Is it too early to start hating my students?
Well, I think I started hating them the first week of classes. I don't know what it is this semester but all my colleagues and I are having bad classes. The kids are incredibly whiny and bitchy. There is this strong sense of a "why do I have to do this?" attitude. One of my friends called it an extreme case of "entitlement," namely they are so good that everything should be handed to them. I've had a few of them myself.
Couple of cases in point:
I give out a review sheet. It's pretty much what is on the test but full of generalizations (i.e. "the characteristics of absolutism"). This means they have to go into the notes and study what the characteristics are. I'm not going to give them all the info. I don't have time for that crap. One student got all pissy and said "what? I have to look this up?" like I was some sort of evil bitch making him scrounge around in dumpsters naked, or something just as horrible. Um, hello? Back when I was going to college we did not get review sheets. We had two tests, a midterm and a final. We had to study everything we covered and had no clue what was going to be on the test. Bah.
I also try to give "fun" assignments. I realize history can be boring so I try to throw in something enjoyable. In one class, I gave a list of movies (and these were action-packed movies, not boring historical ones). You pick one movie and write a 1-2 page reaction paper on it. This is one of those cake assignments I would've killed for in college. Do I get any kudos? Oh nay nay. "But you only gave us a week to do an assignment that's going to take 4-6 hours worth of work for a measly five points...whine, whine whine." OK...but did you know that five points means 5% of your final grade? You don't have to do the assignment if you don't want to asshole. The worst part? The kid is still arguing with me that I didn't give him enough time 'cause he spends his weekend at his girlfriend's and she doesn't have good enough internet access to download the assignment. Bah. Go buy her a good modem and shut up.
Oh and did I mention the student who e-mails me a writing assignment who hasn't attended in three weeks? I e-mailed her back "are you still in my class?" I get the response back "oh do you think my absences will lower my grade?" Um...you're down two letter grades already because you missed seven classes. Yep, I think so.
And I signed up to teach four classes this summer. I think I'm certifiably nuts.
But I can't complain about all of them. I have one older student who just makes my semester. He's the sort of fellow who realizes that he's got to get an education to improve his quality of life. Yes, he's one of those god-sends: a student who wants to learn! I had this guy last semester and his term paper was the best of the bunch so I worked with him to improve the paper for a conference coming up this summer. It was a lot of work outside of normal school work but he really wanted it and did it. I enjoyed every minute of it and I hope he gets some kind of recognition out of this conference.
I guess it's the one student out of the hundreds of crappy ones that makes teaching worth it.
Couple of cases in point:
I give out a review sheet. It's pretty much what is on the test but full of generalizations (i.e. "the characteristics of absolutism"). This means they have to go into the notes and study what the characteristics are. I'm not going to give them all the info. I don't have time for that crap. One student got all pissy and said "what? I have to look this up?" like I was some sort of evil bitch making him scrounge around in dumpsters naked, or something just as horrible. Um, hello? Back when I was going to college we did not get review sheets. We had two tests, a midterm and a final. We had to study everything we covered and had no clue what was going to be on the test. Bah.
I also try to give "fun" assignments. I realize history can be boring so I try to throw in something enjoyable. In one class, I gave a list of movies (and these were action-packed movies, not boring historical ones). You pick one movie and write a 1-2 page reaction paper on it. This is one of those cake assignments I would've killed for in college. Do I get any kudos? Oh nay nay. "But you only gave us a week to do an assignment that's going to take 4-6 hours worth of work for a measly five points...whine, whine whine." OK...but did you know that five points means 5% of your final grade? You don't have to do the assignment if you don't want to asshole. The worst part? The kid is still arguing with me that I didn't give him enough time 'cause he spends his weekend at his girlfriend's and she doesn't have good enough internet access to download the assignment. Bah. Go buy her a good modem and shut up.
Oh and did I mention the student who e-mails me a writing assignment who hasn't attended in three weeks? I e-mailed her back "are you still in my class?" I get the response back "oh do you think my absences will lower my grade?" Um...you're down two letter grades already because you missed seven classes. Yep, I think so.
And I signed up to teach four classes this summer. I think I'm certifiably nuts.
But I can't complain about all of them. I have one older student who just makes my semester. He's the sort of fellow who realizes that he's got to get an education to improve his quality of life. Yes, he's one of those god-sends: a student who wants to learn! I had this guy last semester and his term paper was the best of the bunch so I worked with him to improve the paper for a conference coming up this summer. It was a lot of work outside of normal school work but he really wanted it and did it. I enjoyed every minute of it and I hope he gets some kind of recognition out of this conference.
I guess it's the one student out of the hundreds of crappy ones that makes teaching worth it.
Comments
I love that you have at least one student who has learned from life, and WANTS to learn.
A review sheet with what is going to be on the test? Ha! Like you said, we had to review everything that was covered in class, with no idea what was actually on the test.
Hope your foot is feeling better.