Penguins or Humans?

[elenchos]

So today, I taught my friend Danielle's class for her so she could leave early for T-day break. I sat in on her early class to see what she wanted cover and her teaching style.... After sitting in on that class, I was geeked-- I couldn't wait to teach her 7:00 class-- I was all ready to discuss the different ethical implications of each article,

Comments

[bluejewel22]

i can see matt's point, but what is the point of coming to class if you're not going to pay attention or stay awake? unless there's an attendance policy...but i think those are pointless because if someone is coming just to be there, they're not going to be learning anyway. i'd rather have required participation than required attendance. i could see someone having a hard time staying awake due to personal reasons, but they'd probably be better off sleeping at home. plus it's disrespectful, moreso in smaller classes.

i don't think i've ever actually slept in a class, but i've had moments where my head jerks up to prevent sleep. anyway, enough rambling, suffice to say i can see both arguments.

[jonathonjones]

If you want to be strict on sleeping and paying attention, that's well within your prerogative. But you should put something about it in your syllabus, or at least announce to the class at some point that this is your policy (having it in writing is better). I personally think it is a good policy - it's distracting and annoying when you're trying to teach and someone is sleeping or not paying attention. The former can actually be distracting to the class, since people will giggle about it. But both make you feel like you're really boring, and that's reason enough to discourage it.

Don't worry, teaching does get better. Watching people teach it seems so natural, so easy, but it really isn't. I'm not very good at it yet, but I can see progress, and slowly I'm getting better at getting students to talk. It is hard not to get frustrated though.