The week has been kind of hectic, but that usually happens when final examinations are scheduled to be taken and given. It’s something I’m still getting used to because it’s not a normal thing to be a student and a teacher in the same department of a community college. At a four year college, sure because graduat degree students take the assignments to higher levels of understanding than the undergraduate students do, but in the community college that doesn’t happen.
So this quarter was my first to experience sitting next to students I teach in classes we both need to take. It was honestly more frustrating because I couldn’t just dissolve into the noise of the classroom since I was dressed and behaved like a teacher. I didn’t mind the part where I had to set an example in behavior because I hate it when students fall asleep, text message, chat, or disengage from the material.
What it did was reinforce the need to reach students at multiple levels. Snazzy and exciting works for a while, but over the course of 10 weeks, it doesn’t sustain learning goals. Dry and reading directly from a powerpoint presentation works for about 12 minutes and everyone is asleep.
Teaching is challenging in the community college environment because a large percentage of students are returning from a previous career field, newly graduated high schoolers, men, women, wealthy, struggling, White, Black, Middle Eastern, Asian, Latin(o)…I’ve even got two Jamaicans in one of my classes. And the class size is small enough that I do get to make relationships with students. And that can be really amazing in the long run.
So, I’ve neglected my blog for the last two days in favor of preparing to take a couple of exams, and to prepare a couple of exams. Sorry. But, it’s Friday and the Friday question is now available.
What do you want to know about Steve Bragg?
Posted by stevebragg 
Posted by stevebragg 
