next »

[anakin]

I have a student in one of my bio-for-teachers sections who asks questions nonstop - I mean, good questions. Yesterday they were setting up aquatic systems for their first experiments, and he was asking about guppies. If they give birth live, how is that different from humans and other mammals, he asked. Quick lessons on placentas vs. self-contained "ponds" that are amniotic eggs.

The neat thing was, as I answered (briefly) he asked other questions. And then, students around us turned to listen, and they started asking questions too. We even got into sexual selection because they asked. Male guppies have spots on their tails that females find attractive in mates, and predators find delicious, so there's a trade-off - "But if it's under genetic control then doesn't the mom's fitness go down if she mates with a big-spotted guppy dad and has a lot of big-spotted sons who get eaten?", Super-student asked. (This is a great questions getting a lot of attention in biology right now.) They asked me questions I didn't know the answers to. Then, they speculated without me prompting them. I said, "See, you're forming hypotheses." A third of the class got these A-HA looks on their faces.

Wow. Five minutes of a lot of magic.

[luvstowrite]

I have a student in one of my bio-for-teachers sections who asks questions nonstop - I mean, good questions. Yesterday they were setting up aquatic systems for their first experiments, and he was asking about guppies. If they give birth live, how is that different from humans and other mammals, he asked. Quick lessons on placentas vs. self-contained "ponds" that are amniotic eggs.

The neat thing was, as I answered (briefly) he asked other questions. And then, students around us turned to listen, and they started asking questions too. We even got into sexual selection because they asked. Male guppies have spots on their tails that females find attractive in mates, and predators find delicious, so there's a trade-off - "But if it's under genetic control then doesn't the mom's fitness go down if she mates with a big-spotted guppy dad and has a lot of big-spotted sons who get eaten?", Super-student asked. (This is a great questions getting a lot of attention in biology right now.) They asked me questions I didn't know the answers to. Then, they speculated without me prompting them. I said, "See, you're forming hypotheses." A third of the class got these A-HA looks on their faces.

Wow. Five minutes of a lot of magic.

Love, love, love this!

[melba_frilkins]

I have a student in one of my bio-for-teachers sections who asks questions nonstop - I mean, good questions. Yesterday they were setting up aquatic systems for their first experiments, and he was asking about guppies. If they give birth live, how is that different from humans and other mammals, he asked. Quick lessons on placentas vs. self-contained "ponds" that are amniotic eggs.

The neat thing was, as I answered (briefly) he asked other questions. And then, students around us turned to listen, and they started asking questions too. We even got into sexual selection because they asked. Male guppies have spots on their tails that females find attractive in mates, and predators find delicious, so there's a trade-off - "But if it's under genetic control then doesn't the mom's fitness go down if she mates with a big-spotted guppy dad and has a lot of big-spotted sons who get eaten?", Super-student asked. (This is a great questions getting a lot of attention in biology right now.) They asked me questions I didn't know the answers to. Then, they speculated without me prompting them. I said, "See, you're forming hypotheses." A third of the class got these A-HA looks on their faces.

Wow. Five minutes of a lot of magic.

Love, love, love this!

Yes! That is one of those wow moments.

I was just pleased in the classroom to have one student ask a bunch of good questions. She even asked the big picture question that I always pose to students at the end of the topic--that is what it is all leading up to. I have to confess that based on her appearance, I expected more snow-flakey behavior. So that was a good enlightenment for me.

[frogfactory]

This is probably the wrong thread, but I had two great labs today.  Students were really interactive, asked smart questions, and told me things they liked about my teaching style (unprompted).  The one query I got about half credit given for a quiz question answered was framed as a desire to know what the important points to know and describe are, not begging for more credit.  I gave an anecdote taken from The Voyage of the Beagle and talked about how the book is a great piece of literature as well as being an awesome travelogue as well as being basically cool because it's by Darwin, and several students actually asked me to repeat the title so they could look it up. (which I got slightly wrong, but it's sufficient for amazon).

These students are cool  They're polite; they're interested, they're goal oriented (that is, they're taking the class for a reason, not just to fill up credits), and they appear to be quite appreciative of my efforts to teach them skills of general value.  One told me that she had looked into changing sections because nearly all of her classes are on Thursdays and the rest of the week is quite empty, but changed her mind because she didn't think she'd get as good a TA in another section.

This is my last semester of teaching for god knows how many years.  Could this be the semester that actually makes me enjoy the teaching part of academia?

[larryc]

One of my MA students, a nontrad and the most competent person I know, is a finalist for executive director of a big humanities institution. I think I am more excited than she is!

[luvstowrite]

After a rough meeting with a student this morning (interthreaduality alert on slow students), I had one of the best labs so far this year. Was it a hot topic? No. Was it state-of-the-art-tech stuff? No. It was organism identification and classification where students got into groups and worked out the items to identify with their keys and lab manuals.

Some students went outside and brought in more material to identify, they were so excited to make the relationships between what they were learning and the natural world right outside the lab window. It was amazing and inspiring to see everyone work together and hear their stories and explanations. What a wonderful day!

[galactic_hedgehog]

This is my last semester of teaching for god knows how many years.  Could this be the semester that actually makes me enjoy the teaching part of academia?

Given the former, I'd say the answer to the latter is "Yes."

[phlegmatic]

Not an entire "classroom victory," and not my "favorite student of the semester," but I'm not sure where this goes...

