A few weeks back there was a post about how we all handle summer classes. How do we pack all the fourteen weeks of class material into five short weeks? Many folks wrote in to say they didn't. I did not write in. I am sorry. I guess I was too tired or something. But the truth is, I don't either. By don't, I mean, I don't really fit all the fourteen weeks of material into five weeks. Who can pull off that shit? I do try though. I cram as much as I possibly can muster into those five weeks. But fit all of it?
Not me.
So I was feeling bad, actually, about my readings and assignments list. I was thinking DAMN, I am a slacker. I am a turning into one of those greybeards....and I will never have a beard (hopefully) and I am not all that old, dammit.
And so, I began this morning thinking they would all think how easy it was going to be, so much easier than during the year. And I was feeling bad about that.
When the class began this morning, I had a full compliment of 25 in my writing class. Now, this evening, after they have had a chance to look at everything (I put all the readings, and summarize all the assignments, in my syllabus) I have 17.
17.
Yikes. What did I do? Should I not have put my photo in after all? I suck! I really suck!
Why am I taking this so personally?
Why feel bad?
ReplyDeleteIf your syllabus is rigorous, and covers the material that you want to cover, and contains appropriate assignments, then that's all you need to worry about. If your students want to delay their education, and take a chance on getting a less rigorous instructor, then that's their problem.
Of course, depending on where you teach, there could be some personal consequences. At my institution, under-enrolled summer courses result in a reduction in faculty remuneration. I can't remember right now exactly what the thresholds are, but instructors are paid at 100% above a certain level, and pay then drops 5% per lost student, down to about 75%.
In order to combat this problem, some instructors take it easy on the students for the first week, until the drop date passes and the course numbers are finalized. Then they bring the hammer down. I'm not sure how ethical such a strategy is, but in my opinion it's no less ethical than tying faculty pay to enrollment numbers.
You do not suck. You have 7 students who decided that the accelerated pace was not for them. You do the best you can--we all do--so do not beat yourself up. Do not forget that you have 7 fewer people to grade and give feedback for their writing.
ReplyDeleteI taught a lit course in 6 weeks. Even with a pared down reading list the students felt rushed and overwhelmed. I teach a comp1 course in7 weeks, also pared down with fewer short writing assignments (no time) but the same number of essays (3 totaling 12-15 pages of polished writing). That may be why I only have 5 registered as of today. And yes, my pay is tied to the number enrolled (in summer)...so I'm hoping for 11 ( which would net me the full salary for the course).
Fuck 'em. They took one look at you and decided that you wouldn't hit the bong with them. Consider it a complement.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear. Fuck 'em and feed 'em fish heads. As long as you get your paycheck for a full class, then hooray for drop/add period attrition.
DeleteHere is one scenario: a group of several study buddies who always like to "work" together went looking for an easy summer class, saw your syllabus, and the group ran for their lives.
ReplyDeleteAnother scenario: they saw your picture and dropped because they were intimidated by your good looks.
Don't take it personal ... most college students belong to a subdivision of abnormals whose behavior is both unpredictable and illogical.
Unless your pay is affected, why be upset? I'd be happy about the fact that the slackers decided to leave, meaning 7 fewer papers and essays to grade. It's not like your syllabus is YOU. They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting the work.
ReplyDeleteThe last summer course I deigned to teach had a stipulation that there needed to be five students to fly. So, despite whatever amount of prep I did for the course, if FIVE students didn't stay enrolled, I got zero dollars for the course, which would be cancelled, and I would have done a week or two of prep re-working an old course into a summer session.
ReplyDeleteI had four in week one, but a fifth was intending to stay enrolled. Yay @ rent money!
#5 turned out to be a disaster. F student. Plagiarist. Cheater. Dumbass. Clueless with a capital DUH.
The other 4? One A, One B, One C, and One D. It was a writing course and three of them didn't hand in drafts. Effie handed in an assignment she openly admitted she did for another course (thus violating the terms of the assignment and grounds for an Academic Dishonesty charge at that school).
The A student was the only one who seemed to have taken the course seriously. The others? Waste of Time. My time *AND* theirs.
