Feeling a faint guilt over sobbing girl, the girl I made to cry...

I submitted grades for the fall semester on Monday the 20th. Around 50% of the students in all my classes passed.

I don't base grades on whether the students meet some arbitrary set of conditions. A student passes my class if they demonstrate that they know a sufficient amount of the course material to pass the final and be able to keep up in the next class. Once they demonstrate their knowledge, I give them at least a passing grade.

If the students you are passing know their stuff, let them pass. That is your responsibilty to them, the school and the community. :thumbsup:

 

I know that, they did not know "stuff", thus I do not really understand why did not I fail them today. Well, they knew something, but I usually consider "something" to be not enough.
Usually I need them to know everything from the course, maybe a little bit worse than I know it.

Oh, here is this other thing - when I was asking any student a question today, he or she could not answer, but all other students could (those, to whom the question was not addressed).
OK, I exchange the student for another one, ask that one another question, no answer from the questioned, but everyone else knows the answer. I do exchange again, the same result...
At home I was told I might be too intimidating, so all of them were too scared to give an answer despite possessing the knowledge. Come on, I am a slim 26-year old guy , they are about 21, I have calm smile, kind eyes and a delicate aspect in my voice, how can I be so intimidating!?

 

You aren't intimidating them. They are nervous about being "on the spot".

 

currently I'm learing Russian, and in the coming year I'll be doing the russin equivalent to ielts. Often I'll reply to my teachers greetings in english - как дела [how's things]? yeah, I'm good etc, but will talk to myself, friends or the cat in russian, for example yesterday I thought to myself я хочу пить - зеленый чай [I'm thirsty/I want to drink - green tea]. The feeling of being put on the spot can make you forget things you should know well, and example of this for me was when my teacher was saying следующий [next] and it took me about 30 seconds to remember what it ment.

 

In one of my first lectures at university in a large lecture hall with about three hundred people the Prof asked a question which I answered.
He made a remark about my answer which I didn't catch, the entire hall errupted in laughter.
I was too embarrassed to ask people what he had said, and sat there wishing the earth would swallow me up.
I never volunteered an answer again for about two years.
You could always ask your students why they don't like answering questions in front of the class.

 

That was not the whole class, just seven (or eight?) students and me.

I always tried to answer questions asked by a lecturer (if I am right - I look smart, if I am wrong - I look brave at least... Not that I answered if I did not think I am right), but I liked to ask questions myself even more (when I was a student).

 

Trying to answer the lecturer's questions causes you to be more active in thinking about the topic, also. Additionally, similar questions will probably be on the tests.

 

Do you, by chance, know a way to put this knowledge into the minds of my students?

 

Many students are too passive. They will eventually drop out because they aren't learning fast enough to pass their classes.

You can explain it, in few words, at the beginning of the semester. They may not catch on right away, but at least they will have a clue.

You also require them to do some sort of "daily" work to keep them constantly working. It's easy for me, I can give a small quiz in every class. No make ups. (Miss class = miss quiz = 0 grade)

 

Actions, or lack of actions, without consequence, (good or bad) creates an atmosphere where learning is impossible.

 

Do you think I do not explain this? But... A lot of them could not learn what a logarithmic level of sound wave's pressure is... And that philosophic matter, I fear it is too hard for most. (Looks like I am flaming, and flaming my own students... Very bad of me.)

The "daily quiz with no make ups" might be a good idea. I have some, but I allow them to retry, if they fail. thanks for advice.

Sergio out - for he is going to meet more students, who will try to pass the test... Again.

 

I don't do make-ups or retries because there is too much material to cover. But this allows them to "turn their back" on, or pass by, certain topics. And this has consequences on the final exam and in later courses.

Allowing them to retry failed tests causes good students to stay on the covered topics until they have a better grasp of the material. So this is not a weak approach. I will do this in some advanced classes, but I don't make it a policy. Too many of my students will take the retry without any additional preparation.

You are not flaming your students. You are concerned that they are signed up for courses and then not doing what it takes to learn the material and pass the course. It would be bad if you didn't care.

 

Thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate them.

 

yeah and only the things happen, espescially in a class, which had reasons connected well with each other and skips the attention of the educator who is too much into trying to pull the attention into the subject he is teaching.

most educators get the wrong idea that pulling the attention on themesleves is the key, where it should be pulling te attention of the students on the subject, removing the role of the teacher so the students also learn to learn it on their own.

a smart teacher will try to juggle at class while telling the 4. rule of sentence development while a smarter teacher will make the students repeat the same rule over and over in different ways. an idiot professor will think by making a joke and making everyone laugh will sacrifice one students attention but will win the rest of the students attention on the subject. just like a stand up comedien. but sadly, even when these people reach to ages 50-60, they dont know that more than 90 percent of the students will just laugh off and start to take out their phones (with an instinct to hide it from the stage, an instinct that comes from their younger days of school) and type an sms to a potential opposite sex. a good teacher knows that a large a laguhter in class is a catastophy for the subject on hand, and trying to hush down the ineviteble is useless. so mostly such teachers let it go for the rest of the time they have by idle chat, not trying to keep on teaching.



damn i should write a book about this.

 

When I catch sms-typers, I expel them from the room.
Admittance to further lessons only with a dean's or deputy dean's approval... usually... this semester I was not THAT strict though...