Hey, Marty! It's really easy for me, an upper-middle class white man with a PhD to say this, but I try not to sweat the performance of those who don't do the work--especially when they bomb easy assignments. Truth be told, I teach directly to the top 10% of my students. They appreciate it and they work the hardest. The top 50% of the class won't have any trouble following what's going on, although some will have to work a little harder than others. That group in the penultimate quartile will get enough of what's going on to be able to get by and they're always welcome to come talk to me in office hours if they need a little extra. The bottom quarter will, quite frankly, be lost, but they are going to be lost if I teach to any group other than them anyway. Thus, who do I sacrifice: The really smart, hard working students who stand to get the most out of the class or the students who are not likely to get it no matter how much hand holding I do?
I don't want to sound uncaring here. I will sit with anyone who wants to talk about the topics we cover in the class--or sociological issues of any kind for that matter. But one has to figure out who, on balance gets the most out of any teaching experience. Sweating poor performance from those who blow off the work saps your soul as much as you let it. I try not to let it sap my soul.
Hope that helps, A.
Department of Sociology
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503.370.6313
Fax: 503.370.6512
"It's not enough to know that things work.
The laurels go to those who can show HOW they work."
From: Marty Schwartz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: teachsoc <[email protected]>
Subject: TEACHSOC: Help: the emotions of teaching
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 07:13:37 -0500
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)
