The change was the following:
"Instead of class on Monday, December 7, I will be in my office. If you have a question about your final project or would like feedback on what you've written so far before you submit your project for a final grade, please stop by my office during the time we would normally meet for class. This means we will have no class on 12/7/2011."
I'm honestly unclear on how to make it clearer than that. I'm wondering how many of them actually READ the announcement before emailing me saying they were confused and wanted me to clarify. I would have been embarrassed to ask a professor to clarify something so tea-partying simple.
Do you think students are just that stupid, or do they not read anything anymore and simply want it explained in simpler terms because they're too lazy to read the initial posting?
I seriously wonder about this too. I pick stupidity.
ReplyDeleteAn example, from yesterday: the course schedule indicates that there is no lecture on Friday. A student emails "The course schedules says that there is no lecture on Friday. So, does this mean there is no lecture on Friday?" Well, the student clearly read the text properly, because they repeated the text back to me. They're just, uh, tea-partying stupid if they're going to ask a question like that.
A few weeks ago I posted a similar experience on Facebook. One of my college friends wrote something that really stuck with me. I had noticed that students never seem to actually read the policies I post on assignments/syllabi. She relayed a story about a dance class she took while we were in college. One day the professor announced to the class something like "Be sure to keep your leg straight. Assume this correction is for you." Of course, my friend admits to assuming that it couldn't be for her but when she later watched the video she saw her leg was straight as a wave.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason this story has just stuck with me. I think it is because the underlying message is that we all think that we are the exception to the rule. For some reason students must feel the need to verify that what you say is actually what is going to happen. I sort of wonder if this is because they are used to people (parents, teachers, each other?) not actually following through with what they claim (ie consequences for actions, grading scales, etc). Perhaps they are never sure what will actually happen and have learned that by questioning the authority figure they will get better intell on the actual outcome of a particular behaviour. I guess if my hypothesis is true, then I rather pity them a bit. But with that in mind I feel much better with sticking to exactly what I tell them I will do. It gives them a consistency they may not have ever had.
(Q) Do you think students are just that stupid, or do they not read anything anymore and simply want it explained in simpler terms because they're too lazy to read the initial posting?
ReplyDelete(A) Yes and yes. That isn't an exclusive "or."
One reason they are so stupid is because of their inferior reading skills. It's also because they don't like to read, since it requires them to use their brains, which they don't like to do.
This is a self-perpetuating cycle, or in other words, a positive feedback loop, or in still other words, a vicious cycle. God help and save the future of the modern world, if any.
I had a couple of students trash me in the evaluations for lack of professionalism one term for changing the schedule because we missed a class due to a snowstorm. They didn't mention the snowstorm of course.
ReplyDeleteYa know, I always answer these queries, and the general format I use is: Ok, tell me what you DO understand, then ask me a specific question about what you DON'T understand and I will clarify...The general outcome is "Oh, I get it...Nevermind."
ReplyDeleteI hate to be the one to point this out, but December 7 is WEDNESDAY. MONDAY is December 5. That may be what is causing the trouble--they don't know if they don't have class on the day or the date.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I had the same issue this past week. After several announcements in class, including the day before Thanksgiving break, that my classes would NOT MEET this week in favor of OPTIONAL conferences for their research papers, I had a student show up at 9:05 am to inform me that there were 9 annoyed people sitting in our classroom. When I asked why they were annoyed, and sitting in our classroom when I had explicitly told them repeatedly that this week was a project week which meant NO CLASS MEETING, the student grinned sheepishly at me and shrugged his shoulders. He went and presumably told the students the deal, and I posted a giant message on the course website to forestall any problems with the other section.
And Mrs C., I am SO THERE with you.
Next time, write it in crayon and use big pictures.
ReplyDeleteThere is research on Internet browsing that most people only read the first sentence of each paragraph on a webpage. I think you may have buried the lead.
ReplyDeleteThey WILL NOT READ. Advise them to download text-to-speech software like ReadAloud if they would like instructions read aloud to them.
ReplyDeleteI like Mrs. C's approach (and Ovreductd's, though I wonder whether comprehending the uninflected reading of text-to-speech software isn't a learned skill in its own right). And I've had BurntChrome's experience (and rather enjoy answering the occasional huffy/scolding email sent by a student who decided to show up for the first time in weeks, and is indignant that I am not in the classroom on a day that is marked, on the course calendar distributed on the frist day of class, "conferences -- no regular class meeting, come to my office, [number supplied], at your scheduled time. Use the rest of the time to work on [project then in progress]." The ones who show up at the classroom for the conference -- even a conference scheduled *outside* of class hours -- and then write an indignant "where were you?" email are also interesting.)
ReplyDeleteI suspect that at least a few of them have had experiences with contradictory or changed announcements, and so feel like they need to check. This seems to be especially true of the relatively small group of students who seem to believe that "taking the class" =, above all, showing up for every class period (which I appreciate, but I would also appreciate their doing the out-of-class work, which doesn't always happen).
I also suspect that "work on your own" or "come see me if you have questions" -type announcements are especially confusing for some of them, since they don't have a lot of experience dealing with unstructured time (or unsupervised work, which, of course, is one reason they often don't do homework). The queries may be veiled pleas for further instructions ("if we don't have class, what am I supposed to doooo?")
I see this attitude all the time, and not just with college students. Everyone wants to be spoon-fed information so they feel coddled and well-loved. Reading text on a sign or a Web site doesn't generate that feeling of being personally attended to. Somehow, even if you just read aloud to them whatever verbiage is on the sign/Web site/e-mail, etc., that will sink in, whereas they won't bother to read it themselves, or if they do, they'll read just the first sentence, or else they'll read it and entirely forget about it within seconds. If you classes are on both Mondays and Wednesdays, the confusion is understandable. Otherwise, it's just the usual laziness and bizarre preference for personalized, verbal delivery of the information, which takes a lot longer than a few seconds of reading. I have no idea why, but my freelance clients ask me all the time, after they strive to put the critical information, such as their location or e-mail address, in the very first lines of their Web pages, why are they still getting telephone calls asking for the information? We know these callers see the Web site, since that's where they got the telephone number, but why can't they read just one more line to find the street address or whatever? Beats me; it's just the way it is. I am not sure if stupidity or laziness is the culprit; I think it's a curious desire to feel the kind of personalized attention that reading a sign aloud represents.
ReplyDeleteAhh, yes, the date. I checked: it is correct in the actual posting online. Whew! That's not what they were even asking. They just claimed to not understand what was going on. This was also something we had voted on in class the prior period. I'm using Mrs. C's approach to respond to these.
ReplyDeleteFroderick gets it: their comprehension skills are wretched.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Contemplative Cynic, for perpetuating the tea-partying euphemism!