The Teaching of Psychology in Autobiography: Perspectives from Exemplary Psychology Teachers Edited by Trisha A. Benson, Caroline Burke, Ana Amstadter, Ryan Sidey, Vincent Hevern, Barney Beins, & Bill Buskist.
32 Reflections from a High School Psychology Classroom: Inspirations, Ideas, and Advice Rob McEntarffer Lincoln Southeast High School, NE pp. 222-227

I have been teaching Introductory Psychology and Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology at Lincoln Southeast High School for 13 years. I was awarded the Moffett Award for Excellence in High School teaching in 2004 and have been a reader, table leader, and question leader for the AP Psychology exam. I am currently studying for my doctorate in education at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

My Early Development as a Teacher

In high school, my favorite class was taught by Kerstin Vandervoort. She taught Advanced Placement Literature and Composition, and her classroom was literally her work of art. Every year Kerstin covered her room with white butcher paper and wrote words on it in her wonderful 1950's trained handwriting. She covered each desk with white word-filled paper. The walls were lined with homemade bookshelves with multiple copies of the books we were to read that semester, arranged by color and size instead of alphabetically by title. Her whole room was composed, like a painting. I did not know why her room and class fascinated me at the time, but now I realize that she was the only artist I knew. She spent time every year creating her room, working at it like an art installation. By the time we arrived on the first day, everything was in its place, ready for the opening act. I did not see anyone else in my life spending time creating, and her class fascinated me.

Her teaching was similarly creative. She combined traditional teaching methods with radically new ones she created for each book we read. We wrote detailed analyses of Hamlet as a tragic figure and wrote poems using only 10 different words in order to try to understand Toni Morrison's novels. Her class was the only experience I had that valued academic work for its own sake, instead of for class credit or supposed preparation for the future. Kerstin seldom mentioned grades (although she labored over our papers) and talked about the importance of literature in our present lives, not the future. Every day I could tell she was happy and she loved talking to and writing with her students. Later, in college, when I was in my fourth major and fifth year, I knew I had to decide on a job that would fill my time after I graduated. I was not thinking about a "career" yet-just a job that I would enjoy. College taught me that I could be interested in and study many different subjects, but I did not learn how to focus on one area deeply for any amount of time. I decided to major in education and get my teaching certificate mainly because of Kerstin's example.

After graduation, I was fortunate to get a job at my old high school. My first teaching assignment included classes in psychology, philosophy, composition, and theater. I barely remember my first few years of teaching. I remember being intimidated when I looked at the school calendar. There were so many days to fill. I remember realizing that every day 150 students were being forced to come into my classroom for an hour, and realizing what a huge responsibility I had. In teachers college, we learned some developmental and cognitive psychological theories that related to student learning, but we never talked about the workload and responsibilities of a teacher. Watching Kerstin in high school, I never thought about how hard she worked, how many hours she spent not only on the visible aspects of her teaching like decorating her room, but on the invisible aspects like preparing for every class and commenting on student papers. I was not prepared for how many decisions I had to make every class. That first year, I had a recurring dream about my old job: Selling shoes. I dreamt I got to meet people, find the shoes they wanted, they would pay for them, and leave. I did not have to talk with them or be responsible for them after they left.

I became more comfortable during my second and third year, but I was still struggling to fill each class in ways I thought were worthwhile. I was paranoid about boring students and wasting their time. I stayed a few days ahead of the students and tried new assignments and discussion topics, but my class was fairly random. Most students told me they enjoyed our class, but I did not feel that I was really doing anything. I did not get the sense from my classroom that I got from Kerstin's. I did not feel like we were doing real work, work that inspired students to dedicate themselves to a topic or idea. We were filling time creatively and in an entertaining way, but I was frustrated.

Working at Defining Myself as a Teacher

Then Randy Ernst, a psychology teacher at another high school in my town, invited me to an National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Psychology Teaching institute at Texas A&M University organized by Dr. Ludy Benjamin. At the time, I was discouraged and I was not sure if I wanted to stay in teaching, but I was intrigued by the institute. It almost seemed too good to be true: If accepted, I would get to study at Texas A&M for a month, with paid room and board, and I would get a stipend and free books. I applied more because of personal interest than genuine dedication to improving my teaching. One of the requirements was to write a statement about how we would use our training to benefit teachers in our district, and I remember struggling to fulfill this requirement. I wrote something vague about "teaching staff development classes," and sent in my application.

