The harshest truth my students ever taught me is that it’s impossible to be entirely objective while teaching.
Some students are simply more engaged in class.
Some students are incredibly attractive.
Some students are routinely brilliant with their answers.
Some students ask the right questions.
I try my best not to favor such students with more attention than others. In fact, I often go the other way, being much stricter on those I feel a bias toward.
I stop myself returning the smile of the attractive student with an involuntary goofy grin, reserving it for the ones who are left-out in class. I hide the names on answer sheets while grading to prevent myself favoring students who’ve previously written great answers with a more cursory reading, while at the same time preventing myself being more intense on students who’ve given me bad answers before. In a hundred little ways, I try not to let my subconscious feelings translate into an outward bias.
I suppose in many ways being 3–4 years older than my students is tough because I relate to them on so many levels. Preventing this from clouding my judgement is the hardest thing about being a teacher.