tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post113461974435788633..comments2024-02-07T03:12:59.031-05:00Comments on Blogenspiel: How to do CollegeAnother Damned Medievalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231085915472400163noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1135045665337911502005-12-19T21:27:00.000-05:002005-12-19T21:27:00.000-05:00Thanks so much, and welcome!Thanks so much, and welcome!Another Damned Medievalisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05231085915472400163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1135035213614502282005-12-19T18:33:00.000-05:002005-12-19T18:33:00.000-05:00As one who's often said "I would have never..." it...As one who's often said "I would have never..." it usually defines for me a generational difference. And I was a non-traditional student who now teaches veeerrryy traditional students at a residential college. Well of course I would have never! I was different from my students. I do think I'm going to adopt some of these approaches for next semester, especially after getting an email from a distressed freshman who wants to do "extra credit" AFTER the semester is over because their gpa is too low for the sports team they're on. They came to my college "for [sport]", not getting the memo I guess about those pesky academics. More things to put in the syllabus, more things to mention in class. I love reading your blog and all the other teaching blogs. Best of luck on one of the full time jobs!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134740274482949032005-12-16T08:37:00.000-05:002005-12-16T08:37:00.000-05:00Excellent post. I especially love this line: "It'...Excellent post. I especially love this line: "It's a college-level class. I'm not going to lower the bar. I'm just going to make sure they get to use a springboard and have some padding there to catch them."<BR/><BR/>I have been teaching some version of first-year comp every semester for ... um ... eight, nine? years now, and much of what you've got on my list is what I'm doing all the time. I have much of this same ambivalence you point toward about whether I'm lowering standards or short-shrifting the "real content" of the class by spending so much time on fundamental college skills. But they really do need it. And I've taught at an Ivy, a really good state U, a four-year community college, and an engineering U, and <B>all</B> of the students have needed at least some of this fundamental instruction, even at the Ivy.Scrivenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05922358016805022637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134707403707434002005-12-15T23:30:00.000-05:002005-12-15T23:30:00.000-05:00I just printed it out; I'll have time to read this...I just printed it out; I'll have time to read this weekend, and will want to see it in my folder when prepping for next semester.<BR/><BR/>I, too, am really impressed with my students and I think that part of the difficulting in finishing grading is that this marks the end of the semester. I won't be seeing these particular folks so much again.timnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01985699859449138316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134701306251135152005-12-15T21:48:00.000-05:002005-12-15T21:48:00.000-05:00Wow, everybody, Thanks! You know, I just really h...Wow, everybody, Thanks! You know, I just really hope that I can make these thoughts come across in my job applications and interviews. You all make me feel worthy of academic employment. <BR/><BR/>Speaking of which, I get to blog about mentoring in the next day or so.Another Damned Medievalisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05231085915472400163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134695220972958062005-12-15T20:07:00.000-05:002005-12-15T20:07:00.000-05:00you see, I hear lots of the "I would have never" f...you see, I hear lots of the "I would have never" fill in the blank. from professors and fellow graduate students. maybe it's a particular disease that especially afflicts my institution, but that is what I'm responding to when I post (as I've posted many times) about the phenomenon of not comprehending that our students are not who we were. <BR/><BR/>Not only are they not who we are, they don't want to be who we are and they are not anything like we were at that age.<BR/><BR/>I take it back--some of them are. The one's people with the "i would have never" disease reward with easy A's are.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134687237850844272005-12-15T17:53:00.000-05:002005-12-15T17:53:00.000-05:00Argggggh, I think I left this out, ADM! It's an aw...Argggggh, I think I left this out, ADM! It's an awesome post and I meant to put it in, but I was going cross-eyed from linking everything, so I think I missed it. Definitely send it on to Ancarett for the next one, because it's a great post. Sorry!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134677816975073852005-12-15T15:16:00.000-05:002005-12-15T15:16:00.000-05:00ADM, thanks for this. I think I've reached the po...ADM, thanks for this. I think I've reached the point where I've made a lot of the same realizations about my students that you have about yours (I'm at a U., but still, "teaching college" is often necessary). But I haven't implemented all the methods of "teaching college" that you have, and I need to. You gave me a lot of good ideas! Thanks!