Observation...Thankful Students

Sometimes, I have pity on my students and extend deadlines. I remember feeling unprepared to do college level writing when I was in college. Although I prepare them fully to do the work they have to complete in the course, I know I am competing with a myriad of educational deficits that they have accumulated over the years in their primary education. This is not to say that I blame their teachers...it is a complicated web in primary education: parents, peer pressure, life pressure, neglect, lazy students, lazy teachers, apathetic administrators, an onslaught of standardized tests or evaluations (of students and teachers). But, oftentimes, there is no real learning going on. I was only in that sphere of education briefly, but I realized it wasn't for me.

Nevertheless, that is the foundation that ALL students come to college with and the same foundation that professors have to build on OR overcome!

Yesterday, I chose to go back and REBUILD that foundation, and once it was in place I informed my students that "I will not be taking papers up today." I went on to tell them that I wanted them to be successful students and without a proper understanding of the skills they need to write/construct an argument/supplement their opinions with adequate evidence and acknowledge ETHICALLY said information (ESPECIALLY IN A RESEARCH PAPER) they would surely fail OR PLAGIARIZE their papers. (plagiarism is a rampant problem in education when it comes to writing, but that is for another blog post).

In short, several students exhorted, "I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE THE BEST TEACHER EVER!" I know this was said with a mixture of relief and thankfulness on their part, but I was happy to see that many of them cared enough want to do better.

It's nice to know that my students care and even nicer to know that they really appreciate my desire to raise the bar and push them to get a "real education" (which 5 students came up to me after class and confirmed).

Reporting from the Trenches...

Multimedia technology...Ruining our students or helping them?

I am a believer in incorporating technology in the classroom, but somedays (earlier this week is a good example) I find that it encourages students to be LAZY learners or not to be learners at all.  

I don't allow laptops in my lectures because they have crippled students' ability to spell, take notes efficiently, and, of course, pay attention. BUT, I have not yet figured out how to maintain the level of attentiveness (Active Learning, if you will) that I want them to be at while lecturing using technology. 

Anyone who teaches English understands this dilemma. The finer points of MLA format, grammar, punctuation, and structure can all be a bit daunting to illustrate fluidly on a chalkboard (plus volunteers to correct sentences are always few and far between) and you never want to bombard your students with worksheets (they checkout and you have tons to grade), so you turn to TECHNOLOGY!  However, when you put up Power Points (no matter how interactive...AND MINE ARE SUPER INTERACTIVE....I'm talking movie clips, sound bites, practice sentences with answers so it's like a game, images, cartoons to examine...THE WORKS!) its like students switch into HIBERNATION mode.  Pens stop moving, eyes glaze over or begin to droop, heads slowly become acquainted with their new best friend, the desk.  I literally have to go for shock value in my lectures that include technology or resign myself to the class morphing from  ENGLISH 101 into REM CYCLES 101. 

I didn't have the luxury of tons of technology in the classroom when I was in college, but that made me a better student. A student had to stay on his or her toes. If you didn't take notes well, you learned. If you wrote too slow, you learned to speed up or else you would miss important information. We all made friends with one another so that if we missed something the teacher said, we could consult each other, not blame the teacher/professor for not "POSTING" the information to said school/courses website. We came to class and were engaged in discussion and debate, instead of asking "WILL THIS PPT BE ON BLAHBOARD?" because we wanted an excuse to mentally checkout! (I don't think one professor I had on college posted notes, you came and learned or you were not granted the "pleasure" of gaining their knowledge)  In essence we were more actively involved in what went on in the classroom because it was our RESPONSIBILITY... a concept that I feel is very lost on many of my students.

I guess this is a different generation of students and the demand for technology in the classroom is here to stay. Maybe, students will miraculously change, become more engaged with the technology in the classroom, and I will learn to love technology it...

 or maybe not.

