Tales from the Classroom
Posted on August 22, 2003 @ 6:31 pm
I taught my first couple of classes today, and I already have some pretty funny stories to tell about the experience. Unfortunately, I suppose that “professional ethics” bar me from discussing them in this particular venue. So, I’ll share a story from my time at Virginia Tech a couple of years back instead. What are they going to do–take away my degree?
Anyway, I had graded my students’ first exam and returned them at the beginning of our weekly meeting. Some students didn’t perform all that well on the exam, and one student in particular actually began crying when she saw her grade. At first, it didn’t bother me too much; I assumed she would stop sooner or later. She didn’t. Pretty soon, I was fifteen minutes into the material for the week, and the tears showed no sign of stopping. Every time I would pause to ask the class a question, her audible sobs would make the silence that much more uncomfortable–and it was only getting worse as class progressed. Needless to say, it was enough to leave me a bit flustered and generally out of sorts. Fortunately, things couldn’t get much worse, right?
Wrong.
About twenty minutes into the class period, a student arrived late. The kicker? She was already crying when she walked through the door. I would later find out that her boyfriend had broken up with her on the way to class, but I had no idea what was going on at the time. After all, twenty minutes is pretty darn late, but it’s not like it’s the end of the world. Plus, she actually did well on the exam. Anyway, I tried my best to keep my cool and get back to the material. However, unlike the first crying student who was keeping more or less to herself, this new student actually wanted to participate in the class discussion–despite choking back tears all the while.
“I think that (sniff, sniff) Lenin was trying to say (sob, sob) that capitalism naturally gives rise to (anguished wailing) imperialism.”
At this point, I couldn’t take it much longer. I had one student who was in tears because she thought she was going to fail the course and another who was obviously upset, but willing to give class the old college try all the same. Meanwhile, my heart was breaking just watching this drama unfold, and I was on the verge of bursting into tears myself. So, I did the only thing that I could think of to do. With about twenty-five minutes left in the period, I told the class that we were going to wrap up early and welcomed anyone who wanted to talk about his or her exam–or anything else that might be bothering them–to join me in my office afterwards.
The moral of the story? If you’re ever teaching a class, be sure to return any graded papers or exams at the end of the meeting. Trust me on this one. I still haven’t figured out how to stop pre-class break-ups, though. I think the key might be early intervention.
Posted by Jess | Filed Under Tales from the Classroom |
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That was pretty funny, although I do feel for a little bad for the students. That’s pretty cool the one girl was trying to suck it up and still contribute, but if it was disturbing class it is, as we say in the law, “good heart, empty head”.
There was one guy who tried to walk into class late last year. After he sat down the professor just looked at him and said “No.” SO he got up and left. I haven’t actually seen a professor ask someone to leave, but I have heard of it.
Did you have to deal with cell phones where you were a TA. I have been in several classes where somebody’s cell phone rings, and the person answers it in class and carries on a conversation. Both times, the teacher never missed a beat.
I’ve had to ask a few students to leave class during my time as a TA. I had one guy a couple of years ago who used to verbally lash out at other students during discussion, accusing them of being “anti-American” or “a bunch of Communists.” Needless to say, his shouting eventually made class so tense that people were afraid to participate. So, I gave him a warning after class one day, he continued the next session, and I told him to leave in the middle of class. He returned the next week and behaved the remainder of the semester.
Meanwhile, I usually address the cell phone issue on the first day, explaining to my students that taking calls in the middle of discussion or lecture is disrespectful, so they need to turn them off when they enter the classroom. Inevitably, someone forgets at some point in the semester, and his or her phone goes off in the middle of class (usually playing something like the “Alex F” theme from Beverly Hills Cop as the ringtone). So, I usually just stop in mid-sentence, look at the student, and wait for him or her to spend twenty seconds shuffling through his or her backpack to find the phone and turn it off. Then, I pick up where I left off. The awkwardness of the situation (exacerbated by the sound of the ringtone in an otherwise silent room) is usually enough to keep it from happening again.
I’ve never had anyone actually try to field a call in class, though. If that happened, I suppose I would ask them to leave.