Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Profgrrrrl is an inspiration!
Profgrrrrl's most recent entry details her early successes with asserting control over her schedule. Previous posts detailed her feelings of being overwhelmed by meetings requests from both university colleagues and students. It's hard to get much done when you're constantly having to stop to go to a meeting. She's quickly finding that others adjust to your not being available in person 24/7 - esp. given the ease of email. I still find that most students who can never find a convenient time and finally do just want to go on and on about how busy they are, etc., instead of discussing something I can actually do anything about as a professor.
And, on a related note, I allowed students 3 weeks to get there books before having an assignment due specifically over a book (one of the best ways to get them to read historical monographs!) and there's still a complaint that the student doesn't have the money. At least this time I was able to come back with how I had so many financial problems of my own that I couldn't possibly take on the numerous financial problems of all my students. Luckily, that moved the conversation on to something else - esp. as I moved into the computer lab to help this student with a blog introduction assignment.
There's one very energetic group of grad students that are presenting a good challenge - constantly answering all the questions. They are a nice change from the apathetic group last semester and definitely an easier challenge to handle (give them another week or so and my constantly reinforcing how well I think they are doing so they won't feel as much need to prove themselves) than no participation at all. And that helps guide some of the future assignments. The main challenge is ensuring that this small group doesn't alienate the rest of the group. And the larger group is sitting near the front instead of gravitating toward the back - another plus!
And, on a related note, I allowed students 3 weeks to get there books before having an assignment due specifically over a book (one of the best ways to get them to read historical monographs!) and there's still a complaint that the student doesn't have the money. At least this time I was able to come back with how I had so many financial problems of my own that I couldn't possibly take on the numerous financial problems of all my students. Luckily, that moved the conversation on to something else - esp. as I moved into the computer lab to help this student with a blog introduction assignment.
There's one very energetic group of grad students that are presenting a good challenge - constantly answering all the questions. They are a nice change from the apathetic group last semester and definitely an easier challenge to handle (give them another week or so and my constantly reinforcing how well I think they are doing so they won't feel as much need to prove themselves) than no participation at all. And that helps guide some of the future assignments. The main challenge is ensuring that this small group doesn't alienate the rest of the group. And the larger group is sitting near the front instead of gravitating toward the back - another plus!
Labels: classes, discussions, meetings, profgrrrrl, schedule, students, teaching
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