Eager students
Published on Aug 29, 2006 at 4:27 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under college teaching.
This is the second day of the Fall Semester. I’ve met two of my classes so far. The third is tonight. We’ve got record enrollment. All of the new students want to park in faculty parking. Yesterday it rained for the first time in ages. The first class day is a bad time for that. All the regular students want to park in faculty parking when it rains. And, around here, all the idiots decide to go for a drive in the rain. I had two students miss and one come late due to traffic accidents (or so they say, since I didn’t actually check on their cars).
It is hard to say after one class meeting, but so far I have a good feeling about some of these students. There are the usual ones who are confused, ill prepared, and probably don’t belong there. But, I have some that seem to be very well prepared, eager, and to already be familiar with the topics that we cover this first week. Hmm. Some remember the material from high school, some seem to work in fields where they see some of what we are doing, but some have actually taken the time to prepare for class. Several students already have the textbook, and have even read the first chapter! Two came by my office before class to introduce themselves. That doesn’t happen very often.Â
In my introductory astronomy class last night, something happened that has happened just about each semester for the last couple of years … students turned in assignments. Now, I don’t mean to say that students turning in assignments is all that odd. Rather, students walking in to the first class, and dropping off the first few assignments as they arrive — that seems odd to me. Actually, this happens because people take one semester of the class and then the other, or else they are friends with someone who took the class before, so they know what sort of things I have them do, and I post the syllabus on my web page. So, they downloaded it, and did the first few assignments while there was nothing else keeping them busy. That is actually pretty smart.
This reminds me of a story of a professor at my undergraduate institution who had a strategy to pare down class size. I never saw this happen, nor do I think the people who told me actually saw it either, so I never did confirm if it were true. But, I had met the professor in the story, and it seems to fit with what I know of him. Apparently they never would let him set a small class size, and there were always more people signing up for his class than he wanted. So, on the first day, he had some ringers go to class. He would start class, and then call for people to turn in the homework assignment that he had posted on his office door the week before. The ringers would turn in the work. Then, he would “randomly” call on members of the class to discuss the readings. He’d pick his ringers, and they’d have brilliant analysis. Half the class dropped by the second class period. I don’t know if the story is true, but it sure makes a cool collegiate urban legend if it isn’t!
At any rate, so far (after one day) things are looking good. If this is another good semester, then it will be part of a string of good classes. For years, it seemed like each year the students were less prepared, more lazy, and far less serious about being students. Two years ago, I had what was probably my worst class ever. But, since then, it has been getting better. I can only begin to speculate on why that is the case.
-Astroprof
Seeking Solace on August 29, 2006 at 7:30 pm: 1
I think classes come in cycles. One year good, the next bad.
Sounds like you are off to a good start!