TRANSCENDENCEWhere Minds Exceed Limits

         This chapter presents the positive and negative views of the regular first year Civil Engineering students towards their math instructors. Code names were given to the respondents to protect their identity.

 

 

         Positive Views

 

         Positive views refer to the characteristics of the instructors that are favorable to the students (Weimer, 2010). In which, this positive view will establish rapport between the instructors and the students. The positive views are possess eagerness and great interest in teaching, possess effective teaching techniques, has suitable personal characteristics, discipline students, sustain teaching skills, and keeps being presentable in class.
        

 

 Possess Eagerness and Great Interest in Teaching

             This characteristic refers to the act of teaching of the Math instructors in which they show interest in their discussion throughout the class.

 

Respondent 10:          “Yes. Ahh… Sa way nga… Sa way nga mapakita niya iyang                                             interest kay the way siya muteach kay Makita iyang eagerness                                        nga makalearn mi. (“Yes, in a way he shows his interest is                                              through the way he teach, and we can already see his                                                     eagerness.”).

 

 Respondent 5:           Yes. In the way that he or she is sincere enough in what he or                                     she is doing. Ahmm… in the way that every time he discusses                                         ahmmm… he has that passion and interest to share his knowledge                                    to his students. (“Yes. In a way that he/she is sincere enough in                                     what he/she is doing. In the way that every time he discusses, he                                     has that passion and interest to share his knowledge to his                                             students.”).

 

Respondent 1:            “Yeah, they keep their interest in class by attending sessions                                             every day to teach and mold us to become civil engineer and                                         by letting us understand the topic being discussed.”

 

Respondent 7:            “For me, no, because they teach in a lively manner.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Based on the statement of respondent 10 and respondent 5, they want to stress that instructor is eager and greatly interested in teaching through the way he teach. Their instructor’s way of teaching is by showing passion and interest to share their knowledge to their students in every discussion. According to the study of the students from University of Technology Sydney (2010), when instructors show enthusiasm and interest by humorous attitude and enjoyable discussion, the students found this as motivating and commented that they look forward to coming to classes regularly. In addition, by clearly demonstrating this strategy, you can often raise students’ curiosity and motivate them to find out what excites you about the subject. This can lead the students to engage more deeply than they had initially planned and to discover value they had overlooked (Mellon, 2008).

 

         On the other hand, respondent 1 says that by regularly attending the class and letting the students deeply understand the topic, the instructor already shows this eagerness to teach. Data analysis from the study of Woods (1990) revealed that the instructor’s attendance had a significant impact on student’s learning. Instructors having lower rate of absence had students scoring better in exams compared to the teachers who has higher rate of absence. Hence, instructor needs to attend to their class regularly to provide the students better understanding to the Math subject.

 

         Moreover, respondent 7 tells that their Math instructors are teaching in a lively manner. An instructor teaches in a lively manner if he is observed to enjoy while teaching, if he has an aura of self-confidence and if he conveys a love in his field (Hildebrand, 1971).

 

Possess effective teaching techniques

 

         An instructor possess effective teaching techniques if they have strategies to motivate and engage all the students in learning rather than simply accepting that the students cannot be engaged and are destined to do poorly ( O’Neill, 2009).

 

Respondent 2:       “My most favorable strategy that was applied by my teacher while he is teaching is having humors in the                                        class, because we… kanang malingaw ko samtang nagalearn.”(My most favorable strategy that was applied                                by my teacher while he is teaching is having humor in the class because we are having fun while learning.)

 

Respondent 10:  “Ah… ano.. Favorable strategies nga gina apply sa teaching? Isa siguro kay ang strategy nga in connection sa                                life kay kung ang usa ka student, siguro mas maintindihan nako kung iconnect niya sa usa ka… ug i-apply                              niya sa real-life situation. Paano kung useless ang among ginatun-an tapos nonsense diay siya sa application sa                           life so murag boring siya tan-awon ng lesson.”(Favorable strategies applied by my teacher? Maybe one of                                    those is when my teacher relates the discussion in real life. If he won’t do these, then our learning will be                                           nonsense in real life and that will make the lesson boring. )

 

Respondent 7:“Ahhh… ang favorable strategy nga nakita nako sa akong teacher kay nagahatag siyag mga tips sa life nga                                pwede nimo magamit maski dili gud siya related sa… sa lesson or sa subject pero… pero dako giyapon nga                                tabang sa real-life situation.”

