Summer School
Published on Jun 13, 2007 at 11:46 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under college teaching.
As usual, summer school is playing havoc with me. This summer is worse. I am teaching twice as many classes as I have the last few summers, and I’m on a committee that is meeting once per week, too. The rest of the people on the committee seem not to be burdened down with summer classes, so they can spend their entire time coming up with documents for the rest of the committee to read before the next meeting, and reading everyone else’s documents. Me, well, I am just trying to teach classes, grade papers, and keep my head above water. That, and for the first time in innumerable summers, I actually have someone to spend some of the summer time with. And, of course, no time!
I look out at the students, and they seem to be totally overwhelmed. Why do we insist on teaching a class that takes an entire semester and cram it into 5 or 6 weeks in the summer? Some subjects just take time to get. Some things you need to practice and do homework. There isn’t time. Worse, the college thinks that it saves money by going to a four day week in the summer. That means that the college is closed Friday through Sunday each week in the summer. That includes the library and the computer labs. So, students who work all day in the week and attend night classes can’t go to the library during the day (they are at work) nor in the evenings (they are in class) nor even on the weekends when they are free. Who’s bright idea was this? Oh, yeah. Someone who doesn’t teach for a living and never interacts with students. I really don’t think that students get much out of most of these accelerated classes. They just make it through. But, we continue to offer them because students think that they want to take them. Unfortunately, the material just goes by too fast for a lot of them to keep up.
-Astroprof
Jessica on June 14, 2007 at 12:17 am: 1
I took a physics class as a summer session once… never again. It just goes by too fast. Also, I got sick and missed a whole week, and it about killed me. Science classes and other such “in depth” classes should really not be offered in the summer.
“Basic” classes, though, I am all for in the summer. The Psych 101 and Texas Government, the classes where it’s just listening to a lecture and trying to retain facts, those are different. You don’t have to “practice” those until you master the material, for example. And in condensed classes you get the gist of it, instead of a long list of facts. Maybe this is just me, but I’d rather understand the big picture than memorize a list of names and details.
Seeking Solace on June 14, 2007 at 8:03 am: 2
My former employer ran a tri-mester system. So, we had three 15 week seesions. It made things so much easier.
I can remember as a student trying to cram all that material in such a short period of time!! I don’t know how I was able to do it!!!
Don’t Take Physics in the Summer on June 16, 2007 at 1:56 pm: 3
[…] AstroProf is a teacher I really wish I had had when I was in college. Reading his blog is one of the highlights of my day, his insights into teaching are what I value the most. Apparently, he’s teaching this summer and he’s written a good post about what it’s like to teach these summer classes. I recall one of my friends took freshman physics over the summer in an attempt to get ahead in his schedule and perhaps graduate early. […]