Three Thing Teaching Thursday

Over the last decade, I’ve been incredibly lucky to have really good, engaged, and active students. I suspect this semester isn’t much different, but for some reason, I’m struggling a bit to activate the classroom (as the kids say). So I decided, five weeks into the semester, it’s a good time for a Three Thing Teaching Thursday that expresses some of the my consternation this semester.

For now, these are unresolvable issues, and this post is much more about my own frustration than “the kids these days.” At the same time, it has not been the smoothest first month of the semester!  

Thing the First

I’ve generally not had any problems getting students to speak in class. I tend to use my privilege as a white, tenured, male faculty member to run a pretty relaxed classroom. Mostly the results are that students speak pretty freely (and sometimes a bit too freely as their often contribute more than their preparation would recommend).

This semester, however, is different. My one discussion-based class is quiet. Too quiet.

And, I have no idea how to get them talking. I’ve tried my standard tricks. I’ve waited. I’ve nudged. I have even let them have time to talk among themselves. I’ve done everything short of penalizing them for their silence (or conversely incentivizing their participation).

I’m out of practice and I panic and start to fill in the gaps for the students. The students, in turn, learn that they can wait me out. As a result, I worry that I de-incentivize their participation.

Thing the Second

In my historical methods class, students seem to really struggle with a book that students in past years digested with some gusto! I suspect this is related to their being so quiet in class. 

I’ve started to wonder whether my success with this book was the exception rather than the rule and while my sample size remains small, I’m already fretting about their midterm and the next time I teach the class. Unlike in the past where I teach the same class multiple semesters in a row, this year, I start to only teach methods in the fall term. Not only will I not have a chance to redeem myself (and my decision to use this book) until the Fall 2025, but my sample of classes using the book will remain pretty mottled.

I’m likely to stick with the book for another year just to see whether a different crop of students will find it more accessible, but I don’t like the wait.

Thing the Third

I continue to struggle with attendance in all my classes. I tell the students the first day of class: “Come to %&#$ing class.”

That said, I know full well, that my students live busy and complicated lives and often struggle to balance priorities. When I first started teaching, I would tell students to prioritize school. Now, I’m far less likely to do that. After all, that I got to prioritize school when I was on college was not because I was somehow prepared to succeed at the post-secondary level, but was the thing that allow me to succeed at the post-secondary level. Going to class for me was relatively simple. I worked odd hours that rarely conflicted with class time, I generally had classes that I enjoyed, I lived on campus, I didn’t have family or personal issues that I had to negotiate, I was generally healthy, and I lived in a supportive community. Our students here are likely to enjoy only a few of the advantages that I had in college and while I do what I can to incentivize attendance, I try to stop short of penalizing absenteeism. 

The result is predictable. Attendance is poor and uneven.