                      “It’s effective when you also search for more examples or problems because they’ll only give you few examples.”

 

Respondent 6:   “Effective siya kung maningkamot pud ka ug apil. (It is effective when you would also exert effort.)

 

Respondent 10:“Yes… kay… para sa akoa makalearn man ko maskin unsa nga way as long as ang gatudlo kay expert ug siya                                pud ang maghimo sa exam.” (Yes, because for me, I can learn in any ways as long as the teacher is expert                                and the teacher will be the one to make the exam.)

 

 

         Respondent 2, respondent 10, and respondent 7 mentioned strategies that are being applied by their Math instructors. These are having humors while teaching, relating the lessons to real life situations, and giving tips regardless of the lesson yet very helpful in real-life situations. These strategies show that their Math instructors are engaging them to learning. Respondent 2 views his instructor to be humorous in the class discussion and in this way, he is having fun while learning that leads him to be motivated to listen and learn more. A study conducted by Kher (1999) revealed thathumor is a valuable teaching tool for establishing a classroom climate conducive to learning. Meanwhile, respondent 10 explains that his Math instructor relates their lessons to its application in real-world. Students will be more motivated to work hard if they see the value of what they are learning to their overall course of study. Consequently, it is important to explain to students how the subject will help them with their overall education. (e.g., a mathematics professor might help to motivate engineering students by explaining how the math skills they learn will help them in succeeding life situation).

 

         In addition, respondent 7 stated that her instructors give tips that will be helpful to real-life situations though these are not related to their Math lessons. This strategy still strengthens her eagerness to listen to her instructor.

 

         Respondent 6 tries to explain that students must also try their best to exert effort in order to cope with their instructor’s teaching. This proves that effective teaching techniques are followed by the motivation of the students to learn themselves alone (O’Neill, 2009).

 

         Likewise, respondent 7 added that students would also exert effort by studying more examples of Math problems since their instructors give them only few example problems. According to the study of Aydoğdu (2014) entitled “Geometry Problem Solving Strategies”, problem solving, which has great significance in the field of mathematics, provides an important contribution to mathematics education by helping students develop their reasoning and problem solving skills, which is one of the aims of mathematics teaching, and providing these skills to be used later in life.

 

         Lastly, above all teaching techniques mentioned by other instructors, respondent 10 says it is important that his instructor is an expert in his field and will be the one to make the exams. Experts were defined by Gill (2013) as similar to a coach who share knowledge, demonstrate their expertise, advice students and provide feedback to improve understanding and promote learning. On the other hand,no two teachers are alike, and any teacher with classroom teaching experience will agree that their style of teaching is uniquely their own (Gill, 2013). Thus, different Math instructors have different strategies on solving certain math problems and making exams that is why students prefer to take the exam made by their own Math instructor. Also, results from their exams would provide feedback to instructors on their students’ learning information that would provide them future teaching decisions.

 

 

Has suitable personal characteristic

 

         This characteristic refers to the personality of the Math instructor that is favorable to the students.

 

Respondent 7:    “Yes, they are not strict, their characteristics can be handled.”

 

Respondent 10:  “My most favorable strategy that was applied by my teacher while he is teaching is having humors in the 

                             class, because we… kanang malingaw ko samtang nagalearn.” (My most favorable strategy that was     

                             applied by my teacher is having humors in class we are entertained while we learn.)

 

 

         According to respondent 7 and respondent 10, their instructors are not that strict and are humorous during discussion. Math instructors have suitable personal characteristics like being humorous. According to a research done by Bañas et.al (2011), humor positively affects levels of attention and interest. It is a way to keep students engaged and involved with the course material. If the concept is an important one, consider incorporating some humor. Therefore, people respond more positively to each other when humor is present and humorous also gives the students the enjoyment during discussion that makes them more eager to listen and learn.

