So, I'm teaching 1 section of the Intro Bio lab this term. Every term, it's the same ol' flakiness. But this term, I am either being epically punked, or the Last Seal had been broken and Armageddon is upon us.I have a ... wait for it ... you may even need to sit down ...ok? ... I have, a *good* class. The students are respectful, funny, outgoing, enthusiastic, often awed by what they are learning, and say they are "having a blast!!" doing the Bio experiements. One student brought cookies today (which aren't allowed in the lab, so she gave them to me to "hide" and told me, "Pass 'em out as we leave. I don't want to get you in trouble with OSHA, but they are Snickerdoodles!" When I finished the lecture, I jokingly said, "Time to get this party started!" (meaning, let's do some actual sciencific experiments). Another student said, "Damn skippy it's a party! We get door-prizes when we leave AND we get to make a huge mess! Awesome! Mind if I use my iPhone and play some tunes." I was so shocked, I just nodded dumbly.
So, while listening to the Cure, Rush, Aerosmith, Clapton (all music I can't believe a 19-year-old would know), we test our food samples for proteins and carbs and lipids. And, miracle of miracles, this class knocked it out in 20 minutes flat, had cleaned the benches spotless, and we were done - D.U.N. - done 30 minutes early.
I offer the Snickerdoodles, and they refuse - they want to talk to me about things they've read about science (Holy I-smell-a-setup, Batman!!!). One guy's mom is Fundamentalist and he wants to know how he can explain Darwin and evolution to her. One girl wants to know about Alzheimer's, because her grandpa has it. One guy wants to talk about the Gulf Oil spill.
Seriously, there are only a couple of possibilities here:
1 - I was punked (and well)
2 - I was delusional and need to up my meds
3 - I was dreaming and any minute, 30-year-old Sean Connery is going to show up wearing nothing but a kilt.
4 - Yeah, yeah, yeah - the Apolcalypse
5 - I have stumbled upon a herd of the rarest of all living creatures: the Knowledge-Hungry Lab Student (Studentis biologicus nonflakeienseii)
How shall I approach this rare creature? Reward it and hope it returns for more? Challenge it and subjugate it to my will? Capture it and display it in the Student Center? I need a diary and some mist...I think I'm going Dian Fossey on these fuckers. At least that way, I'll have interesting (and possibly publishable) data when the Earth begins spinning on its normal axis again...
You may send me Sean Connery. Or if it turns out to be Duncan MacLeod, that's okay too.
ReplyDeleteIt does happen. I'm an ESL teacher and very, very rarely I get students who say things like, "I'm sorry, but can you explain this word I found in Dickens? You say Dickens isn't modern English? Can we discuss how English has evolved? We enjoyed the essay topic you gave us for homework, if I expand it and do some research on the web, do you mind checking my new essay, not for a grade or anything. I just need the practice." And the best ones are the ones that apologize as they ask for more work and more information, thinking that they are inconveniencing me.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. Come finals week, one of them will end up in protective custody OR have to support their fiance's cat's chemotherapy session (actual end of term meltdowns from the same class!)
ReplyDeleteI second that, "it does happen." It's a rare creature, but man it's fun when it arrives. Work them hard, reward them highly, but don't ever tell them they're different or special. Help them get as much from your class as possible and ENJOY the academic treats.
ReplyDeleteI fear miserable adjunct has it right.
ReplyDeleteThis beautiful rare butterfly will soon go the way of all flesh: wither, die, putrefy and finally disappear in a whiff of dust, leaving nothing but a faintly unpleasant odour to mark the spot where, for a few perfect moments, status quo was exchanged for Status Quo and love of learning steered the stars.
I once had a semester in which I taught the same class at 10:00 and at 11:00.
ReplyDeleteMy 10:00 class was dull and unresponsive. I tried to get classroom discussions going, and nothing happened. Work was late. Flakes bitched about grades. Plagiarism was barely covered up.
I walked into my 11:00 class one morning and found the students excitedly talking about the article they'd just read. Amongst themselves. AND IT WAS THE ARTICLE WE WEREN'T GOING TO DISCUSS UNTIL THE END OF THE WEEK. They had read today's article, too, but they also read ahead and were incredibly enthused about something they didn't need to read for several days.
Sometimes you just get a good class, and you don't know why. Cherish it; enjoy it. Because ten years from now, you'll probably remember it as "that one awesome class I had ten years ago."
It's actually much worse than all your fears:
ReplyDeleteThis class is for real.
Next year you get all the snowflakes back and never get this class again.
Let that sink in.
Beth, enjoy it and hope it lasts all semester! Teach it the way you wish you could teach every class.
ReplyDeleteRuby, I have that same situation A LOT (being at a 2-year college, it's inevitable). The 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. sections are the ones that fill first, and are inevitably full of dullards whose main concern is not getting up too early for classes, and not staying too late so they can either go to their part-time job or get ready for the evening's party. The earlier or later sections are MUCH better as a rule.
Enjoy the hell out of it, is what I say. I have one class that is showing potential ... I hope they turn out as well. One last spring was phenomenal; I had to tell them to go home at 10 because the center coordinator needed her sleep; and sometimes the party just moved outside where we talked until eleven. And then I had a half-0hour drive home ... Have fun with these guys!
ReplyDelete