TEACHSOC: Help: the emotions of teaching

[Marty Schwartz]

Folks:  Another request for help.

My graduate assistant just made up her first quiz, and did a fabulous job.  In fact, by agreement it was very easy, and really there was not much excuse for getting less than 9 out of 10 (especially since there were 11 questions with a maximum score possible of 10).  She was pretty proud of both the quiz, and conning me into letting her give a first quiz that guarantees a high score to anyone who does the work.

But, of course, in a class of 100 there were a great many people who didn't do the work, and scores ranged down to a low of 3. If an infinite number of monkeys ......   She is feeling bad about how really hard we are working this term (I am too old for this), and that so many students didn't do any work (can you guess that SHE graduated with a 3.9??).

So, the Sociology of Teaching Emotions.  Does anyone have any advice/experiences to share/ etc. on this issue?  How do you deal with feeling bad that students aren't doing the work?  I have a meeting of teaching interns, and I have promised them that we will have a full session on this topic, incorporating your views.

Thanks for helping out.

Marty

Martin D. Schwartz
Professor of Sociology
Ohio University

119 Bentley Annex
740.593.1366 (voice)
740.593.1365 (fax)