Email from a student from last semester. This student's self-designed major is now in underwater basketweaving! (She's also a foreign student, so I hope you all will excuse some of the grammatical errors.)

Hi Professor Phlegmatic
 
It was so nice to see you last friday! I wanted to tell you that your Underwater Basketweaving class motivated me to self design my major and I will like to show you my plans to hear what advice you could give me and exchange opinions. What do you think?  Ohh and btw I saw the [flyer for related event you are organizing] around campus. I am really looking foward for that.
Hope to hear from you soon!

XXXX

[jenra]

At midterm last semester, I went on maternity leave.  According to students and other faculty, Mr. Replacement (former adjunct at my CC) didn't really do much of anything.  In fact, he literally threw my syllabus in the trash during class.  (I could go on and on about Mr. Replacement and the reports of his misconduct...)

The Victory:  A student who began and dropped the course twice before was enrolled for the third time last semester.  He came to my office at the beginning of this semester and advised me to keep my course just the way it is.  He told me that students need high expectations and standards to achieve otherwise they don't try and consequently don't learn anything.  In the words of this student, "After finishing the semester with Mr. Replacement, I totally understand why you run your class the way you do.  Don't change it."  Words I will never forget.

Awesome.

[nebo113]

Student with documented learning disability began class with surly, defensive, chip-on-shoulder attitude.  Her spelling was 80% phonetic, which even spell-check cannot compensate for.  I introduced her to Kurzweil which she bought for home.  One day we realized she's a completely different person.  She'd always loved to write, but had been frustrated and humiliated by the effects of her learning disability.  The chip, the sullenness, the defensiveness:  all gone.  And, she now shows me writing she does on her own and which wonderful.  Thank you, Ray Kurzweil!

[polly_mer]

At midterm last semester, I went on maternity leave.  According to students and other faculty, Mr. Replacement (former adjunct at my CC) didn't really do much of anything.  In fact, he literally threw my syllabus in the trash during class.  (I could go on and on about Mr. Replacement and the reports of his misconduct...)

The Victory:  A student who began and dropped the course twice before was enrolled for the third time last semester.  He came to my office at the beginning of this semester and advised me to keep my course just the way it is.  He told me that students need high expectations and standards to achieve otherwise they don't try and consequently don't learn anything.  In the words of this student, "After finishing the semester with Mr. Replacement, I totally understand why you run your class the way you do.  Don't change it."  Words I will never forget.

Awesome.

Awesome,  indeed.

[monita]

I ran into a former student the other day.  She was happy to see me, and said that she'd expanded on the theme of her term paper for my class and started on her senior thesis.  She also said that, because of my course, she's now "obsessed with breast-feeding" and is leaning towards midwifery.  I have no idea what I said to get her "obsessed" with lactation, but I'm always thrilled to see so much enthusiasm.  Good for her. :-)

[ms_turtle]

Sometimes it all comes together. I occasionally joke to a few colleagues that my professional contribution is (in part) teaching evolution to the students of this state. Presentation involves a measured, conscientious, step-wise progression through the first 3 weeks of this non-majors class. If I have time, as in the case of snow days rearranging schedules, I show the A&E Biography of Charles Darwin. I always have students answer a few questions while watching the video and I just love their responses! I even had one student, who clearly had a lot of questions swirling in her head, hang around until everyone had left to ask about the Blind Watchmaker theory.

[anakin]

After an utterly crap-tastic last week they had a quiz this week. I cringed when they turned them in.

Two sections got a 93 average! The lowest score in one section was a 70; in the other section it was 76. And I write hard quizzes! I was so happy and proud of them that I sent 'em an email saying "Way to go! You guys rock!!"

In the third section - the rebel section - the average was 66.  They claimed they didn't know there was going to be a quiz and what such a quiz would cover. The ones who were clued in, however, rolled their eyes, and two of them at the front table (who earned 100) looked at the other ones and said, "You did too know [there was a quiz], she [Dr. A] told us about it last week and in email and it was on the schedule in CMS, so nyeah." (OK, not that last bit.)

Even though the second half sounds like I'm happy they did poorly, it's really not. I have two sections who are rising up and doing the work, and I have most in another section who aren't, and that's not about me, and if I keep my teaching quality and standards high, then I'm doing my job and more. So I feel kind of freed-up.

[polly_mer]

After an utterly crap-tastic last week they had a quiz this week. I cringed when they turned them in.

Two sections got a 93 average! The lowest score in one section was a 70; in the other section it was 76. And I write hard quizzes! I was so happy and proud of them that I sent 'em an email saying "Way to go! You guys rock!!"

In the third section - the rebel section - the average was 66.  They claimed they didn't know there was going to be a quiz and what such a quiz would cover. The ones who were clued in, however, rolled their eyes, and two of them at the front table (who earned 100) looked at the other ones and said, "You did too know [there was a quiz], she [Dr. A] told us about it last week and in email and it was on the schedule in CMS, so nyeah." (OK, not that last bit.)

Even though the second half sounds like I'm happy they did poorly, it's really not. I have two sections who are rising up and doing the work, and I have most in another section who aren't, and that's not about me, and if I keep my teaching quality and standards high, then I'm doing my job and more. So I feel kind of freed-up.

Focus on your victories, Anakin.  The fact that two of the sections are getting it and not everyone in the third section is having problems indicates that you are doing your job.  You can't teach students who refuse to learn; the best you can do is keeping trying to arrange the class so that conditions are such that your students can learn if they choose (paraphrase of Albert Einstein).