The "Education" Thread

[HamburgerBoy]

I teach a different chemistry lab from previous in which my students have to identify whether certain unknown compounds are present or absent in a given sample, and I take points off accordingly. So much easier than spending several hours a week trying to find errors in their math/logic and deciding whether silly mistake X is worth a -1/4, a -1/2, or a warning, and making sure I'm grading all of my students fairly.

Also, supposedly my evaluations came in yesterday but when I checked my box today they weren't there. Going to have to ask around; if someone lost/stole them I'm literally going to cry. I love reading all the comments.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Finished my first semester full time teaching today. The final day was just draining. 6 of my 69 students failed, which isn't a lot in comparison to the district average, but it's still very frustrating that I couldn't help those students succeed. It was hard seeing some of the students who are trying to change bad habits fail either my class or other classes. I know it's often part of the learning process for kids, but it's difficult, especially for those who have so little support.

My favorite student dad's in prison, has a difficult relationship with her mom, has a bunch of family members in gangs and recently joined one herself. She's ESL, which makes all classes more difficult for her. I know from the outside it looked like she didn't put in much of an effort, but I know how much of a struggle it was for her and how she really did try. She ended up failing 4 of her 6 classes.

It's so hard to leave these kids for 3 weeks when they're at their most venerable, disillusioned and in need of support.

Anyway, intellectually I know there were a ton of positives from this semester and I know I did a lot of great things with my students, but emotionally I can only see the negative at this moment. Fuck it, at least I've got booze.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

You're a good man, Crimson.

 

[unknown]

Finished my first semester full time teaching today. The final day was just draining. 6 of my 69 students failed, which isn't a lot in comparison to the district average, but it's still very frustrating that I couldn't help those students succeed. It was hard seeing some of the students who are trying to change bad habits fail either my class or other classes. I know it's often part of the learning process for kids, but it's difficult, especially for those who have so little support.

Working in the community colleges, I pretty much have to ditto everything you're saying. It's especially hard for me because my first job in academia was an adviser, where I would bend over backwards to help the students. Now my philosophy as an instructor is "I can only lead a horse to water..." I'll give students every possible chance to redeem themselves at least somewhat and get some points on the board. Some students, though, just can't hack it.

One of the classes I teach is three levels below freshman composition. Only 20% of those students, on average, will make it to and pass composition. It's tough and very demoralizing at times. You just have to do your best and know you're reaching at least (hopefully) the majority of the students.

 

[Zephyrus]

Had to write two 30-page seminar papers by the beginning of this week, so I'm thankful I always make my end-of-semester grading simple. My Rhetoric class doesn't have a final, and I always make their final major assignment an in-class speech, which I can grade on the spot.

That said, this semester's been a whirlwind.

 

[Zephyrus]

Congrats! Grading sucks. I thankfully had no students email me complaining. I only gave out one A this semester; mostly A minuses and B pluses. Then there were a few people at the bottom of the barrel.

I had only one student email me acting totally clueless why he got a D for his participation grade (15% of the final grade). He was oblivious to the fact that he rarely contributed to class discussion, was absent a few times, and had side conversations while I was trying to lecture. I stopped short of saying "because you're a fucking asshole."

That said, I think of myself as a more-than-fair grader. My policy is "if you give a shit about this class, you'll do well." Assignments are never hard, they just need to be done and plenty of extra help is available.

Out of 18 students, I gave out 5 A's, 8 B's, 4 C's and an F for someone who stopped showing up halfway through the semester.

 

[MoSeN]

So after 4 years this semester I finally decided to quit studying at university (I studied Mechanical Engineering). Lately it seemed really hard to even sit in a class more than an hour. I like to think it was my depression which stopped me from studying, but some stone cold assholes as teachers expecting you to attend all the classes never trying to understand why you couldn't and therefore not helping you with grades or anything don't help at all either.

You guys seem cool but I hope you understand some students can't really stand attending the classes sometimes and it doesn't always mean skipping as long as they catch up with the lessons at home. Specially students with depression issues are the most vulnerable and they might never talk about it, so as a teacher instead of pushing harder, you can try and maybe understand what the problem is and try to actually help before they completely give up like what happened with me.

I don't really regret quitting my studies as I've got into even better things, but I thought I'd share an experience if it's gonna save a soul.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

You're a good man, Crimson.

Thanks man.

