teaching the studentlets

[lobelia321]

It's ten and I'm sitting in bed with t'laptop. I am exhausted. This full-time work malarkey is an exhausting business, even without the Line Managers of Horror breathing down my neck. The students were fun today but even so, 'tis a tiring business, this teaching business. I did alternatives to Hollywood narrative today, and showed clips from Ozu's End of Summer, Godard's Pierrot le fou and Tarkovsky's Solaris. I cheat: I haven't even seen all of End of Summer but seeing the clip twice in a row I really wanted to. It's a rather weird, slow, compelling film making, with people framed by late 1950s curtains and strange yellow vases.

Then they had to discuss the reading, and nobody had done the reading, so I made them do the reading in class. *sigh* What is it with these students? These days they are paying for their degree, so why aren't they doing their work?? Don't they want to get the maximum back for their money? They are very young, that's what, and they don't think like that. One of them actually said, 'I wasn't here last week'. I felt like appending the 'Miss' for him. Yeah, right, and the dog ate it, and um, it's written in your module booklet wot u can read even if you weren't there last week.

I don't scold, though. This is a wise thing I learned years ago doing a seminar at the Institute for Latin American Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. The young lecturer who ran the seminar never got annoyed with anyone for not having done the reading; she always respected that we had a life and good reasons for not reading, and discussed the text with us anyway. This made me feel bad because I never did have good reasons for not reading, and it spurred me on to do the reading for next time. Getting told off doesn't help so I don't do it, except in a mock-shocked humorous way (pretending to faint, or telling students who haven't read the text to sit together in the naughty corner).

Then I pretend that I know they have good reasons or feign self-blame ('my instructions were probably not clear enough') and hope that the Protestant guilt trip will kick in. And actually, my instructions probably weren't clear enough. The thing is you have to train studentlets as you would pets. I set them a text to read last week but we did not discuss it in class so they evidently learned that texts needn't be read. This was Bad Training. I must remember the golden rule of first semester students:

1) Give them tonnes to do at home in the first 5 weeks.
2) Give them writing to do. Collect it. Comment on it.
3) Give them reading to do. Give them study questions on the reading with page references. Discuss it in class.
4) Spell out everything they have to do 3 x per session.
5) Schedule one task only to do per session. (This week I asked them to bring in a DVD and read a text. This overloaded their poor brains. They all brought in their DVDs! Also, then there was no time to watch everyone's clips as we had to read the un-read text in class.)

It amuses me that I have so many students on my Flist and read the grass from the other side. I have to say that LJ has changed my attitudes to students. After all, behind every hapless first-semester's face could lurk a potential slashbaby.

Speaking of which: Last week, after a film screening of Run Lola Run, one of the students came up to me and said, 'That was amazing, the way Lola controlled everything in the end, all the powers she had, very Mary Sueish.'

Very what?? I kept my composure, though, and just nodded blandly. Later I wondered if I should have outed myself. She seemed bizarrely confident that I would know what this term meant, which indeed I did. Mary Sue indeed. Gads, it's like having a gaydar: the slashdar. The Cor-I-wonder-what-fandom-she-is-in-dar. It makes the gap between Authoritative Lecturer and Guileless Studentlet shrink somewhat.

I used to be paranoid about outing myself to students in fandom. I used to pretend I was younger than I am until I discovered that loads of people were also not younger than I am, *g*. So now, hey, this is the grass from my side! And why oh why, dear students who are on my Flist, do you not do your reading?? Well, ahem, no doubt everyone on my Flist does their reading all the time so wouldn't know...

Comments

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

And why oh why, dear students who are on my Flist, do you not do your reading??


This is something I wonder about all the time. Especially when I get asked, "This stuff on the course outline we're meant to read - is there something giving the titles of the books they're from?" And then I take the course outline from their little hands and turn the damn piece of paper over and point politely at the bibliography.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I duplicate everything. I cut and paste every book title and film title into the requisite spot in their booklet. Assume nothing! :-)

well, I hate to brag

[helenish.livejournal.com]

but I always did the reading, except when I did not read Herzog--I took it out of the library, dutifully, I read--hmm. possibly one chapter, and then I just gave up the ghost. I couldn't do it. That is the only book I distinctly absolutely not reading. That, and the fact that I have an English degree and have never read one word of Fitzgerald--or, I suppose that's wrong, since I have read enough Fitzgerald to realize I can't BEAR to read his work and HATE HIM HATE HIM.