 

 

Disciplines students

 

         The students view this attitude of instructor to be positive because once a student is well-disciplined inside the classroom, it contributes to his excellent learning.

 

Respondent 10:    “Yes. Yes. Tungod kay di gud sila ganahan ug saba jud kay maminusan ilang time tapos ilang

                               concentration. Naa man guy sometimes nga wala sila kabalo sa answer ug kailangan nilag time…

                               kung saba pajud kayo.”(Yes, they don’t want noise because they will have a lesser time and

                               concentration. There are times that the Math instructors need more time for the problem to be solved.)

                                        

Respondent 1:  “Yeah they are, yes yes they are because ahh you know like they’re gonna shout if the class

                        goes like very wild, it gets noisy then he just shout like “quiet class quiet” and we were like

                       what’s wrong with that, wha-whats wrong. Because they do that because you know they want

                       us to listen to them they want to lean our ears so that we will understand the topic”. (Yes they

                       are, because they’re going to shout if the class goes very wild and they want us to listen to

                       them so we will understand the topic.)

 

        Respondent 10 stated that Math instructors need more time for solving Math problems. Thus, they don’t want noise because they will have lesser time and concentration. Statement of respondent 10 is supported by the study about College students’ perception of classroom noise conducted by Servilha (2014), which showed that students are aware that they are themselves creator of noise harming peer concentration and audibility of the instructor’s voice. Thus, avoiding this to happen, will result in the conservation of instructor’s concentration to solve problems and in a more effective learning environment for students.

 

        Meanwhile, respondent 1 explains that it is only for the sake of the students that the instructor disciplines them by teaching them to avoid unnecessary noise during discussion. In this way, the students will comprehend the lessons. A study of Hopkins (1997) confirms that classroom noise has a negative effect in student’s ability to learn.

 

Sustains teaching skills

 

        This characteristic refers to the consistency of the Math instructors to provide effective teaching techniques. As discussed previously, a Math instructor show effective teaching techniques when the students understand the lessons being discussed.

 

Respondent 1:   “Ahhh, yeah they do sustain that particular techniques you know because yeah what I have

                            said a while ago I understand the topic and because they are sustaining that type of                                      techniques that they are using in teaching.” (Yeah, they sustain that particular techniques

                           because as what I have said a while ago, I understand the topic because they are

                           sustaining their type of teaching techniques.).

 

        Respondent 1 says, his Math instructors maintain his particular teaching techniques throughout the period. For this reason, the students do not get bored and also maintain their interest in listening to discussion. The most effective strategy of an instructor to avoid boredom in class discussion is to maintain having a good time and fun with the students (Briggs, 2015).

 

Presentable in class

 

        This refers to the proper grooming of the Math instructors upon entering the classroom which creates an impression from the students.

 

Respondent 4:   “Yes of course. As a teacher, you must be presentable in class, and I think the teachers in

                            University of Southeastern Philippines are doing that.”

 

Respondent 5:   “Yes, because our professors are well groomed when they enter the classroom and they

                             are much prepared in what they are doing, physically.””

 

        Respondent 4 and respondent 5 imply that if an instructor is not only mentally but physically prepared upon entering the class, then he can also be ready in whatever he is doing and they think Math instructors in the University of Southeastern Philippines are actually like this. Instructors must make themselves look presentable and respectable. If students will see them with drab clothing and with muddy shoes, they are more likely to ignore them but when you look presentable, students will find them aspiring (Wilson, 2015).

 

 

Negative Views

 

        According to the study of Supliez (2009), the most frequently mentioned negative views from a student towards their instructor are their personality flaws. It includes laziness, humorless and disorganized. Second most frequently mentioned characteristics are the pedagogical flaws which refer to the way of teaching that discourages students’ learning enthusiasm towards the subject. Lastly, a negative view is distinguished by emotional rejection to students. This refers to lack of interest of instructor to listen or to talk to their students.

