And so it begins . . .
Jan. 18th, 2007 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneBah! Week one of the new semester is over. So after the 3 hour drive home, what do I do? Crash on the couch and nap. I'm not sure why I felt so tired after just 3 days of teaching (and one of those was on a shortened schedule due to a MLK, Jr. celebration on campus) but I was. After the nap, I maxed myself out at the gym.
Anyway, so far my classes seem to be OK. No bad vibes. But it's only been 3 days. This semester I'm teaching the ever popular Intermediate Algebra (2 sections), the perennial Math for Management (1 section), and after a semester off I'm back to Intro to Statistics (1 section). Basically, the same classes I taught for both semesters of my first year at Lock Haven. *le sigh* I'm teaching the algebra class blind, meaning without any written out lectures. So far, I'm doing that for the management course as well, but that won't continue. After the first chapter, I can't make up good examples off the top of my head, so I'll have to write those out ahead of time. And the stats class always requires examples written out ahead of time, since coming up with data sets that behave in particular ways on the spot is impossible. Not to mention INTERESTING data sets.
I spent the first half hour of each class attempting to scare the living bejesus out of everyone with the "no curve ever!" line and the obligatory follow up of "no extra credit given ever!" I'm not sure when the educational system changed over to the philosophy of "do whatever you want, you don't have to earn your grade or show that you know the material, we'll pass you regardless" but I'm actively fighting against this. I have a straight-forward point system. You earn such and such points during the semester, you get the appropriate grade. You aren't in competition with everyone else in class. Nothing they do will affect your grade in any way. You learn the material, show that you know it on the quizzes and exams, and I give you the appropriate grade.
But I can do that because this is math. You can't argue whether things are right or wrong or that you have a point, because in math it's either right or wrong, no argument involved. Your technique is either valid or not. I love my subject. *grin*
But enough grumping about teaching! Onward to more exciting things! Like chocolate! (see my next post)
. . . and so it ends.
Anyway, so far my classes seem to be OK. No bad vibes. But it's only been 3 days. This semester I'm teaching the ever popular Intermediate Algebra (2 sections), the perennial Math for Management (1 section), and after a semester off I'm back to Intro to Statistics (1 section). Basically, the same classes I taught for both semesters of my first year at Lock Haven. *le sigh* I'm teaching the algebra class blind, meaning without any written out lectures. So far, I'm doing that for the management course as well, but that won't continue. After the first chapter, I can't make up good examples off the top of my head, so I'll have to write those out ahead of time. And the stats class always requires examples written out ahead of time, since coming up with data sets that behave in particular ways on the spot is impossible. Not to mention INTERESTING data sets.
I spent the first half hour of each class attempting to scare the living bejesus out of everyone with the "no curve ever!" line and the obligatory follow up of "no extra credit given ever!" I'm not sure when the educational system changed over to the philosophy of "do whatever you want, you don't have to earn your grade or show that you know the material, we'll pass you regardless" but I'm actively fighting against this. I have a straight-forward point system. You earn such and such points during the semester, you get the appropriate grade. You aren't in competition with everyone else in class. Nothing they do will affect your grade in any way. You learn the material, show that you know it on the quizzes and exams, and I give you the appropriate grade.
But I can do that because this is math. You can't argue whether things are right or wrong or that you have a point, because in math it's either right or wrong, no argument involved. Your technique is either valid or not. I love my subject. *grin*
But enough grumping about teaching! Onward to more exciting things! Like chocolate! (see my next post)
. . . and so it ends.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 01:54 am (UTC)No matter how much you yell now, there'll still be those who think you're joking....
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 01:35 pm (UTC)But anyway, my class I used to teach, I had the same type of grading structure. You started with zero, and you earned points based on how well you did. Those points eventually equaled up to your grade. No extra credit, etc.
And yet the number of students that I would get who would insist that they should have gotten, say 10/10 points simply because they bothered to turn in a piece of paper astounded me.