Anyhow, I always did the reading and I never missed a class. I was compulsive that way, and, you know, it's not like I really got ahead with that dull, plodding, methodical approach. The world belongs to slackers and good liars, and I attribute most of my (meager) success to honing my skills at both.

Re: well, I hate to brag

[helenish.livejournal.com]

um, that is "distinctly remember not reading"

Re: well, I hate to brag

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

What is Herzog? American students intrigue me because it is only in America (when I was at Berkeley Uni for a year) that I discovered library books that were annotated from beginning to end. In German and English unis, books are annotated to the end of chapter 2 or 3 and the final pages are pristine and uncut. American students, though, finish books. This is impressive.

Is Fitzgerald the Great Gatsby man? He is overrated.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

*wave wave*

Hello, nice to hear from you! I always did my reading. It was the rest of it I couldn't be bothered with. You know, the actual work.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Oh, but reading is work! You don't get marked for it, this is true.

So Torchwood!!! Has it already started on BBC 2? Or is tomorrow the premiere? I didn't even want to see it but what with the List going on about man/man love and slashy kisses and omg CAPTAIN JACK, I, um, lost the thread of this sentence.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I think perhaps the fact that I didn't think of reading as work may have been half the trouble...

Torchwood - It's started on BBC3 but premieres on BBC2 tomorrow night. I wouldn't say it's yet reached any great heights of brilliance, but I thought it was lots of fun, and hey -- Captain Jack! :) The second ep has an alien wot kills people with sex. Which means I no longer have to finish my epic 'alien wot kills people with sex' story, thank God!

[junalele.livejournal.com]

*writes down everything because just one more month and I'll have students of my own...screams in panic*

Let's not talk about Lola Rennt though. I know it's considered cult but I hate it because in reality, you wouldn't get anywhere in Berlin in 20 minutes. Like not anywhere. Gah!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh, I could give you a lot of tips about teaching. If you like. I think I'm a good teacher, and I've collected a lot of experience over the years, and I get good feedback questionnaires so I think I must be doing something right. The one thing to expect is that when you first start teaching it may well be awful; you just have to go through that and collect the experience and not worry about it too much. A friend of ours, a professor, once said: 'First you learn the subject, then you teach the subject, then you teach the people.' And you have to go through the steps, I think, to getting to 'teach the people.'

Are you giving lectures or doing seminars or a combination? I can give you tips'n'tricks for both. A useful online resource is http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/teaching.html -- I've used that quite a lot.

What I do in a first seminar, for example:

- Names. Often, they don't know each other, either. Everyone says their name, and then I do a name game where I say 'John', and then John has to say the name of one other person in the room, and that person has to say another name, and so on until all names have been said. If they don't know a name, they can ask, 'what is your name?' This is also a good ice breaker.

- Because for me the main purpose of the first few sessions is to prepare the way for later. They've got to get on and be a friendly social unit, and they've got to be prepared to do work. You have to train them in the first 2-3 weeks, or you make more work for yourself later on.

- Students like to be told what to do. It took me many years to learn this. I used to ask them what they wanted to do and defer to them but they don't actually like this. They want you to be the authority. I dress for it, too: suit and smart appearance. (I've done that for a year now and the dress thing is great! It's like a uniform, and it makes me feel better, too.)

- Two things you'll have to cope with in seminars: students who don't shut up (always the same 2) and students who never say a word. The trick is to learn how to shut up the talkers without being rude, and how to encourage the silent ones to speak. Also, how to deal with idiotic comments.

