Here's my situation: I was recently asked to teach a 12-week summer class, and I agreed. Yes, this was my very least favorite class to teach (a mandatory upper-division class on hamster fur structures that all our majors hate and cheat in like crazy) but the money was pretty good. And unlike the regular term, I only have about a dozen students, rather than the usual hoard of 50 or so.
I thought this would be kind of fun because the class would be small enough to let me connect with everyone individually and track their progress. And here's what I've found so far: THEY ARE DUMB AS DIRT. Almost all of them bombed both homework assignments so far, which I purposely made fairly easy (and had given in previous years I taught the class). One of the problems on the last assignment was a simple fill-in-the-blanks thing in which all the answers could by found in the lecture notes that I posted for them on our web page--no analysis whatsoever. I just wanted to nudge them to learn some of the freaking terminology we covered in class.
And almost none of them could be bothered to do even that. One of them e-mailed me (at 1 a.m.) asking if I could meet with him the following morning, but as I was away at a meeting then, I didn't read his message until the afternoon. I asked him to e-mail me his questions (the HW was due the next day) but I never heard back from him. And he never turned in the assignment, either.
Weirdly, none of my students seem the least bit concerned. I was warned that several people in the class were there because they had failed the course in the spring, which made me think they'd at least care enough to be annoyed. Most of their grades are in the 60% range, their first exam is coming up, and none of them seem the tiniest bit worried. I should add that I'm not a rotten teacher, either--a few years ago I was actually approached by one of those Great Professors You Can Listen To In Your Car companies who was interested in having me do a series for them. Their rep told me I was referred to them by former students of mine.
Q: So what gives? Do any of you find summer students to be a bit dimmer than regular session ones? And if so, what do you do about it?
- Sent in by "Totally Unfair"
As I'm in the process of moving to a new school, I'm skipping summer teaching, but I have found a similar sort of problem in previous summer sessions.
ReplyDeleteMy students take 8, 10, or 12 week summer sessions, some of them with classes that meet once weekly for extended periods. There's something about the odd scheduling that seems to convince students that there's less work to be done. I mean, it's a Saturday class that starts at 8 am. How can that be a real college course?
They have been, usually, working people, trying to earn credits toward a certificate of some kind, and they just think of it as an exchange. They pay the college. I sit in front of them; they attend when they can - unless they're taking the kids to Lake Havasu! - and by God they better get their B.
They don't show a real spark until the first grades come in, and then they argue about that until the semester's almost up.
I find I have to have a steely hand and steely nerves over the summer.
In my experience, summer classes tend to be polarized: there are some very strong students, both tradition and non-traditional, who are powering ahead in their college careers, want to get my gen ed class out of the way, realize that a 5-week writing-intensive class is going to be time-consuming, and plan accordingly. They're a good fit for summer term. Then there are the ones who just flunked the class in the spring semester, and need to retake it, or who fit Darla's description above: they expect summer classes to be easier rather than harder (because they move so fast, not because the material is different). I try to warn these students off, and some of them do drop, but the ones who remain can be very stubborn about meeting the (very reasonable) standard I set, and quite vocal when they realize that they really are in danger of flunking.
ReplyDeleteCaveat: I've been teaching online in the summer for the last few years. I'm sure that skews the sample, but I'm not sure exactly how.
I'm noticing a difference between the online summer class I'm teaching this year and the on-campus summer classes I've taught previously. While the on-campus students seemed engaged, and took full advantage of the small classes and individualized attention, my online students seem either incapable or unwilling to do the work and follow even the simplest of instructions. I've already decided that I'll never teach online during summer again.
ReplyDeleteI've taught my class as a summer course twice. One group was the best group of students I've ever had. The other was the worst.
ReplyDeleteIt's like Cassandra said--you get overachievers and kids who take advantage of the light class load and the short but intense schedule to really learn something, and you get underachievers who are there because someone's forcing them to be there. (In my class, those were mostly high school students whose parents pushed them to take a college course as enrichment. Some were very smart. Some, not so much.)
My experience is that the "best" students are above and beyond the best students I've ever had. I had one student who emailed to ask really good questions just about everyday. It's no surprise that he had an A.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom students are always far worse than my worst school year students.
The rest fall either well above average or well below. There really isn't much of a middle.
Same experience as above:
ReplyDeleteOne or two powering ahead, striving to do well.
But mostly those who think summer = easy and bomb the course.
My suggestion: See how they do on the exam. If they bomb, then teach on autopilot the next few weeks. Get through the summer by doing your best, but don't go overboard trying to "reach" them. The class just might be a dud.
I peeked at my students' GPAs just to see what I was in for. Ye gods. Not anything near 3.0 among the bunch.
ReplyDeleteIt may be different for community colleges, but I'd say about 90% of the time, my students are better in the summer. We tend to get students home from State U or wherever they went to get away from the area, online students who are also from bigger state universities and want to pick up a course while still away from home, and many of our best local students who are trying to get ahead or caught up on their degree plans. It's very rare I get more than 1-2 less capable students in a summer class.
ReplyDeleteBimodal distribution for me - (1) Those eager students trying to get an early jump on the next semester or to pick up a double major in 4 years, and (2) Those students who want class held outside and will miss every second or third class to nurse their hangover ... outside.
ReplyDeleteI tried a contract points system last year - XXX points needed for a final grade at each grade level. The eager beavers earned As early on difficult assignments, then cut the remainder of class. The lazy ones earned Cs using low-hanging fruit, and regularly cut class. The grade system certainly incented behavior. DOH!