Candid Discussion...Final Exam Question Revisited

This cartoon brings up a question that I present to my students as a final exam question almost every semester: Is a college education really worth it?  (I obviously give them a bit more of a structure to follow and a clear direction for their essay to head in, but essentially this is the question that crops on every essay final)

In all seriousness, I wonder if they ask themselves this when classes become overwhelming or exceedingly more difficult. When they have persistent attendance issues, complain about not being able to pay for overly expensive books (all semester long -- despite having on brand new clothes and shoes or in some cases new hairdos), not having enough time to do their work because of job, family obligations, or emergencies, or flat out say they have other, more important, things to do than attend class, I wonder if some of them really see a college education as worthy of the sacrifices they have to make in order to be successful at it. 

I sometimes come to pseudo-conclusions based upon their class performance, but I don't know what they contend with in their personal lives. I only see what they bring to the table in the classroom.

Basically, with the cost of education rising exponentially and the time and energy and effort that is needed to truly be successful in a typical set of classes, many of my students either fall by the wayside of education or else they barely scrap by with lackluster grades and end up feeling like they wasted a lot of time and money. They are not alone in these feelings though. 

As I ponder returning to obtain the coveted Doctorate degree (or becoming a FUD as my dad calls it) I find myself wondering if it is even worth it anymore.

Observation: Students Don't Get the Concept of Notes!

Yes, I'm talking for my own benefit. 
No students, don't bother to lift a finger while I go over the DETAILED/FULL OF EXAMPLES/THOROUGH power point outlining the nuances of English Grammar and proper communication WHICH YOU NEED TO KNOW! 


You clearly, already have a degree in ENGLISH, Right?! I'll just continue to stand here and review concepts that have no bearing on your grades or potential to be an eloquent writer and you can just continue to stare back at me like a deer looking at a Mack truck bearing down on it.


Clearly, you don't seem to get the concept that YOU SHOULD BE TAKING NOTES!

Good/Bad Teacher

I give out a critical thinking and analytical skills assignment each semester that asks students to observe a person in a specific profession or setting and analyze (objectively and subjectively) the impressions that this person makes, using only the evidence that they see from their observation as the basis for their analysis....Really ACADEMIC SOUNDING. Right?!  Well this semester it was Good/Bad Teacher.

Interestingly enough, while teaching this assignment and reading rough drafts, I began thinking about "What really makes a bad teacher?" One of my more colorful students put it this way: "A bad teacher is one who is boring is basically a jacked up mess and doesn't even know what they are teaching or how to manage the class."  (A run-on; yet, a compelling statement) I began to wonder how each of my students felt about their teachers in the past as well as the present and gave them a chance to share their observations with the class to help get some brainstorming going. (Yes, I asked for the good, the bad, and the ugly. . . it is a summer session class after all and there are some all-too-familiar faces in the class)

In short, I learned some interesting things: 

1. Everyone can name a horrible teacher they had in the past.
2. Only a select few could think of a teacher that was AWE INSPIRING
3. Many students felt like the best teachers were the ones who they could relate to but also those who  pushed them although they didn't like that so much at the time they were being pushed

While there may be many "BAD TEACHERS" out there, those of us who love the profession passionately have to continue to let our enthusiasm permeate the classrooms we find ourselves in and push our students so that we continue to change lives.   

How many of you can remember a BAD/GOOD Teacher?

Most Annoying Task Today...

Some tasks that are required of an English Professor are so mundane....Take the semester syllabus for example .  As a new professor, I must create one for every semester that I teach (summer included...made all the harder with longer classes but fewer weeks to work all the material in) and tweak it until I have some years under my belt and a basic formula for success.

I wouldn't be complaining if it were easy to do...UNFORTUNATELY IT TAKES ME HOURS to finesse the syllabus....I constantly move things around and cut and paste to no avail!

Basically, I loathe making syllabi and can't wait to be done with yet another one.