- Academics always talk too much. I talk too much; I try to curb myself by breaking things up into pairwork and groupwork every 15 minutes or so. Devise questions in advance. E.g. we showed the film 'Lola rennt' in week 2, and in week 3 I gave them a checklist of what is a Hollywood movie. Then I asked, 'is Lola a Hollywood film?' First, make notes on your own (3-4 minutes silence). Second, turn to your neighbour and compare notes (4-5 minutes). Note: if you notice that there is a problem with the talking, some people aren't saying anything etc., you can insert a third step: everyone stand up and sit next to a new person. Making people move around wakes them up and gives them a chance to sit next to That Hot Guy Across The Aisle rather than The Bore they've been sitting next to up till then. Third, you can (if you want) get them to compare notes OR answer a more complex question, merging two pairs into a quartet. Also, I always go round from group/pair to gropu/pair and talk to them separately for a few minutes while the discussion goes on. In conclusion, draw it together in a plenary. Point out the key points.

I've run out of space! Contd in next comment

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Oh give me more. As I said I probably won't need all of them now. For example the students do know eachother though I'm afraid I don't know all their names. It'll probably be best to just ask them, right? How emberassing since I went on an excursion with most of them a year ago when I was still 'one of them'...

What I really need to remember is not to talk too much. I tend to do that a lot. And too fast and too complicated which I totally blame on my friends who are just the same so we do understand eachother. But since I learned to teach martial arts to 40 year old men I guess, it'll somehow work.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Contd

- Make a note of key points in advance. You need to know what you want them to get out of the session. The best thing is if they say this themselves; sometimes you have to trick them into believing they said it themselves by giving very strong hints or rephrasing their responses, saying 'interesting idea!' and then giving the key point in your own words. (Ah, the trickery we employ...)

- If you can get them to laugh in week 1 or 2: fabulous. You've won them over. Best, if they laugh at something one of them has said, or at a genuine mistake you've made rather than at a joke you deliberately told. This, alas, cannot be planned for. *g*

- If the session goes badly: blame them, not yourself. I've taught the exact same lesson to different classes, and in some groups it goes down fantastically and everyone discusses and debates, and in other groups, there's total silence.

- Germans will talk more readily than English students. *gg* So much of the work is done for you. :-)

Um. You want more tricks of the trade? This is fun. I enjoy talking shop.

What is the subject you are teaching??

[junalele.livejournal.com]

*writes down everything*

Oh, do tell me more. I'll probably won't need them as much for this class but it can't hurt to know. It's a reading class to practise translating Mongolian into proper German. Topic are Mongolian trickster tales which incidently was one of my topics in the final exam. How my teacher did/does it it's practically only translating but I plan to at least talk a bit about the texts because they're really interesting in relation to the culture and the time they'ven been created...Erh, the nerd in me is babbling again. Sorry, it's the Mongolian folktales.

Germans will talk more readily than English students. *gg* So much of the work is done for you. :-)
They will? That's weird. And worrying since the German students talk muchly so the English students can't say anything. LOL.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I remember an Italian translation class I took at the FU. It was quite good, actually; the lecturer was quite respectful of the students' ideas and disagreements, and it taught me that there is no 'right' translations but just a lot of versions and justifications. Hm, I have no tricks of the trade for translation classes. I can imagine a lot depends on whether they've done their homework or not, but I can't imagine that Mongolian draws on a huge number of students. They must already be very motivated to choose this obscure subject!

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Not a huge number, no. I think 5 or so wanted the script and probably 3-4 will be there. In this case I think it actually helps me that I actually attended the first half of this class as a student a while ago. Because I know how long it'll take them to prepare and stuff. I also know that they have a really full schedule this semester so I'm willing to cut them some slack. My plan is that everybody has to prepare at least one sentence (Mongolian sentendes are at least 4 lines long anyway) because it's just not the same if you didn't prepare.

It was quite good, actually; the lecturer was quite respectful of the students' ideas and disagreements, and it taught me that there is no 'right' translations but just a lot of versions and justifications.
That's one of the many things I love about my teacher. She even told us upfront when she herself didn't understand a phrase or a sentence and asked if anyone of us had an idea. Made me respect her like woa! She's the best anyway. She would probably even sit me down to write applications for the fucking social welfare people with me... She once wrote a letter to my insurance company so I could mantain student status (pay less) and she called me on my cell phone and read me her letter to see if I thought it alright!