In retrospect, I wish the course had just been cancelled. It was completely demoralizing. And those people got to "evaluate" me at the end; I never bothered to even read that steaming pile of nonsense.
The evaluations are complete nonsense. I wish we could revamp them somehow to make them a worthwhile assessment for professors. Of course, that would make too much sense to be considered, in our case either by the unions OR the admins. I love the unions, they have helped us a lot, but they won't let us TOUCH the idea of changing the evals. I guess they are worried they'd get worse! It seems to me they could not get much worse!!!
DeleteA 14-week writing course in 5 weeks? You should be praying it drops to 12. After all, *you're* responsibilities are the same--you must evaluate their efforts, and grading writing TAKES EFFING FOREVER.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pep talks, everyone! My class was the only one to suffer such a drop, I think that is why it bothered me. I wonder why it was, but you guys are right, of course. Less correcting for me. I already noticed the reduced time today, as I was typing in my hellos during the intro discussion. Speaking of that, I know those intro discussions are great and all for getting the students more comfortable, but BOY do I feel a little silly, semester after semester, trying to come up with things to say in response to their opening posts. It seems less contrived, saying hello nice to meet you in person!
ReplyDeleteLuckily, I am still in the "black" for the college so I get full pay, and as of now (one full day in), even if they drop, they can't get any of their money back. Student centered, of course, except when it comes to giving money back.
Bella, Bella, Bella...
ReplyDeleteScaring students off is something to celebrate, not mourn. I have a running competition with one of my colleagues as to who can scare off the most students. In the summer especially, they fall off like bad fruit. One year, I had 25 kids start the session and only 5 pass.
It's not about whether or not they like you or what you look like. It's about whether or not they're prepared to do the work. If I kept all my students I would think there was something radically wrong.
I know! I know, dammit I know. It's just that I was the only one it happened to and I feel like it was so noticeable. I was mostly kidding about the picture! Okay, totally kidding. But it IS the first time I actually put my picture in there, after being badgered to do so by the DL folks for a LONG time.
DeleteJust chiming in to agree with everyone else: don't worry, in either direction -- you aren't being too easy (I cut/modify assignments, too -- apologies if I gave the impression that I don't -- and still get complaints), and the fact that a number of them dropped doesn't mean that you're being too hard (or too ugly!); they're just realizing that the class is a lot of work, and (probably) that their summer isn't as wide-open as they imagined (if they're like mine, they're working and doing an internship and taking care of their baby brother/grandmother and their boyfriend is home from college/the military, and, and, and. . .). The difference in drop numbers is especially unsurprising if you're the only one teaching online (and/or the only one teaching a much-feared core/required course). And yes, yes, yes, in order to do your job well, you want to have the minimum number of students you can and still have the course "make," and pay you full salary.
ReplyDeleteAlso, FWIW, I just link to my picture on the faculty bios page, and I *don't* reply to every post (certainly not the introductions, except insofar as I act on the information in them to form groups). Pace the DL received wisdom, most students aren't really all that interested in or encouraged by the cultivation of an online social space; they're just there to get the work done and get on with their lives. Those who *do* need more social interaction to succeed, I find, usually manage to create it for themselves (as long as the tools are available, and they usually are on an LMS). Besides, if you do too much one-on-one interacting with them at the beginning, they'll end up taking that sort of exchange as the norm, and never figuring out how to interact with each other.
But don't tell my DL colleagues (at least not the true believers) I said any or all of the above.
P.S. Despite all of the above, I, too, groan and worry that I did something wrong when 1/3 of mine drop (and then groan about having to help people catch up when a bunch more add then watch that batch drop again, sometimes before they've interacted with me at all, and worry again, and so on until the final add date finally comes). I hope your final add date is soon; add/drop is always painfully chaotic, and it's absolute insanity in a summer course.
DeleteThis is why the minute my salary got liveable enough not to teach summer school, I stopped.
ReplyDeleteI'm too old for "liveable". I want a real vacation.
DeleteSummer session: half the work, twice the student complaints about workload. It's a test case for ignoring the whiners. My college will pay instructors ONLY if 8 students remain enrolled--otherwise we're paid on a per-student "tutorial" basis which is nothing. Excuse me if I find ways to cut corners, and make my work equate to what they're paying me.
ReplyDelete