable sources if the aged and inaccurate book assigned to the class disagreed. While I may learn the most about a given topic from an enjoyable, energetic instructor, I learned a great deal about myself and the way I wish to interact with people from a teacher that I often couldn’t decide if I adored or despised.

During my first coding course at CCBC, at the age of 16, I was greatly …show more content…

“What does it matter which order I declare my integer variables,” I would ask, “The program works perfectly either way.” My professor, I quickly learned, was a “my way or the highway” kind of teacher. To avoid lost points for formatting, I would often go to her office hours and ask her to review my assignment before I submitted it electronically. She was very helpful, pointing out ways that I could optimize the code so as to reduce my own workload in the future. She was borderline rude at times, though never to me. When a student seated next to me failed to understand a relatively basic math principal and its use in programming, my teacher pointedly asked, “Didn’t you learn this in the third grade?” much to the student’s …show more content…

During her office hours, she sometimes asked me about my experiences homeschooling and my thoughts as to advantages and disadvantages. She would ask me about my plans for the future. Once, she told me privately that “Not everybody can learn programming, no matter how hard they try, but you have it.”

Other students opinions’ of her varied drastically, from mean to difficult to funny to racist. The only discrimination I ever saw her exhibit, however, was based on either skill or communication she received from the student. Those students who joked with her or returned her sassy comments were often spoken to in a lighter manor than those who got defensive or simply became silent.

This taught me about both the way I want to carry myself when I instruct so as not to insult my students, as well as how to better interact with teachers. Assignment and test grades are only part of the final grade - the rest is how much the teacher likes you based on communication and how hard you try. While different teachers prefer different kinds of interaction with their students, learning and adapting to their style and preference has helped me tremendously in my classes so

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