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[barcrossliar]

I have a student with learning differences who resisted going to our office that serves these students.  After much pressure, she started using their services.  She had significant problems sometimes in class, but she recently analyzed the stuffing out of several other student presentations.

Student-gets-it-high-five!

[peppergal]

OK, it's time to bump this thread!

I'll share another story, which is really more of a story about an anti-snowflake than a classroom victory, but here goes.

I was teaching a lit seminar with about 25 students (so a pretty large seminar).  One day, about five minutes into class, I notice that one of my students is rather pale, and shivering a bit.  He just didn't look well.  I asked him if he was OK, and he said that he had been hit by a car while crossing the street on his way to class.  Here's the rest of that conversation:

Me:  Why aren't you in the emergency room?
Injured Student:  I didn't want to miss class.  I really liked the reading for today, and I wanted to hear what others had to say.
Me:  Still, you should go to the emergency room.  You could be bleeding internally.  Seriously, your life is more important than this class.
Injured Student:  But I don't want to miss class!
Other Student 1:  I have my digital voice recorder with me.  I'll record the class for you.
Other Student 2:  You can have my notes.
Other Student 3:  Mine too!
Other Student 4:  I'll drive you to the ER.  You really don't look well.

So Other Student 4 takes Injured Student to the ER, and makes it back for the last 10 minutes of class to inform us that Injured Student was being seen by a doctor when he left, and agreed to wait for Other Student 4 to come back.  After class, the entire class arranged to share their notes to be xeroxed for Injured Student and Other Student 4 (one student collected all the notes and copied them, then brought them to my office hours for students to pick up).

By the way, Injured Student was not seriously injured -- a mild case of shock and some bruising.

I've told this story to subsequent classes, as "If you're hit by a car on the way to class, please go to the emergency room!"  I've noticed that if I tell this story to the class, there is less snowflakery -- it seems to raise the bar for student behaviour.

[phlegmatic]

That is an amazing story, peppergal.

Is it wrong of me to share a classroom victory of which I was a part? As in, I was an undergrad when this happened? Maybe so, but no one can stop me. ;)

I was in a French film seminar as an undergrad, and we had been reading Beaumarchais's The Marriage of Figaro for part of the semester. When we were done reading it, the professor said that we had two options--we could write a final paper, or we could act out and film a scene from The Marriage of Figaro. My friend and I turned towards each other, and thinking the exact same thing, immediately asked, "Can't we just make our own film?" The professor of course said yes.

The entire class took part in the film. There were about 10 of us. This took up almost every weekend, at least one day a weekend, for much of the semester. We had to ask to film in the cafeteria, and put up with us sometimes having a 4th wall and sometimes not. (Not the cinematic 4th wall, but literally a 4th wall of the room we were in.) We went all over town to film different scenes. We had to borrow different VHS camcorders because none of us had one. One of the students had a relative who worked at a TV station and he went there to edit the film when we were done.

This was not a class requirement, but something we decided to do because it sounded so cool. Who doesn't want to direct a film? At the end of the semester, the professor helped us organize a film screening for our film. It was a pretty bad film, but he entered it in an independent film festival because I guess he was happy or proud of us or something.

I still have a copy of this film and this is probably my favorite memory from undergrad. I am still in contact with the professor, and when I started teaching my own classes I asked him how he was such an amazing professor. Not just in this class, but in every class he was inspiring and made even the most lackluster students love the subject. He said, "You just have to be passionate about what you're teaching." Yeah, right. I know he has a secret formula.

I might go watch this film now...

[polly_mer]

On the final exam for the science for teachers class, I included an essay prompt of "Why will you be a better teacher and citizen for having taken this class?"

While there were smarmy, boilerplate answers about the benefits of a well-rounded education, a few of the students had touching answers along the lines of "I didn't know and didn't care about science before, but examples X, Y, and Z were just so cool that I went around and told everyone I know about them.  I loved doing the portfolio because then I could do some more cool activities to show my friends.  Even though I'm not gonna be a teacher, I'm definitely a better person because now I'm actively looking for the cool parts of science in daily life."

