One student who couldn't come to office hours and had scheduled an appointment during my lunch break told me in advance that he could not make the appointment and that I should enjoy my lunch. Functionality and politeness? How did you end up in my class, and are there more of you???
Students in my introductory algebra course actually listened to me when I instructed them to show all of their work - and neatly - on their exams. Students saw a boost in partial credit, both because I could see how they solved the problems, and also because I was in a better mood.
Two students emailed me with questions about their homework, and they actually included screenshots of their responses! I didn't have to read their minds or guess at what they had done. This made responding to their questions easy, quick, and almost fun!
Q: Has anybody else had a student brighten their day yet this semester?
Forgive me, CaliMathProf, but to me, this earns a C for meeting basic expectations.
ReplyDeleteIn related news, we are so fucking fucked.
I had a student yesterday not only talk like a pirate (for International Talk Like a Pirate Day) throughout class but actually dress up like a pirate. She was a hoot.
ReplyDeleteShiver me timbers! I forgot about it, and I was so going to Talk Like a Pirate during my entire lecture.
DeleteNext year I set up a calendar reminder.
I've had one student hit a home run on a major weekly deliverable. Nope, not because she was intrinsically smarter than her peers, but because she obviously had read the book, and looked at the before/after examples in the writing prompt, and realized that all writing requires revision(and not all writing needs to be puffed up with too many big words).
ReplyDeleteShe is the single bright spot so far this fall. Otherwise I seem to facing a big crowd of folks going through the motions...and tempting me to do the same. I've not been this demotivated in my adjuncting career before.
They are like clouds. My day is brighter simply because they are away.
ReplyDeleteI have a student who one day after class said to me "What is with these students? They are so rude with there cell phones and how they speak to the professor. It's crazy. And WHAT are they WEARING? Is this a college or a night club?" She is a non-trad from Europe so she isn't the typical CC student but I would like more like her!
ReplyDeleteBeware! They're Strelnikov's advance operatives. He'll be making his move soon.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I got an extremely polite, professional, WELL-WRITTEN e-mail request for a recommendation for law school. I'm tempted to attach the e-mail to my recommendation!
ReplyDeleteI have a pretty simple "notice something in the larger world and relate it to concepts in the class" oral report assignment this semester. Several have been *really* good, exactly what I had in mind (several haven't, but that's a topic for another post. While I understand your object, Drunk, it seems to me that the occasional bit of contrast is useful).
ReplyDeleteAnd I just read a really, really good first paper. The student even made responsible use of what appears to be a reliable wikipedia article (but I did tell hir to cite something more reliably reliable, for appearance's sake, the next time).
DeleteI actually had a fantastic exchange with a student in class yesterday that everyone was able to enjoy. We were doing a word problem that involves combining tins of popcorn and tins of kettle corn to create a mixture that would sell for an appropriate price, and the following exchange took place with one of my students:
ReplyDeleteMe: This word problem is going to be tins of fun!
*Class simultaneously chuckles and rolls eyes, as expected*
Student: That was super corny!
*Class starts to laugh more, and one student calls for a pun-off*
Me: Ouch! You just out-punned me. Now I'm feeling a bit salty.
Student: Oh, stop buttering me up!
At this point we were all laughing so hard, we had to take a moment to compose ourselves before continuing with the word problem. And even though it might be a small distraction, I feel like getting to laugh that much in a math class is good for relaxing everybody's nerves.
My class just absolutely rocked an in-class activity. This is at the same school where my other class were just helpless little puppies the other day. It was a challenging assignment, and one that usually gets a lot of eye-rolling, sighs and "why do we have to do this?", but instead they worked together, asked good questions, took my advice, and asked for further clarification after they did what I suggested because they wanted to learn more. It was fantastic. I suspect next week they will mutiny because there is no way this could continue.
ReplyDeleteBeaker Ben wrote: They are like clouds. My day is brighter simply because they are away.
ReplyDeleteI concur.
Although I will say that I lost my temper with a class about a week and a half ago. Since then, students in this class seem to be behaving (as they should) and are actually doing the work I have assigned and getting it in on time (as they should).
I actually got a thank-you email from a student for whom I'd written a letter of recommendation. This was a first for me.
ReplyDeleteHey, when I asked my proffies for letters of rec, I usually hand-wrote my thank-you notes on pretty stationary. Sometimes I even gave them cookies or a box of chocolates. But since I've become a teacher, I've never once received any kind of thank-you from a student for doing anything above and beyond the call of duty, not in person, not in email, and certainly not on anything so old-fashioned as stationary ... so hey, step in the right direction, I guess.
Not a chance. This term, I have horde after horde of retarded sea cucumbers.
ReplyDelete(What's the collective noun for retarded sea cucumbers? Horde? Crash? Murder? Preponderance? Gaggle?)
A basket of sea cucumbers? A sandbar of sea cucumbers? A tsunami of sea cucumbers?
DeleteStationery.
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