My Teacher’s Unusual Approach
In high school, I had a trigonometry teacher who reminded me a lot of Judge Judy—she had the same fiery temperament and sharp attitude, and even bore a resemblance to her. To give you an idea of her abrasive personality, there was a day during a test review when I was called out in front of the entire class. I hadn’t brought my test to the discussion, and she scolded me for not correcting my answers. If she had a better memory, she might have recalled that I actually scored perfectly and had nothing to correct! I considered defending myself, but ultimately chose to avoid further conflict.
She had a unique teaching style, where she would dictate notes that we were expected to copy down. However, one of her most peculiar habits was that every four weeks, she would collect our notes and lock them away in a filing cabinet. Each student had their own file, and we were forbidden from referencing them—not even for the final exam that covered everything we had learned! I recall one of my classmates challenging her about getting our notes back prior to the final. Her response was a definitive no, which infuriated him. He was so upset that he threatened to escalate the matter to the principal, but I have no idea what happened after that.
Interestingly, I missed the last class when she collected our notes and never submitted mine afterward, so I still had study material when the final came around. She didn’t even seem to notice they were missing. So what was the point of collecting them in the first place? You’d think there would be some sort of evaluation based on how we kept our notes, but that never happened. Has anyone else experienced something like this?
Wow, that sounds like a really frustrating experience! It’s strange how some teachers have such unconventional methods that can leave students feeling bewildered. Locking away notes definitely seems counterproductive, especially when the goal is to help students learn and prepare for exams. It’s good that you had your own way of studying, even if it didn’t align with her bizarre rules.
It’s also interesting to hear how your friend reacted. It shows how much stress and confusion her teaching style caused. It makes me wonder if she believed that by taking away the notes, she was encouraging us to learn the material better, but in reality, it just seemed to create unnecessary anxiety.
I think a lot of us have had at least one teacher who was tough or had unusual methods. It can be tough to navigate those situations, especially when you want to advocate for yourself but don’t want to escalate things further. Did you find that you learned the material well despite her methods, or did that added pressure make it harder for you?