 

Unconscious about class’ time frame

 

        In general, the respondents view their Math instructors as unconscious about class’ time frame since they do not observe proper time limit. Accordingly, Math instructors often come late in the class and sometimes they do not follow their time limit as they extend their time inside the classroom. This is manifested in the statement of respondent 6 and respondent 10.

 

Respondent 6:   “Mostly sa ila, mostly sa mga Math instructor kay late, late sila maabot then ang uban pud

                        gamay pa lang ang na consume na time muhawa na dayun.” (Most Math instructor are late,

                       they get in the class late. Others tend to consume little amount of the allotted time then they

                       will leave after that.)

 

Respondent 10:  Sometimes dili. Ay dili sometimes! Often. Kay… Dili jud nila mapansin ang time kay siguro

                         kay Engineer sila kay Engineer kay busy pero often jud masunod nila ang time.”(Often. They

                         don’t observe proper time limit, maybe because they are engineers and because they are

                         engineers, they are busy.)

 

        Respondent 6 says that most of their math instructors come late in the class and only consume a little amount of the allotted time for lecture. Similarly, respondent 10 says that their math instructors do not observe proper time limit because of their busy schedule as an Engineer. According to the study of Jabagat et, al. (2013) Instructor’s time unconsciousness really have a great impact in the behavior and academic performance of their students as this may lessen the interest and eagerness of the students to listen.

 

Do not accept student’s correction

 

This talk about the situation wherein students correct mistakes of instructor in periods of discussions.

 

Respondent 2:     “The professor… dili siya mudawat ba nga mali sila nga maskin mali ilang gitudlo, dili siya

                          mudawat nga gicorrect sila sa students.” (Instructors do not seem to accept they are

                          mistaken in their discussion. He can’t accept that he is being corrected by the student.)

 

        Respondent 2 wants to stress that there are times when students correct their instructors because of mistakes in some discussions like solving Math problems, yet instructor seem to reject student’s correction and proceeds to his own thoughts about the topic. Example of this is when the instructor has mistakenly interpreted the Math problem and the solutions were different from what the students actually expected (Petti, 2008).

 

 

Does not create good conversation

 

        This negative view from the students discusses the willingness of the instructors to accept question from the students regarding the topic. In this way, the students can cope to the lessons that they do not deeply understand because they will have the chance to ask their instructors. This is manifested from the response of respondent 3 and 10.

 

Respondent 3:          “Ahhmm… kanang murag walay ano, walay..walay… ah… feeling nako kay kanang

                                 ano, kanang perminti mag atubang sa blackboard, kanang mura iyang estudyante ang

                                 blackboard, unya, ang likod niya kay mura lang ug park bitaw. Dili niya ginapansin”(

                                 That feeling when your instructor is always facing the blackboard and his students at

                                 the back are just like park that he ignores.)

 

Respondent 10        “Ahh, since ang positive nako kay ang mudawat sila ug questions, so ang negative kay

                                 ang kabaliktaran lang. mga tecahers nga dili gadawat so, kung dili sila mudawat ug

                                 question kay negative kay paras amoa mga students kay since name sa skwelahan

                                 para matuto tapos naa miy gusto nga iclarify tapos dili nila tubagon, nonsense among

                                 pagskwela.” (Since my positive is they can be asked questions, my negative is the

                                 opposite, the teacher is not open-minded to accept questions from the students. We

                                 are here in school so if we have something to clarify but they are not willing to answer,

                                 then studying here would be nonsense.)

 

        Respondent 3 highlights that their professors cannot make good conversation inside the classroom because he cannot entertain his students while he is teaching. In similar way, respondent 10 wants to impose that he views his instructor negatively if he won’t be able to ask questions to clarify his doubts about the discussion. The students become less interested if this happens. This follows the idea of Hyman (2010), that when the professor only face the blackboard and never even looks at the students, or never pauses to invite questions from the students, this is considered as negative as this lessen student’s interest in listening and learning.