I was accepted and I drove my rusted old Toyota pickup truck all the way south to Texas. At the institute, I met 30 dedicated psychology teachers; learning about their classrooms was a revelation. At the time, teaching psychology was just one of my four "preps," and I took it as seriously as all my other classes: I studied the introductory text we used, made sure I understood the terms well enough to explain them to my class and provide some examples for them, and tested students over their understanding of these terms. At the institute, I was exposed for the first time to the discipline of psychology, and saw that it was a habit of thinking, a way of understanding the world, not just a collection of terms. Every day we got to listen to specialists from various psychological fields talk about their research. I heard the stories behind the terms in my textbook, why certain methodologies were chosen, why conclusions were made, and how psychology evolved. Psychology became a more complete story to me. I saw psychology as a process of discovering rather than a finished body of knowledge. I met teachers in many stages of their careers and saw that teaching psychology was a task that could be fascinating and all-consuming, and to which I could dedicate myself. For the first time, I saw research as a creative endeavor.

The next year in my classroom, I began to encourage my students to do their own research. I did not know much about how to choose research questions, research methods, define variables, or analyze data, but I still asked my students to do all these things and we worked at them together. I saw many students commit fully to this project. They started caring about whether what they were doing was worthwhile and valid; they did not merely complete assignments just to show me they knew what they were doing. Students' work became about their own goals instead of mine. Eventually I wanted to learn more about research, and I started my Masters degree in educational psychology, with an emphasis in quantitative and qualitative research methods. As I learned more, my students' projects became more sophisticated and satisfying. For the next 10 years, I encouraged my students to think and reflect on psychological concepts, but beneath it all we were doing research, and these projects became the core of my class.

The Examined Life of a Teacher

Later, I got involved in psychology at the national level through the American Psychological Association (APA) and Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools. I was invited to teach at other psychology institutes inspired by the Texas A&M experience. I became a reader in the AP Psychology program. All these experiences gave me the opportunity to talk with other teachers about their goals for their classrooms and to define my own goals further. My primary goal in my classroom is to help students discover the psychological ideas about which they are passionate. My class is an elective, and students enroll in the class with a basic interest in psychology (or at least their conception of psychology). My class builds on this interest. I think the class would be in some way a failure if a student entered with an interest in psychology, but left with a lot of knowledge but no further interest.

To help students discover and build on personal interests, I let them choose much of what they do in our class. For each area of psychology we study, I ask them to complete a project. The goal of the project is that they use some of the theories we discussed to analyze a topic that means something to them. This freedom of choice can be a challenge for many students. Often the most difficult part of the project is choosing a topic, especially since I resist giving them ideas for their projects. One of my objectives is to help students learn how to apply psychological theories to their lives, so I will help them develop topic ideas, but I will not give them a topic idea. After students get used to this system, most embrace it and start generating their own ideas as soon as we start a new topic in class. Students develop their own ideas, research the theories they want to apply, and generate their own products to share with me. Some students turn in traditional papers, but others turn in Web pages, posters, PowerPoint files, pamphlets, etc. My classroom filled slowly with projects I kept from each class. I proudly display the three-dimensional brain sculpture with brain areas that light up when the appropriate button is selected, and the outdated computer turned into a metaphor for consciousness with labels and interactive quizzes. I ask students to explain their analysis by creating whatever product best fits their project. This choice of product turns into another analytic task for the student. I think these projects are some of the most valuable learning experiences we do in my classroom. Students get to use psychological theories in ways they generate themselves, instead of responding to specific questions that someone else (me, textbook writers, etc.) think are important or interesting. I hope that this skill transfers to the students' lives outside of class and to other classes.