Working in the community colleges, I pretty much have to ditto everything you're saying. It's especially hard for me because my first job in academia was an adviser, where I would bend over backwards to help the students. Now my philosophy as an instructor is "I can only lead a horse to water..." I'll give students every possible chance to redeem themselves at least somewhat and get some points on the board. Some students, though, just can't hack it.

One of the classes I teach is three levels below freshman composition. Only 20% of those students, on average, will make it to and pass composition. It's tough and very demoralizing at times. You just have to do your best and know you're reaching at least (hopefully) the majority of the students.

Yeah it's tough because you're fighting against a shit ton of history and trying to quickly make up for a lot of lost time. I think "I can only lead a horse to water" makes sense for the age group you're working with, but with 10th graders, sometimes you have to shove their face into the water and make them drink it. Some of these kids have never experienced academic success before, so until you compel them to produce something worthwhile they will continue to think they're dumb or not cut for school.

 

[Dak]

The biggest problem for teachers of the underprivileged is the inability to compensate for shitty homelives, and I'm not talking about monetary lack so much as very often abusive relatives/friends, mentally and/or physically.

 

[MasterpieceMesias]

Thanks man.



Yeah it's tough because you're fighting against a shit ton of history and trying to quickly make up for a lot of lost time. I think "I can only lead a horse to water" makes sense for the age group you're working with, but with 10th graders, sometimes you have to shove their face into the water and make them drink it. Some of these kids have never experienced academic success before, so until you compel them to produce something worthwhile they will continue to think they're dumb or not cut for school.

or, like in my case when I was still in HS, they just don't give a shit and are just trying to get the fuck out of there. I hated high school personally, but, then again, I did try to pass all my classes so I could get the fuck out of there.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

The biggest problem for teachers of the underprivileged is the inability to compensate for shitty homelives, and I'm not talking about monetary lack so much as very often abusive relatives/friends, mentally and/or physically.

That's a bit of an overgeneralization. It's definitely true for many and because of the crime rates in neighborhoods, even those that come from functional, loving homes live in fear of violence.

However, No Child Left Behind and all this other standardized test bullshit is heavily to blame. It created a sink or swim culture where teachers and principals are focused on test scores rather than their students' learning. I swear, last year in Compton 1/3 of the instructional time was spent on standardized tests from the district and the state as well as other operational bullshit. It's especially rough on ESL students since it specifically tests them on their weaknesses.

Thank god for Common Core, which actually focuses on critical thinking skills, problem solving and group work... you know, skills kids will actually use on jobs. I can give my students engaging activities like debates and role plays and low key prep them for the test at the same time.

 

[Dak]

Group work: How to give 4 people credit for the work of 1 person.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

My students are usually pretty goof at splitting the work, but I usually give each member a specific job to maintain accountability.

 

[Baroque]

Group work: How to give 4 people credit for the work of 1 person.

From a teacher's perspective: how to grade 10 papers instead of 40.

(j/k, I don't assign any group work personally, but that would be nice.)

 

[Einherjar86]

Group work: How to give 4 people credit for the work of 1 person.

There are benefits of these kinds of activities, though. Thoughtful group projects require the students to submit, along with the assignment, individual self-assessments of some kind describing what responsibilities they had and what they contributed to the group. This way, even if only one grade is assigned overall, teachers can gauge individual students' performances and take this into consideration when assigning final grades later on. Furthermore, if the students know they have to explain what they did, then you can bet they'll make more of an effort to actually contribute something.

If I can, I avoid assigning grades to work done as a group. Group work, in my class, is usually directed toward an assignment that will be completed individually. So those who take advantage of the group activities will be better prepared to complete the assignment, while those who slack off will have to do more work on their own later.

 

[Dak]

From a dedicated student's perspective, I dread group work assignments. However, I have been fortunate in the last two semesters where some group effort was required to have been able to be a part of self selecting groups rather than teacher chosen, and that worked out (all the motivated students clumped immediately). It was nice not having to carry the whole thing for a change.

 

[Matt]

If I ever teach in college I will never assign group work. The point of it makes sense but it never pans out the right way most of the time.

 

[Zephyrus]

I have my students work in groups to do peer-editing or other minor in-class activities, but I never dare giving a major assignment based on a group effort.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

I had a group assignment this semester and the professor took an interesting approach. She divided the groups based on the performance of students, with the highest performing students grouped together and the lowest performing students grouped together.

 

[Dak]

I had a group assignment this semester and the professor took an interesting approach. She divided the groups based on the performance of students, with the highest performing students grouped together and the lowest performing students grouped together.

That's basically what happens if students self select.