[wanderlost.livejournal.com]

A variety of reasons why the reading was not done, Miss:

a) I had more reading for another class to finish
b) The reading was boring, difficult etc
c) Some profs ended up saying exactly what was in the reading during the lecture, so there was no point in reading for that class
d) I forgot!

But, I always tried to finish my readings. Even the boring, difficult onees.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!!

I will now believe that the students staring at me blankly have these answers a to d in their heads but are, for some mysterious reason of embarrassment or who knows what, not prepared to reveal them to me. And I will forestall their responses by my own answers:

a) I will hit other lecturers over the head and say 'don't give them any reading when they have my reading to do!' What to say, though? Time management, *sigh*.
b) I never set boring readings! Well, boring and difficult is often the same thing, because if you can't understand a word, you'll be bored. Maybe I should append a warning 'WARNING. Likely to be difficult. Which is precisely the reason it's been set as a reading so that you get a chance to ask about it and discuss it and understand it.'
c) I am guilty of this. Because I want the students to know what's in the text and if they haven't read it, I need to tell them. Or need to explicate the text if it's difficult. Heh, I shall stop this now!
d) Well, I smile at this one and say 'do please read it now, then'.

*g* Real life ain't like student life, that's for sure. *sighs again nostalgically at the option of laziness*

[sonicbookmark.livejournal.com]

After all, behind every hapless first-semester's face could lurk a potential slashbaby.

Oh my holy crap.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

'tis an intriguing concept, 'tis it not??

And I guess, from the student's pov: behind every innocent-seeming stern lecturer's face could lurk a potential slashdame.

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

*blinks*

i just want to get the fuckers to draw.

b.x ;)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

The fuckers whom you are trying to get to draw may be fantasising about Elijah/Dom in their heads!!!

It does not do to dwell on this for too long. But it may explain their bleary eyes of a morn: they've been LJing all night!

Whatever happened to that lovely thing, the generation gap?

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

i wouldn't credit them with that much creativity, to be honest.

do you know what the really sad thing is? i am actually much "cooler" - in terms of cultural savvy - than the majority of the kids i teach. what's gone wrong???

b.x :/

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I am not surprised. The kids think they're cool but they're too insecure and too ignorant to be truly cool. A friend of mine (the one with whom I went to the Emirates Stadium) used to be a school teacher and said that the biggest mistake you can make as a school teacher is to aim to be cool. The kids will not respect you. He used to make up uncool things, e.g. they'd ask, 'Sir, what did you do on the weekend?' Being gay, he probably had gone clubbing or summat, but he said, 'Oh, I spent the weekend in the library, reading', and they'd find that incredibly nerdy but would respect him and feel 'cool' about their own supposed superiority. I have now adopted this attitude and wear only flat sensible lace-up shoes and suits and jackets. I don't know about cultural savvy -- they don't seem to have much 'savvy' in any realm. But some of them are endearing in their youthful enthusiasms. This year I have again a boy who gets Me Bothered in class. This happened before three years ago. It Confuses. And then Disappoints when said boy says something really dumb.

Do you have mature students?

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

You should give them lifts on your bike and touch them up at traffic lights. [/History Boys reference]

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

duckie! you've been kind of fierce lately.

b.x :)

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

I have now adopted this attitude and wear only flat sensible lace-up shoes and suits and jackets.
teehee. i had green hair not so long ago. but i do sometimes wear a pinstripe suit. only to be ironic, mind.

ooh! a boy who gets you Bothered! do tell! my adorable gay officemate is always finding himself Bothered by my students, but in the main they leave me cold. teehee.

b.x :)

[birdgerhl.livejournal.com]

our mature students tend towards the certifiably insane.

b.x :)

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Hee, fandomdar!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Do you think it exists??

[msilverstar]

Teenboy and I really liked Lola, and she wasn't a Mary-Sue, she was the HERO, dammit. If she was a guy, no one would imply she had violet eyes. *grump*

I don't remember being assigned all that much to read, so I at least skimmed it. I think your pedagogical methods are very clever!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It's not whether Lola is or is not a Mary Sue (as you know, my definition of a Mary Sue varies from nearly everybody else's definition, anyway... *g*), but that she said the words "Mary Sue". Freak-o-rama freak-me-out time!! Whoa.