While I whined on other threads about the bad parts of those portfolios, a good many of those portfolios were clearly works of love by excited students who put a lot of effort into assembling cool items in creative ways to met the broad criteria; those students just don't have good language skills to back up their imaginative ideas.

[cc_alan]

I assign my students a science book (its emphasis is chemistry) to read during the quarter and I give them a short "exam" on it during the last week. It's not really an exam and if they've read any of it and simply do what I ask of them, then they get full credit.

Many students write about how much they dreaded reading the book because of time constraints, they dislike reading (ick... I hate that one), etc., but many of them also write about how much they enjoyed certain aspects of the book and how it helped pull back the curtains a little as to how important chemistry is in their lives.

I figure some of them are probably blowing smoke at me and didn't read much of the book, but many students like the book and don't sell it back at the end of the term.

I'm happy.

Alan

[chocolatechicken]

This is such a great thread to read. So many inspiring stories!

I think my major victory from the term was a student in a class I TA'd for (a mathematical type class). He was a graduate student in another faculty who hadn't taken any form of math since his junior year of high school. He struggled a great deal at the beginning - didn't even know how to do simple things on his calculator, couldn't work with equations at all, and I remember thinking, "If he passes this class, it'll be a miracle". He worked ridiculously hard all term. Came to all my office hours, met with me as often as he could, did every sample problem he could get his hands on...and passed the class with a high B. AND even better, admitted to liking the subject a lot more than he thought possible. Not enough to go get a second undergrad in the field, but still...from having no math to doing quite well in an upper level math-y class, it was great to see.

[heybeerman]

Just came into the office today to find this in my email:

"Dr. heybeerman,

I hope this email finds you having a wonderful holiday and winter break! I just wanted to tell you that my family and I are in [historic place] for the weekend and took a tour today of the city. We learned about a lot of the history that happened in [historic place] and, thanks to you and your class, I actually knew a lot about what our guide was talking about!! It was really interesting to hear about all the things we learned in class and actually see where they took place!
 
Thanks for all the knowledge!
Student X"

Yea! - apparently some of them really ARE paying attention.  (and, if you're wondering, yes, grades were already submitted about 2 weeks ago)  A little boost for me as I ramp up for the coming term....

[galactic_hedgehog]

This reminds me of an email I got some time back:

Subject: Thanks, your course came in great handy!

Dear Dr. Hedgehog,
 
  I am XXXX, I was enrolled in your Spring Geology course (I sat in the front and tried to participate as best I could if you don't remember).  I recently took a trip to Africa, more specifically South Africa and Namibia with the African Wildlife Foundation, and as I toured the landscape I found that I had a much greater knowledge and appreciation for my surroundings, as I pointed out Sandstone and Conglomerate Formations around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, the Volcanic Rock in Damaraland, as well as the claystone and sand dunes in Namibia.  I actually climbed one called Big Daddy (on the windward side) and we got to descent on the leeward which was an absolute blast, it kind felt like you were flying as you run down it.  I also notived that in the sand dune formation there was black dots, and when I asked a guide, he said it was magnitite.  So we all took metal razors and swished them in the sand and sure enough we had these giant balls of magnatite stuch to the metal, it was pretty cool ( I definately wouldnt have known to do that without taking your course!) Anyway, thanks again, I brought back some granite samples with clay/sand inclusions if you would like one as a souvenir let me know when your on campus, I also have some pretty cool pictures.  Hope all is well.

[silver_queen]

I assign my students a science book (its emphasis is chemistry) to read during the quarter and I give them a short "exam" on it during the last week. It's not really an exam and if they've read any of it and simply do what I ask of them, then they get full credit.

Many students write about how much they dreaded reading the book because of time constraints, they dislike reading (ick... I hate that one), etc., but many of them also write about how much they enjoyed certain aspects of the book and how it helped pull back the curtains a little as to how important chemistry is in their lives.

I figure some of them are probably blowing smoke at me and didn't read much of the book, but many students like the book and don't sell it back at the end of the term.

