On teaching
I'm enjoying teaching my class. I worry that I'm the wackiest instructor they've ever had. I'm definitely a kook. I'm the class clown!
The semester is actually flying by. I'm actually one lecture behind where I'd like to be: I spent the whole class covering the HW that was due yester. I hope that class was worthwhile and that I didn't come off looking like a show off -- it definitely was not my intention.
As I was typing that, this anonymous message arrived:
Homeworks are long, useless and does not do any thing other than wasting alot of time.
I'm debating refuting that statement in class next week. If their statement was true, everyone would be making 100s on the homework, and no one would have questions during office hours or on the messageboard. And, no one would be telling me "bool is not a part of the C language." (It's in stdbool.h, y'all.)
A friend of mine just pointed out:
your students hate you
i love it
I'm being fair, but I'm not a pushover. Instructors that were pushovers always got on my nerves when I was in college. If I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish an assignment only to find out in the class period in which it was due that they were going to extend the deadline, I was annoyed. Computer science instructors were the worst: the CSC students always seemed to just expect an extension on everything if they asked for it.
That reminds me of when I worked at a place who's name I'm not going to repeat here. I worked in the hardware group. Due to factors beyond their control (physics), they were looking at missing their deadline. The engineers would take turns working through the night trying to work out their problems. Then, we'd have a meeting, and we'd see the software team all going out to lunch together. It turned out to be a long lunch. Someone commented, "Isn't our product late because the software isn't ready?" Those guys seems to have the same philosophy as the computer science student I used to have classes with.
I haven't extended a deadline, yet, because I don't think it's fair. I even had one student ask for an extension because the career fair was last week.
I don't accept late homework, because it's a problem logistically, and, more importantly, it's just a variation of extending deadlines. Just get it over with people! I work best when I know there is a point in time where I can just stop worrying over it. Nothing I can do can change it after that point. I may wish I had done things differently, but there is relief in knowing it is over. Done. Finished.
I think the students are learning. And, that's what my goal is. They might not like me, but they're learning. Evaluations at the end of the semester should be interesting. I would like to get good ones, but you can't please everyone, even if you're Zane.
I'm never gonna say I'm sorry for the essence of my soul...
The semester is actually flying by. I'm actually one lecture behind where I'd like to be: I spent the whole class covering the HW that was due yester. I hope that class was worthwhile and that I didn't come off looking like a show off -- it definitely was not my intention.
As I was typing that, this anonymous message arrived:
Homeworks are long, useless and does not do any thing other than wasting alot of time.
I'm debating refuting that statement in class next week. If their statement was true, everyone would be making 100s on the homework, and no one would have questions during office hours or on the messageboard. And, no one would be telling me "bool is not a part of the C language." (It's in stdbool.h, y'all.)
A friend of mine just pointed out:
your students hate you
i love it
I'm being fair, but I'm not a pushover. Instructors that were pushovers always got on my nerves when I was in college. If I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish an assignment only to find out in the class period in which it was due that they were going to extend the deadline, I was annoyed. Computer science instructors were the worst: the CSC students always seemed to just expect an extension on everything if they asked for it.
That reminds me of when I worked at a place who's name I'm not going to repeat here. I worked in the hardware group. Due to factors beyond their control (physics), they were looking at missing their deadline. The engineers would take turns working through the night trying to work out their problems. Then, we'd have a meeting, and we'd see the software team all going out to lunch together. It turned out to be a long lunch. Someone commented, "Isn't our product late because the software isn't ready?" Those guys seems to have the same philosophy as the computer science student I used to have classes with.
I haven't extended a deadline, yet, because I don't think it's fair. I even had one student ask for an extension because the career fair was last week.
I don't accept late homework, because it's a problem logistically, and, more importantly, it's just a variation of extending deadlines. Just get it over with people! I work best when I know there is a point in time where I can just stop worrying over it. Nothing I can do can change it after that point. I may wish I had done things differently, but there is relief in knowing it is over. Done. Finished.
I think the students are learning. And, that's what my goal is. They might not like me, but they're learning. Evaluations at the end of the semester should be interesting. I would like to get good ones, but you can't please everyone, even if you're Zane.
I'm never gonna say I'm sorry for the essence of my soul...