On teachin...

I teach classes only from M-Th. That's just how my schedule works out. So today is like my Friday. It sounds like a cush job, and in someways it is. But this week, I'm glad it's "Friday." My course load consists primarily of basic skills courses. This means I'm teaching arithmetic and pre-algebra courses to adults attending my community college. My students have been as young as 12 to as old as in their 60's. They can be fresh out of high school, never graduated from high school, or haven't been in school for countless years. We serve an economically depressed area; unfortunately this translates into high unemployment, high poverty, and poor education. I get many students who are not prepared for college. That's where my job begins; my goal is to get these students ready for college level math work when they come to me not knowing how to add fractions.

I teach 5 classes with roughly 30-40 students. So this semester I have about 160 students under my wing. This week, many of my students were like little chicks : ...eep...eep...eep...feed me...eep...eep...how do i do this...eep...eep...how do i do that? They were asking questiong after question. This is my own doing though because I try to make myself accessible to the students. I encourage questions during my lecture and try to foster discussion/debate about the content. I tend to have good student participation...maybe even too much! It's both tiring and taxing attending to the needs of so many.

Today I publicly chided students whose yawning was a bit loud and obtrusive. I was initially irritated, and I'm sure it showed. But I smiled it off...and told 'em I understood because I was in their shoes before:tired of school, bored in class, etc. But it's still rude to yawn so loudly.

I passed back exams today in two classes. For one class, 13 out of 35 got a D or F and for the other class 15 out of 40 got a D or F. One of my former D students got an A this time around. I was very proud of her...this past year she's been a victim of spousal abuse and also done some time in jail. Despite, the drama going on in her life, she's been really trying to turn her life around and focus on her school work. She's made great progess! I remember her first time in my class a year ago. She got in a heated argument with some other students the first day. Man, she was about to BOX. I had to sit down and talk with her about what was appropriate and not appropriate in college classes and in school in general. She dropped out of my class then, but she's gotten herself back on track and been doing well. I like working with these underdogs. That's why I teach...