<BR/><BR/>And on a related note, I once heard the guy in the office next to mine say to one of his good students something along the lines of "Students today are shockiing...I would have *never*...." -- I can't remember what the shocking thing was or what he wouldn't have ever done. But I *do* remember wanting to smack him for a) assuming that what he would or wouldn't have done meant that all other students in his cohort were just like him and therefore students today were demonstrably worse and b) bitching about it to a student! Yikes!<BR/><BR/>Anyway, thanks for a great post.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134677546886330132005-12-15T15:12:00.000-05:002005-12-15T15:12:00.000-05:00...Er, once the students in question grow up and s......Er, once the students in question grow up and some of them decide to seek advanced degrees, that is. Too much haste.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134677389501420792005-12-15T15:09:00.000-05:002005-12-15T15:09:00.000-05:00This is excellent cogitational food. Thanks. I've ...This is excellent cogitational food. Thanks. I've had the thought that we instructors often don't teach "us"--when I taught composition the first time, I was all too aware that I'd never <I>taken</I> comp (thanks, AP) and didn't know firsthand how such a class might run from start to finish--but your list of ways to watch, reweigh, and close gaps is extremely helpful.<BR/><BR/>Sorry for the hasty horrid sentence. I'm at work. Before I scurry away, though--I wonder a little whether the increased percentage of students from minimally privileged backgrounds has something to do with the increased willingness of degree-bearing instructors to put up with adverse conditions in order (hopefully) to secure a stable professorial position. (I wonder that as someone uncertain that she--I--will put in quite enough effort, from mundane pragmatism rather than assumed privilege; my father has no college degree, just for starters.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134672124138960902005-12-15T13:42:00.000-05:002005-12-15T13:42:00.000-05:00I really admire your list, and the fact that you'r...I really admire your list, and the fact that you're willing to make it. I feel like, often, we professors (and professors-to-be) realize the students aren't like us but then expect them to change so they are. After all, we know how school works, we're successful, we can play the game - if you're like us, you'll make it through without all this trouble! Yeah, it's a lot of work to meet our students where they are, as your list attests, but the benefits are worth the extra time and effort.phd mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16708857060614302495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3671815.post-1134660491559495812005-12-15T10:28:00.000-05:002005-12-15T10:28:00.000-05:00Good food for thought. This is something I also ha...Good food for thought. <BR/><BR/>This is something I also have to remind my "teacher candidates" (they are in the teacher ed program and although I like some of the d labels, this helps distinguish college students from the middle and high school students they will be teaching when we are talking about standards, portfolios, etc - it also helps get them at least a bit into a professional mindset) that they have to keep in mind what their students know and don't know. And, most importantly, not to blame another teacher before them for what the students don't know - after all, doesn't that mean I can blame the teacher candidates when their students show up on my doorstep without an encyclopedic knowledge of American history? <BR/><BR/>I also agree that half of life is showing up and attending class regularly and consistently turning in assignments does have something to do with eventual academic success. Our colleagues that don't think it's necessary forget that not everyone is as smart as they are and some of our students are just too immature to realize some of these things. Think about it - those who came out of a 6- to 7-hour day bell schedule plus after-school activities and/or a job. Then, they show up on our campus with often just a 12-hour load (no one tells them it takes 15- to 18-hour semesters to actually graduate in four years) and discover there are not just one, but two bars across the street along with a new coffee bar. What, no bell schedule? I can stay out til 3am on a Tuesday and decide not to roll out of bed for my 8am class or even my noon class, and nothing bad happens . . . . or at least not immediately???? wahoo!!!<BR/><BR/>John Stossel just did a report on 20/20 about how the teenage brain is different - esp. with the risks they are willing to take which closely correlates with their lack of association between cause and effect. Jumping off the roof and surviving it more than once can make any kid feel that they are at least temporarily invincible. <BR/><BR/>We're also seeing at least our traditional age students show up on our doorsteps who have come out of an environment where someone else rarely held them accountable and always fixed things for them. So, we have to work even harder to get them ready for the real world of both our classroom and beyond. <BR/><BR/>Another angle on this is to explore Sam Wineburg's work on historical cognition and how those skills develop in students. We sometimes assume that they have the cognitive ability to think beyond their development PLUS that they have all the underlying historical analysis skills throughout their education. <BR/><BR/>So, we do indeed need to realize our students are different than us. It's also one of the aspects that makes teaching fun!Kelly in Kansashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14345236866213138914noreply@blogger.com