TEACHSOC: Re: Help: the emotions of teaching

[Sarah Murray]

In just 3 semesters of adjuncting, I've toughened up on the issue of those who do no work.  I reach out to them consistently, but really pin my hopes on the ones who work diligently -- even if some of them have less innate skills -- and draw my inspiration only from them.   After trying to accommodate the non-workers again and again (numerous personal, upbeat communications; extra, fun assignments; referral to special services), usually to absolutely no avail, I realized that it would be doing them no favor whatsoever to shield them from the reality of the world: that those who do nothing, often get nothing.  They'll either change on their own, after a bit of nudging from teacher, or they won't.   The workers seem to far exceed the non-workers anyway -- and some are super-hard workers!   Sarah Murray WPUNJ ----- Original Message ----- From: Marty Schwartz To: teachsoc Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 7:13 AM Subject: TEACHSOC: Help: the emotions of teaching 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)