I am fairly new at this myself, in only my 2nd year of teaching, and have experienced many of the emotions and frustrations you describe. 1) we actually care about the topics we teach; and 2) we work really hard to present it in a way that will be able to be received by our students. I mentioned at some point on the first day that it is relatively simple to do well in my class, since I have outlined my expectations thoroughly on the syllabus. I also mention that in order to fail or do poorly in my class, they will have to work at it and make specific decisions to not do the work. I ask them to decide on day 1 which end of the grade spectrum they would like to arrive at by the end of the semester, and work accordingly. It has resulted in past classes in relatively high attendance rates, and robust involvement in class activities. -- Karen Boyd, ABD Doctoral Candidate University of Notre Dame Department of Sociology 940 Flanner Hall Notre Dame, IN 46635 (574) 271-7083 (home) (574)631-7213 (office) (574)850-8062 (cellular)
Quoting Sarah Murray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > 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) >