I'm happy.

Alan

Would you mind sharing what book you use?  I might be interested in incorporating something like this into my class...and I'm always looking for some good new reading!

[galactic_hedgehog]

I assign my students a science book (its emphasis is chemistry) to read during the quarter and I give them a short "exam" on it during the last week. It's not really an exam and if they've read any of it and simply do what I ask of them, then they get full credit.

Many students write about how much they dreaded reading the book because of time constraints, they dislike reading (ick... I hate that one), etc., but many of them also write about how much they enjoyed certain aspects of the book and how it helped pull back the curtains a little as to how important chemistry is in their lives.

I figure some of them are probably blowing smoke at me and didn't read much of the book, but many students like the book and don't sell it back at the end of the term.

I'm happy.

Alan

Would you mind sharing what book you use?  I might be interested in incorporating something like this into my class...and I'm always looking for some good new reading!

I bet it's this one.

[compdoc]

cgfunmathguy said:

I had a student walk into class late one day as we were working on percent problems. She groaned.

Me: What's wrong.
Her: I can't do percents.

I went on with class. The last "non-word-problem" example was "What is 20% of 42?". She couldn't do it, but everyone else got it. I made a mental note to have her come to office hours, which she would if I invited her.

The first word problem was "A blouse that normally sells for $42 is on sale for 20% off. What is the sale price?". I hardly had the question out of my mouth and hadn't finished writing it when Miss I-can't-do-percents says "$33.60." I turned around from the board (the question still wasn't fully written) with my mouth hanging open, causing several students to laugh.

Me (incredulously): You told me you couldn't do percents.
Her (nonchalantly): Honey, you take me shopping, and I can do anything.
Me (still stunned): Well, then, that's how you need to approach percent problems.

I loved this story. I have a son who is a math major (at least right now) and I passed this along to them when they were talking about how hard teaching is. (Yeah, I didn't start the conversation. I just have great sons.)

[llanfair]

I assign my students a science book (its emphasis is chemistry) to read during the quarter and I give them a short "exam" on it during the last week. It's not really an exam and if they've read any of it and simply do what I ask of them, then they get full credit.

Many students write about how much they dreaded reading the book because of time constraints, they dislike reading (ick... I hate that one), etc., but many of them also write about how much they enjoyed certain aspects of the book and how it helped pull back the curtains a little as to how important chemistry is in their lives.

I figure some of them are probably blowing smoke at me and didn't read much of the book, but many students like the book and don't sell it back at the end of the term.

I'm happy.

Alan

Would you mind sharing what book you use?  I might be interested in incorporating something like this into my class...and I'm always looking for some good new reading!

I bet it's this one.

Love Larry Gonick.

[ptarmigan]

I realize this board is for professors and not students, but my semester is shaping up to be great.  My new (to me) professor for one class, which met last night for the first time, is charming, smart, and clearly planning on running a good class.  My other class is the second half of one I had last semester with one of the best professors I've ever had.  The third one is a seminar with someone I haven't met yet, but I'm psyched about the format. 

OK, I'll be quiet now.  Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[polly_mer]

Don't be defensive, Ptarmigan.  I, for one, welcome your contributions, especially on those rough days when I ask myself why I signed up for teaching classes instead of a research position.

It's wonderful to read that a student is psyched to be attending classes.

[ptarmigan]

Thanks, polly_mer.

I have loved the first day of school ever since I can remember.  You'd think I'd be over it by now.  It doesn't hurt that my 4-year no-name public college (not university) is surprisingly awesome in a lot of ways (very small class sizes, almost no adjuncts in my experience, etc.)

I do find these boards kind of enlightening.  I try not to post very much because a lot of times, I have something to say, and then later I realize that someone else has made the same point with more credibility, or what I would have said would have just been obnoxious in some way.  In general, not knowing anything doesn't tend to prevent me from having an opinion, so I'm trying to err on the side of caution.  And of course people (especially grad students, and I'm not even one of those) are often aggressively challenged here and, while I enjoy reading it, I don't particularly want it focused on me.