Dear Students,
I need your help...That's why I'm writing to you for advice.
I have some
challenging problems this semester and I'm not sure what to do. Let me tell you about my classes.
First,
there are several guys who even in week 4 still think that the
class--which is supposed to meet every day--meets only 3x/week. I'm not
sure if this is a listening problem, a reading problem, or some other
problem, but if I don't know the cause, its hard to imagine the solution.
Then, there are several students who totally
ignore the homework assignments which are there only for their benefit,
not mine. I wish I could just download everything directly from my
head into theirs, but alas, that's not how it works with real minds,
only virtual ones.
Another problem with this bunch is an apparent lack of resources. Some students come to class without their books. I don't want to mention names or countries, but suffice it to say that several of these students come from one of the wealthiest countries on the planet. It's almost an embarrassment to their government that these poor students cannot afford to buy the books for their classes. Perhaps the other students should contribute money to help them out. What do you think?
Finally, some of the students--even when
they are physically present in the class--appear to be absent minded. I
could be talking about something that is important for them to know,
but their mind is just elsewhere. I try very hard to make subjects like punctuation exciting, but in the end, there is only so much I can do with such a dry topic!
Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for reading this and taking the time to respond.
Yours Truly,
Unhappy Holly :(
Holly, I see how unhappy you are. Here, I have some advice for your problems.
ReplyDeleteFirst problem is that several guys come to class 3x/week. They might oversleep. I also learn how difficult to get up early. Why don't you change the schedule from the morning to the afternoon? I know you can't do that. You treat the students who are often absent very well. You should tell them how many hours they was absent and warn that they're almost dropped.
Students who ignore the homework assignments could be busy working to earn money or dating. Or they may be confident with their English. Study or not that is their awareness. You shouldn't worry too much about that. You've done your work very well. In my view, you are a good teacher.
Sometimes, I'm jealous with the students who have a good condition. They don't need to worry about tuition or some thing relates to money. I think they can afford for textbook, but they just don't care about it.You should write a letter for their government to suggest granting textbook fee besides scholarships.
Finally, some of the students--even when they are physically present in the class--appear to be absent minded. You ought to require them to be out classroom like in my culture. Sleeping in class, or interrupting by coming too late is extremely impolite.
Holly, i can see how these problems are bothering you, let me suggest some advices for you.
ReplyDeleteFirst problem is the the guys who only come to the class three times a week could possibly have overslept, or had some other stuff that suddenly came up and had to deal with them, it's very difficult to wake up very early in the morning to attend a class, although i'm sure you cannot change the schedule. but tell them how many hours they have missed, and how they might be dropped from the class.
Second problem about the students who ignore the assignments, they could've simply forgotten about them, or might've been too preoccupied to do so, i for one face that problem at times, and deal with the teacher removing marks from me for forgetting, also, some students may be confident about their english, i for one never used to do my homework in high school for the whole year, because the english was from the government, and it was a simple matter of ABC's. so when i didn't do the homework the teacher would ask me as to why i didn't do it, i told him how simple and easy it was, so he asked me to do a more skilled english assignment, and i did perfectly on it, so he then never asked me why i didn't do the homework after that.
as for the students who don't buy the books, i think they just can't get the money for it, even though they are from the wealthiest countries in the world, sometimes the parent's want them to depend on their own, instead of the parents money for everything, so he might have been short on the money which led him to not being able to buy the books, since he has to worry about rent,food and more.
Finally, about the student's who aren't focused in class, that's something that doesn't involve you being a bad teacher, in my opinion you're a great teacher. but they may be tired from being too busy the night before, or may have some family problems and that's why they are absent minded in class.
Hi Holly, I think at this point we all noticed how disappointed you are with some of the students. It shouldn't be that hard to teach for a class which all are adults already. In my country you are considered an adult at the age of 18. It is truly disrespectful let a teacher that is mother of a family stop doing her duties as a housewife or a father that should be spending time with his family or teaching a class that actually want to learn and also it is disrespectful for the other students that really are paying for a good education and trying their best to be good students.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, for those who seem to be lost, by knowing what they really want to do with life, you might consider alert them one last time. You can choose to do it on the midterm, it is when everybody is going to be at class.
On second matter, for those who ignore the homework you could establish a due date and when this due date is over there is no other way of doing it, unless they have a really good excuse.
On Third matter, for those who haven't bought the books, you may invite then to leave the class and advice them that you'll count as an absence.
Finally Holly, in my country when there are students that disturb the class like: talking, interrupting the teacher, sleeping on class, our teachers would pack there belongs and leave; and the material he didn't fully cover that day, would be the one for exam. So those who didn't care about the class and didn't want to be in class they would simple leave by free wiling.
I want you to know, that i think that you and Greg are doing the best for us. You are always clear about everything and you care about your students. The problem is not from the teachers, it is the students. Some still think that they are at kindergarten.
First of all I think you need to take serious actions and don't have consideration! You should let everybody know at which point they're on your class, like how many hours they have left, who may need to start making an appeal and who might be dropped.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, we know everybody has problems but some are just sloths and another part has jobs but this is not an excuse, you should take some points off whoever is not doing his/her blog exercises and maybe not let them take the class.
As for the ones that haven't bought a single book yet, you might take one point off every time they come to class with out their class material, I bet they will buy it by the very next day.
Finally for the students that are absent minded you should tell them to stay at home if they are going to be sleeping in class, they just interrupt the class and it shows how impolite they're.
Hello Holly, Don’t worry I’ll solve your entire problem =D. here are some suggestions.
ReplyDeleteFirst issue has a simple solution you don’t need to be unhappy or depressed you could talk with those who are not coming in the class privately. It might be helpful for them because they may have problem with transportation or something that we don’t know.
Second issue I’ve read in the Hand book which was given in the beginning of the semester, the student who did not do his/her homework, is going to mark absent by the teacher because he/she has all right to do that. You might be use this way to solve this problem with those students. In addition, they may be from the players that you’ve written in your essays.
Next, the students who don’t bring his staff such as, books or copy from the books you should get them out from the class! I know it’s kind of strict role yet you should to do it. To feel responsibility from the student you ought to have harsh role.
The last kind of student you should bring a Psychologist to solve this issue !
Hello Holly, please be happy. I will give you some suggestions to solve these problems.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the first problem that several students did not come to class every day. You should give them extra tasks, such as writing double homework. If they do not do extra homework, you may deduct their score. You should inform them how many hours they were absent. You ought to not accept their excuse; on the other hand, you just follow the role of LCC. However, if they have important cause and evidences, you may think about forgiving them or not.
The second problem is that several students ignore the homework. You give students chances to practice and learn extra information. They did not do homework assignment, which they think they already understood how to use. You could test them to know how much knowledge they knew. If they get high score, you may do not worry about them. Otherwise, they get low score, you should talk to them why do not they do not do homework. If the cause could not be a cause, you do not need to think about too much. Because they do not care about themselves, you should not give them extra score.
About third problem is that some students did not bring books to come to class. You ought to tell them if you do not have books in the class, I will mark you absent. Also, if they get 40 hours absent that they do not have book, you will still drop them.
Finally, the students who are physically present in the class. You may forgive them a few times. However, they continue appearing to be absent minded, you should tell them that they do not need to come to class, and their behavior could affect the other classmates and you. You should tell them to go out class and mark absent to them.
In the end of this mail, I should tell you that you are a good teacher. Do not be unhappy for those reasons. Beginning the class until now, you already did the best for your students. They should be responsibility for themselves. I hope those advice could be helpful for you.