This thread makes me both sad and happy that I am no longer a T.A....
linden at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU (linden higgins) writes:
>Many of them have never been faced with a course like this - I ask for very
>little memorization, the exams are mostly geared at critical reading and
>thinking. I mean, these are non-majors, they don't need (I think) to know
>all the steps in cell division. They do need to be able to read about the
>latest pseudo-medical cure-all and recognize that there are no controlled
>experiments.
>>But the vast majority of them don't seem to recognize that I am trying to
>teach them skills rather than facts, and they continuously blow the exams.
>When they come in (if they come in - most don't), the common error is
>failure to read carefully. And how does one teach 300+ 18-20 yr olds to
>read?
Did you tell them what you expect out of them at the beginning of the
semester?
I got to the point that I had a page and a half riot act that I read
to my students at the beginning of each semester, detailing what
plagerism is and what the penalties were, strongly advising them to
buy a pocket dictionary etc.
I think my speech typically included humor, begging and threatening.
You might try telling the story about the bio course and the beaker
of yellow liquid to emphasize paying attention.
I went to a small private undergrad school where 90% of the people
wanted to learn. I went to a (generally 2nd rung) state university and
found that 90% of the students didn't care.
Burned out profs (and T.A.s) and lapdog/cheapskate administrators don't
help but I think the problem starts quite a bit earlier in the failure to
teach/allow the joy of learning.
Do I have any answers? Nope, sorry.
Robert