Along with these projects, I assess students on their knowledge of the psychological theories we discuss in more traditional ways. Because I teach an AP psychology course, I develop AP style tests for each chapter we cover. I try to write multiple-choice questions that require students to understand and apply theories instead of just recognizing definitions of terms. Each test also includes an AP style essay question that requires students to apply theories from more than one area of psychology. Students may be asked to choose an appropriate therapy technique for a specific scenario, and then use their knowledge of research methodology to design a study to test the effectiveness of this therapy technique. I model what I see as reliable and valid assessment practices for students on these exams. We discuss the purpose of the exams and why they are designed the way they are. We discuss limitations on the reliability and validity of the exams. Students quickly become skilled at pointing out elements of the exam that limit the test's ability to assess their knowledge (sometimes too adeptly). We analyze specific multiple-choice items for problems in wording. I share the rubric I use for grading their essays, and how I developed it. I explain how to use the rubric (I use the grading process used to grade the essays on the actual AP exam). I indicate on their tests what points on the essays they missed according to the rubric.

Two years ago during one of our discussions of the purpose of the test and validity, a student asked me why they were not allowed to correct mistakes on the test for more credit. If the purpose of the test is to assess their knowledge of the psychological theories, why not adjust the test score if students demonstrated increased understanding by correcting their tests? I did not have a good answer to this question, so we decided as a class to try it. I asked students to take their exams home and "correct" any mistakes they made. They researched the questions using their textbook and notes, explained why their original answers were wrong and what the correct answers were and why. I decided to give students half credit back for these corrections. Students report that this experience is valuable, and not just only for improving grades. Student misconceptions are corrected quickly and they gain experience analyzing and understanding why test items are worded in certain ways.

This experience and others like it taught me how important it is to ask for feedback on my teaching from my students during our class. I do not understand why we do not ask high school students to evaluate our classes. I made up my own class evaluation form, and I ask students for feedback in at mid-term and at the end of our class. Students submit these evaluations anonymously, and I report the results in class. This discussion allows me to talk about my rationale behind my decisions and sometimes to make needed changes in class. In my classroom, I want to work with students to create worthwhile learning experiences, and allowing students choices in their work, giving them continuing chances to demonstrate understanding, and asking for honest feedback during the course helps me adapt our class to meet my goals and theirs.

Advice for New Teachers

One of my favorite teachers, Charles Brewer from Furman University, says "Teaching is a good life if you don't weaken." When I first heard him say this aphorism at the Texas A&M summer psychology institute, I did not know what he meant. I think I understand now. Teaching requires our full attention and commitment. Students respond when we communicate our passion for the ideas we want to share. It is too easy for us to weaken and teach only what it is easy for us to teach: what the textbook says, what we taught last year, or what we know students will enjoy. My favorite moments of teaching come when I managed to help students understand the ideas I see as important. Sometimes in class I am able to communicate an idea and why it is important for all our lives at this moment. For that moment, we are all focused together as a class on an important idea. When students understand the idea and why it is vital, we can talk about implications, perspectives, and variations on the idea. We become partners in exploring a vital idea, and their ideas add to my understanding and appreciation of the idea. I hope new teachers find their ways of connecting with students in this way. Teaching is fascinating because it is so difficult and so rewarding because we have to work so hard to ensure the rewards for ourselves and our students.

Final Thoughts

Some days as I am walking through the hallway during one of my planning periods, the enormity of "school" hits me. I walk past other teachers in their classrooms and I realize that in our building we have 1800 people all working at understanding the world. Every hour of every school day between 7 and 3 o'clock the people in our building are spending time and effort to study, talk about, and explore ideas. I feel lucky to live in a time and place where so much effort is given to education. It does not always work, not everyone (students and teachers) appreciates it, but I love being amazed over and over again at the enormity of the task and our willingness to engage in it. I am glad and grateful that I chose to become a teacher. I am grateful that I had an inspirational model to follow into this job. I am grateful that my students let me and helped me figure out that I loved teaching during the first few awkward years in the classroom. I am grateful for the excellent psychology teachers who offered me advice and opportunities to become better. For me, teaching high school psychology is an excellent way to share the excitement and relevance of psychology with others.

This page was first posted online on November 10, 2005 and was last updated on November10, 2005

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