Some of my students are obviously reading these blog entries... but that is OK, it is not as if I am saying that I hate them or something! No, in fact, I even love them too much and that is the problem. I just cannot get mad at them! Well I did get mad, but I have a feeling that they think I did not really mean what I said so they do not really worry. I do not know how to be "tough" and strict. I have lost that power somewhere between last semester and this fall. I used to be feared by my students, feared, and respected, and I still think I am respected, in a way, but it is not the kind of respect where they will care about what I say. It is more the "she's nice" kind of respect... which is a definitely NOT a good thing! I mean, I don't want to be hated by my students, but I feel that they are taking advantage of my kindness and it's making me really, really tired. Coming to class late for example. At the beginning of the semester, I said, "if you are late three times, it counts as one absence. And if you are absent seven times, you get an F in the class." Now, if I really applied these rules, half of the class would already be dangerously closer to getting an F! How can they think that coming to class 15 minutes late is all right? Is that a counter reaction to the cultures they came from, where everything had to be so perfect and orderly... and now, they think that the American culture is "cool" and "relaxed" so they can do whatever they want? I had that problem a few years ago at the ELC. I would give "orders" to my students like "read this for tomorrow" for example and some Korean students would say, "this is not Korea, you can't treat us like that!" I made the "late" rule only because I was afraid of Latin students. My first semester at Purdue, I was teaching regular 101 and every single student was on time exactly, except for one... who was from Peru... so I thought I might have other students from Latin America and had to be ready for that this semester. Turns out I only have on Latin student, from Costa Rica, and he is not even the worst! So yesterday, I told them to not come to class at all if they were going to be late. It is draining! I have to wait for those who are late, can't really start doing or explaining anything, have to repeat the same things 3-4 times every time someone comes in. And of course, today, someone was late. Now, here was my dilemma: this particular student is always late, so if I let him come to class after what I said yesterday, he will always be late in the future and this will damage my authority, in the eyes of all the other students too! On the other hand, he is one of the two students who really struggle with English, with ideas, with life in general it seems, and who need all the help I can provide, so if he misses even more class time, it is going to set him behind even more, plus I will have to spend extra time explaining to him what we did and the homework. Agh! So I let him in. Wednesday, we started class with FIVE people in the classroom! I am very disheartened and disappointed! And I know the other 106i teachers are struggling with the same problem. Only international students dare to come to class late! What image are they giving? How can they follow what is going on if they are always late to class? And my last and most important question is: are they late like this in their "more important" (or so they say!) classes like math, chemistry, engineering, or CS? If they are not, then they respect neither this class, nor me, and something must be done about it!
OK, on a more positive side, they all seem to have good topics for their papers now. It took some serious work for some, and I did have to spend extra time with those students... up to the point of practically putting the words into their mouth so they would choose decent topics... and I am still a little unsure about a couple of topics, but we'll see, I for one am pretty excited about some of their ideas, and it's impossible to predict how these papers will turn out, so I hope for the best. Monday and Tuesday, I had them come in groups again and show me that they really knew what they wanted to research. I had given them a table to fill out (thanks Gigi) and a sentence to complete (thanks Brita) so they would really know what the research question was. I do not know what they thought of the exercise, but I liked it, it proved useful in forcing them to actually articulate a specific research question. It also seems that our conference time is becoming more effective and productive. Then on Wednesday, they had to bring an outline of their first paper. I know I sound very frustrated and that makes me sad, but I AM very frustrated. I gave them an example of an outline, I wrote online directions of what parts had to be in their paper, and I also told them where they could look in their textbook for additional help… and 9/14 students had done whatever else it was that they thought was an outline! It is not just the fact that nine students had not cared to do things carefully and correctly, that bothers me. It’s also the fact that SOME students have done it very well and are ready to go on and work on other things, but I still have to spend a whole hour explaining to the 9 who did it wrong how they should have done it! Gigi says: Now they know that it does not matter if they haven’t done their homework, because they know they’ll be able to do it in class! So yesterday, I also told them not to come to class if they were not ready with their homework done well and all the required material (textbook and others).
Their first draft was due today, and that little speech I gave them yesterday seemed to have worked because they all had a nice first draft! The activity we did then worked well: I had them bring an electronic copy of their first draft, open it on their computer, and then go around and read each other’s papers and make comments on them with the “track change” function of Word. They had to make comments, ask questions, give suggestions, and find problems, but not spend too much time on one paper so they would be able to read 3-4 other papers. Most students had the time to do that and from what I have seen, it worked very well! I still gave them another text (about gender issues in Japan) to peer-review over the weekend, and this exercise will be graded. I know I have not given them very good reasons why peer reviewing is important and I will discuss that on Monday, but so far, no one has complained and they seem to have done it very well. At least one thing that worked, finally!
So I guess this week had some good and some bad… but overall, the conferences were successful and so was the peer-reviewing activity. Now we have to work on a few more things like doing homework and being on time. Another thing is the “feedback” blog that I have started with this class, where they have said very nice things, such as “nice teacher,” and then complained a lot about the homework, but where I’d like them to really reflect on the teaching and learning that are taking place in this class. Next week’s new fight? Technology!
