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Teacher
Taming Techniques | 9.
If You Can't Beat'em, Join'em |9a.
If You Can't Beat'em, Join'em ACTION STEPS
Trick
9: If You Can't Beat'em, Join'em
1.
To get the best results from the best students.
2.
To learn from your mistakes.
3.
To be able to predict your results from the beginning.
Most
people in school, be it high school or college,
don't care too much for the person who always seems
to "ace" every test, project, assignment and course.
These "smarty-pants" are the ones who usually ruin
the curve for everyone else, raise teacher expectations,
and ultimately make our lives miserable. As upsetting
as these particular students can sometimes be, they're
actually the best thing that can happen to you if
you pay attention and play your cards right. I'll
explain shortly.
The
Myth
Even
though we hate to admit it, usually the students
who get the best grades in class aren't the smartest,
they just work the hardest. Believing that everyone
who makes better grades than you is because they're
just smarter than you are is a myth. I proved that
point when I graduated from college with honors.
Given, you do indeed have some Einstein who can
get an "A" on a chemistry or calculus exam in their
sleep, but believe it or not, there just aren't
that many of those types of students out there.
The exception would be if you're attending an Ivy
League school, and even then, you'd be surprised
how many of those students aren't as "smart" as
you think they are.
Of
course, I didn't know about this "Smart Student
Myth" when I was student. But I certainly found
out when I became a professor. In my five or
so years of teaching two to four courses a semester,
with 50 to 125 students per term, I've only had
about three, that's right three, students who
would be classified as some type of genius. They
just loved school, and some even loved studying.
They were just made for college. But these students
were few and far between.
You
still don't believe me? Well, haven't you heard
of the National Merit Scholar's Award? This is
the award that goes to the nation's best and brightest
students. Ask yourself this, how many of them
do you think are in each of your classes? Well,
I've only taught two in five years, and that includes
two different universities (one being ranked #1
nationally in National Merit Scholar recruits).
The
reason you don't see that many is because compared
to the entire college campus population, the percentage
is minuscule (usually less than 1%).
Even
when I was a student, I only ran across one National
Merit Scholar winner in all of my classes (including
my graduate degree). What's my point? Get over
the fact that only the "smart students" do well
in college, because they don't. Therefore, the
students who will consistently do well in your
classes won't be the National Merit Scholar winners,
but rather the "Blue-collar Joe-Types" who will
be busting their hump to be the best.
Remember,
an IQ is nothing without an I-Will. Let me show
you how you can get these blue-collar types to
help you get better grades in college.
If
You Can't Beat'em...
The
best way to illustrate this strategy is with a
personal story. I will summarize the steps for
you in a nice little package at the end.
This
situation happened to me during a summer term
while I was enrolled in a chemistry class. I thoroughly
hated that course. I didn't look forward to taking
it, but since it was worth four credit hours (with
a lab), I knew if I played my cards right and
got an "A" out of the course, it could really
help me pad my GPA. So I started applying my
"tricks" like clockwork.
I
had already used Trick #7 (Boring is Better),
#8 (the Good Book), #4 (Let Your Fingers Do the
Walking), and #5 (The Secret Recipe), and I was
ready to get that "A." However, everything changed
after my first test, when my professor wrote the
grades of our exam on the board. Of course, he
didn't write down any names; instead he just wrote
down the scores along with the number of students
who received those scores. In my best guess at
remembering, the grades looked similar to the
following (the grades were somewhat inflated because
of the nature of the test and course):
92
= 1
87
= 3
79
= 2
74
= 6
63
=12
56
& below = 11
I
must tell you that when I received my grade I
was surprised. I didn't get the 92, I got an
87. Surprised really isn't an accurate word describing
how I felt; I was highly upset! Why? Because
since I was applying my "Tricks" in the classroom
(no one else knew them), I usually received the
highest grades in all of my classes. Remember,
I knew stuff they didn't. So when I received
my 87, I was mad and confused. I knew what I
knew, but I didn't know what I didn't know.
My
professor, who by this time, knew I was a little
upset, asked me, "Joe, is there anything wrong?"
To that question I nodded yes, and I kindly stood
up from my chair and asked, "Who got the 92 on
the exam?" This young man in the back of the
class raised his hand. And to his response I
asked, "Could I see you after class for a minute?"
He nodded yes in amazement. Then I sat down and
told the professor, "There's no problem sir."
After
class, I sought out the young man who outscored
me on the exam. I immediately congratulated
him on his accomplishments and mentioned to
him how hard I had studied myself. Then I asked
him the key question, "If you don't mind me
asking, how did you study for that exam?" As
I shut up to listen to his response, I begin
to go through my mental checklist on what I
did to study for the test. As he started telling
me "his" strategies, I kept scratching things
off my list... "I did that, I did that, I did
that too." Then all of sudden, guess what?
He started mentioning things he did that I didn't
do. Before I knew it, he had given me four
things that I didn't do. I spare you the boring
details.
After
our short dialogue, I thanked him profusely
for his time and expressed my sincere appreciation
for his willingness to share his wisdom. As
he made his way to his next class, I quickly
wrote down the four things he did that I didn't
do, and jetted off to my next class.
To
make a long story short, three weeks later,
a couple of days before we took our next exam,
I used my old study strategies from the first
test AND applied the new strategies the top
student used to help me study for the second
test. A week later when the professor wrote
the grades on the board again, take a guess
on who had the top score in the class? That's
right, yours truly. I got an 88. Hey, that
was considered an "A" in chemistry. But more
importantly, it was the best score in the class.
So
my advice to you, if you can't beat'em, join'em.
By the way, that student did not come up to
me after class to congratulate me nor to ask
me how I had studied for the test. Would I
have told him? Sure, because he helped me.
But he didn't ask. That's an important lesson
in all of this. You can't know everything in
life, but you can always know more than the
competition. Therefore, if I know what I know,
and I know what you know (because you tell me),
but you don't know what I know (because you
didn't ask me), don't I know more than you?
If you have to read that several times do it,
because it's worth understanding.
Don't
let your pride get in the way because you don't
know something.It's like my mother always told
me, "The only dumb question is the one you don't
ask; because if you don't ask it, you still walk
away dumb." That's not too shabby for a person
who never went to college.
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