Better Than Me: Motivate?!?
My Intro to Biblical Studies exams are challenging because of the amount of material that they cover. I try to come up with a balance between basic biblical literacy and critical thinking. While I still require research papers and now I have students blog 2000 words per week, I find for the biblical literacy portion the standard exam format with identifications works well. I also have a critical essay section as well as a section called “Who Says to Whom in What Book of the Bible.” Yesterday I graded the first exam for two sections, and many scored in the 40-60 range unfortunately. I’m not motivating these students it would seem. But one student scored a 97, which I found to be pretty amazing. I was never that focused as an undergraduate. She was very well prepared, and obviously had put a great deal of work into studying. I wish more of my students could be so motivated. I’m curious about ways beyond grades that I could find to motivate students to work hard. Having students think I am funny, nice, pleasant, demanding with very high expectations: none of this seems to be working. My best teachers always made me want to work harder, and I was so afraid of letting them down by turning in inferior work. I want to be that kind of teacher. It’s difficult in a core class, in that about 3/100 are theology majors, and most of the others resent that they have to take two theology courses. They are especially upset that I ask them to do so much work. So beyond demanding so much work, I want to find ways to make the students motivated to do well in my course. Any ideas?
1 comment:
The student who received a 97, as well as another student who I just graded who scored 100, were not theology majors. Nor did they have a religious upbringing as far as I know. The class is about the academic discipline of biblical studies in particular, these things they don't teach you at church. Those students who did well on the exam simply studied very hard. Their work paid off for them in the form of a good grade. I hope the things that students learn in this class will better prepare them for whatever professional direction they go. I want the class to make the students better people. Thus, if a student wants to be a pharmacist, I would hope from my class they would learn critical thinking, how and why to improve the world, and how to effectively communicate. Plus, some basic biblical literacy never hurt anyone.
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