I guess once I'm tenured this will be a funny memory to look back at like my days of searching for this very job... RELIVE those funny yet horrific stories HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Summer School

So this semester is going to be the first time I've ever attended summer school! Well, I'll be attending as the instructor and not as a student, but you can believe the pressure is still there.

I feel like summer session classes are so rushed and I guess that is helpful for the student, but want can really be learned in a month that it takes others 15 weeks to understand fully. I have always heard that people take summer session classes to either get ahead in coursework, to repeat classes without having to suffer through an entire semester, or to just get a requirement out of the way. No matter which reason, I can't help wondering if these students really want to master/learn the subject I teach in earnest or if this is a feeble attempt to get a subject they must take but seldom enjoy out of the way. I can't shake the feeling that they may not even engage with what I am teaching them each day (thinking face). And yet, I will still try my hardest to make it an interesting and enlightening month of class (partially for them but mostly for me...students often forget professors give up a portion of their summer too when teaching summer classes).


I have always had mixed feelings about summer session classes, but I am optimistic that my students will not disappoint me

...and if they do, I can simply remind myself that IT IS SUMMER SCHOOL AFTER ALL!

Observation: Moms in Minivans drive like Maniacs!

So this is something that I've noticed a lot recently. Moms (and Dads...don't want to unfairly leave out the menfolk who drive their children around when their wives command them to) who drive those monstrous minivans are all MANIACS!

Maybe they are totally PEEVED about the fact that they are relegated to driving such an eye-sore of a vehicle just to function in their day to day lives....but this is no excuse to speed for no apparent reason, cut people off with your massive vehicle, and basically bully other cars that are much better looking. I mean sure your kids are annoying you, but think of the rest of us please!?!

Honestly the sight of a minivan scares me.This could be because I come from a family of 5 and can attest to the activities within the minivan that drive these Moms and Dads into their permanent state of ROAD RAGE! (tehehehehe -- little Jennifer laughing inside) I always find myself cringing at the sight of these vehicles and impulsively let them pass me so that I don't have to wonder what they will erratically do next.

Has anyone else ever witnessed this, or am I alone in my observation?

WE'VE BEEN HAD! HOODWINKED! BAMBOOZLED!

"Work hard, get a college degree, use that degree as your ticket to a successful career. Or so it was sold. The social contract young grads believed in, were taught not to question, has been broken." ~New York Times


In their article on "The Downsized College Grad", the NYTimes shed light on the fact that college students are experiencing increasing difficulty as they graduate and cannot find jobs. The go on to state that the new grad is unwilling to make mistakes in the learning process and beg for structure as they try to carve out a career path for themselves. Sadly, I see this in the classroom all the time. Unoriginal thinkers; those who cannot fathom that taking chances and making mistakes is a more effective way to learn. 


This is a subject that my sister and I have discussed several times and now the New York Times seems to be onto our wavelength as well (bring on the onslaught of Dateline, CNN, and CSPAN debates and specials on how college students are floundering in today's economy). Going the traditional route of accumulating more and more education does not ensure success, especially in this economy. Yet, people are so unwilling to take risks, push themselves and "think outside of the box"...an all to familiar phrase that I used to hear growing up...that they are often running in the same direction as everyone else and similarly disappointed with the lack luster results. 


It comes as no surprise then, that the current job situation in the US has caused many to make the MAD DASH back to education, particularly the college classroom...ironically the same torture chambers they despised as youths and could not wait to escape...as the only way to achieve success in a floundering economy. Yet, the many of us who have college degrees and even some who have degrees with boatloads of experience don't find it to be of much help in an economy where employers have all the power and can choose to be ridiculously choosy!


Nevertheless, ads for going back to school persist everywhere and with few people wiling to take real risks, deviate from the norm and be an original in society, most of us will become slaves to what we know and continue to pursue impossibly unaffordable educations with little return from accumulating that massive debt. Only a select few will venture out into the unknown. 


Despite all the evidence to the contrary, many in society will continue to GET THOSE DEGREES!