this is not part of my rant, but i must say, how happy am i with robin soderling right now?
but now back to my rant. wow. i just got out of the most failed 101 class that i think i've ever taught. and granted, my experience is not wide and large, but what there is of it, this class so far ranks right up there at the top. see, it seems to me that students would rather use class time to write their essays rather than writing them at home. apparently, most of my students this summer don't want that at all. of course, my initial thought is that most of them don't want to write period, so really, i'm fighting a losing battle either way. but i can't and won't entertain them every single class period. and seriously, their essays are terrible. there is an occasional bright spot. and i keep thinking that it has to be me. somehow i'm doing something completely wrong. the only thing i feel like i'm doing differently this time than i've done in the past is give them different source texts to read and write about. otherwise, my MO has been pretty much the same. but with this class, it just isn't working and i'm just not getting through and i don't know how to right the ship. i don't want to have to pick up something every single class period just to get them to take what i ask them to do in class seriously and assign a point total to it but i guess that that's exactly what i'm going to have to do. i find myself doing it more and more each time i teach and i've done it a lot in this class. the thing is that i don't want to have to pick up all that paper and i don't want to read it--but then if i don't read it they'll know that i'm not reading it and still not take it seriously. and seriously, if i thought i was talking about a small percentage of my students it would be one thing but it feels like this time there's a much larger percentage of students who would rather just not work. all of this is to say that i had planned to have them do some pre-writing in class all next week leading up to their research papers being due next friday but now i have no idea what i'll have them do so back to the drawing board. it's just strange and incomprehensible to me because when i did the pre-writing in previously classes it always turned out well but this time it just didn't. in general, i'm just not really happy. i mean, i didn't even finish my mocha this morning so you know there's something wrong. i knew yesterday morning when i woke up that it was going to be one of those weeks and well...so far...i was totally right.
3 comments:
You didn't even finish your mocha? That is serious.
I don't have a lot to offer besides "well, sometimes you get a class of duds" except for this little nugget that a prof told me once: "When I have a class that just completely bombs for the entire semester, I note that I've had success before. Therefore, it isn't me." She was partially kidding, because sure, sometimes it IS us, but the greater point is not to spend more time agonizing over it than the students do, and if you find the balance of caring is totally out of whack (you care way more than they do) then it really isn't you. Summer school with students who have already procrastinated taking their 101? Already a recipe for difficulty. Esp. if you've identified that you're not being unclear -- you're being clear and they are systematically not doing things they should. From what you've said here and elsewhere, I really, really don't think it's you.
thanks for the pep talk i needed it! and the thing i'm trying to stay focused on is that the students who want to do well will do well because they care and are doing the best that they can, and i just need to remember that i need to do my best for them. i can't let them down just because i'm frustrated with the rest of their classmates. and i can't give up on the rest of them either, i will keep doing my best but i'm going to have to stop letting it get to me so much if they don't want to put in any level of effort at all. but seriously, this is totally making me rethink whether i will ever request to teach here in the summer again. ughgh...
Yes. Also, look up a short article in Pedagogy, Volume 2, Issue 1, Winter 2002 called "Teaching to the Six" by Michael Berube.
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