History Teacher...not the best.

[Chocaholic]

Hello!

I'm currently a pre-ib student going into IB this September. I hear that I'm going to have a horrible History SL teacher and I was wondering how this will affect my IB experience. Should I reconsider going into IB or possibly drop out if he actually is a horrble teacher? I'm just afraid that one class with really bring down my marks as I have slight difficulties with history.

Thank youu!

[sweetnsimple786]

Hmm well there are a few things to keep in mind.

You're going to encounter bad teachers at some point in your life. You can't always escape them.

Will you let this one teacher deter you from taking IB? Do you really want to do IB? [if you don't, that's totally okay. Just find out how important it is to you and if you have the determination right now =)]

How many people told you that the teacher was horrible? Do you think it might just be that time of the year when students are stressed? How accurate/whole a depiction do you think you have of this teacher? Maybe you can talk to more people or ask specific questions if you're not sure.

And do you like preIB so far? Do you like some of the people who are planning on starting IB next year? I think the other students help keep you sane, so they might just be more important than the teachers, on the norm.

Can you tell me more about your view on IB and how your experience has been so far? I don't think one teacher should be able to influence such a decision. It's really a lot of other factors mixed in. =)

[Chocaholic]

I love preIB it's excellent and I think I really am going to like IB, I just don't know how that one course will affect my overall experience. Almost all of the other students that are in IBDP now say that the teacher is horrible. He doesn't teach the proper material is how they phrase it, and the material that he does get to is not taught well. They also say he never gives any tests. That ends up to be a big mess by the time exams come.

I would really like to stay in IB, I just don't want that one course to affect my outcome and mess up my chances at scholarships, etc.

Thanks!

[Sandwich]

Can you avoid taking history? Teachers really do make a difference, or so I felt when I was doing it! Catastrophically crap/no teaching can mess up your marks

[may]

i do not trust what people say, especially after the incident with my history teacher. before IB, when i was at your situation of choosing subjects etc, there were some friends of mine that tried to deter me from taking this subject by saying that the teacher is not at all agreeable. first of all, she's great. and there is a chance that yours is very nice as well. or at least not horrible. & plus, by saying that she's great i don't mean that she gives good marks or that she's lenient. she manages to communicate the passion she has for history and she apperciates those who try - no matter they get 7s or 4s. but you won't have a problem, really. all it takes is to be dilligent and a fan of history, and a good grade is not hard to get. needless to say, i suggest that you keep this subject (:

P.S sweetnsimlpe786 is right, even if he/she is indeed not a good teacher, you're going to encounter mulptiple of them in your academic years. i'd be really interested in learning your impressions about this teacher, if you eventually choose history.

[Fish]

I was warned about a horrible history teacher two years ago, turned out to be one of my favorite teachers ever. The reason most people didn't like him and labeled him "inadequate" was because he was a really demanding teacher. He was one of the only teachers that let students think for themselves, which made many of my classmates go into a state of panic. What you do from here is your choice, if you're taking History in IB1 I'm guessing you chose the subject? Look, if history isn't that important you can always choose another subject.

Our ability to face a situation head on and overcome it is what defines us. I say stick with History and try your hardest.

[Grumps]

I've had experiences where people have told me "don't take this teacher he/she is awful, but I've found them to be wrong. I've also had experiences where they were completely correct and have dreaded my decision. I don't know if you can do this is IB but a couple days into my Planning class (you know, one of those useless drug and sex awareness career planning bull**** classes), I just got sick of my teacher, ran up to his face, told him I'm switching out, and left. The conversation with the counsellor went like:

"why do you want to switch"

"my teacher is a dumbass"

"Which teacher"

"Mr.******"

"Ok which class do you want..."

Moral of the story, you could probably try and if it's really bad switch out. Make sure you decide a couple days in.

[lynyrd]

I guess that if you don´t have another choice, go for it. History SL does not entirely depend on your teacher, there are great IB History textbooks that you can browse. But beware with the Internal assesment, try to ask your teacher the most of the questions, chase him everywhere to squeeze all of your doubts! teachers usually don´t care about ur performance.

Edited June 30, 2010 by Aboo
No text speak!

[NadiaB]

You shouldn't let a bad teacher deprive you of what you want to learn. If you want to learn history then take history, if you have a bad teacher then take time to review notes or further research stuff when possible...

I've been in the same situation where I was worried about a teacher, I almost ended up dropping the class but I loved it too much I didn't. I didn't let her bad teaching stop me. Even in my chinese class I know I don't have the best teacher but I push myself with my personal studying so that I can do better on the exam.

The teacher is supposed to tell you what you need to know, if they don't there are always course outlines and TONS of books on the topic you are studying. Especially if you're saying he doesn't teach the proper material. It could be difficult to do but not impossible, if you really love history than go for it! It's a great course, history is always fascinating and if they don't teach the proper material then talk to them about it and if it is consistent you could consider talking to the IB coordinator or something.

Edited July 3, 2010 by NadiaB

[Center Field]

I might be posting a tad late here but from my experience half of the time someone tells you that a teacher is bad they arn't taking into consideration the fact that different people have different learning styles. Furthermore, they might just be biased (for example if the person didn't actually have that teacher, but loved another one).

Also, if you are driven, this may be an opportunity. I know three university professors from an internship I did who all purposefully taught in a way that probably would have been considered "bad" (to illustrate, one of them pruposefully wrote small on his chalk board, mumbled a lot, erased what he wrote before it could be copied down, etc) because it forces you to put more effort into your learning (in their own words). I cannot remember the exact number, but five to nine of their past students have either published revolutionary theories in that field (astronomy/astrophysics), or gone onto extraordinary successful careers with many thousands of academic citations. That number doesn't sound like a lot, but in all actuality it is a huge number for astronomy. I actually learned a lot from them.

SO "bad" teachers are not always bad.

[Cynthia]

SO "bad" teachers are not always bad.

To be honest I feel like that is not really proving much. I feel like by forcing people to "put more effort into learning" in that way teachers are purposefully making many students' lives harder without much extra results - I don't exactly understand how mumbling etc. could facilitate learning in any way and as far as I am aware that is not a commonly accepted pedagogical truth!

Especially in IB usually when a teacher is bad it means that he/she doesn't know the IB stuff well enough and/or doesn't teach according to the syllabus and this can really make it harder to succeed in that subject.

[Center Field]

lol, it doesn't have to prove much. It is a thought based on my own experiences and academic journal atricles on educational science that I have read at the local University's library. I invite you to read the first section of my previous post. Different people have different styles of learning, and your "pedagogical truth" is most likely going to be different than others. It is certainly much different tham mine, apparently. Very different. Therefore I would state once more that this is based off of experiences I reflect on and things that I have read. It may not be applicable to you. But it was a thought.

Now, if the teacher does not know his material well that is a whole new ballgame but still no cause to drop out of IB...its one teacher. That would mean you have nothing to base your studies off of.

In any case, I am just trying to help. How you handle the situation is your prerogative.

[kingdomx]

I have had my fair share of bad teachers, but there is an old saying that goes, success is 20% on the teacher and 80% on the student and his or her effort.

[Chocaholic]

Thanks so much everyone! I'm going to take it. I start school next week, so we'll see...

[Mishal]

I wouldn't take it if the teacher wasn't good. Thinking about learning history with a bad teacher would be boring. Unless your planning on doing something with history dont take it

[Guest]

Yeah, and make sure there is another History teacher (preferably the one teaching HL) to help you out if needed required be.