Thursday, March 7, 2013
Help!!!
I've officially lost one more student at my Intermediate Spanish class at 8:30 in the morning, bringing the remaining students to a total of ... 3!!! Before anybody gets weird ideas about what goes on in my classes, I started the course with 5 students, and why the administration let it run is the best kept secret in the Vatican. As a result, I don't know what to do. Technology, while available, is unreliable to say the least. One of the students is awake, a second is also awake but painfully shy, and the third has an attitude like he hates the world for being forced to take a class at such ungodly hour (and freshman here have very little control over their schedule). I can't say I blame him, but for all the factors, I just don't know what to do before the class becomes a farce. Any suggestions?
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Is the problem not participating in group work or what exactly? I'd recommend jigsaw activities to make them focus, chat activities to help the shy one (can you meet in a lab sometimes)? And activities involving lots of movement to wake up the disgruntled one. If you want specific ideas for any of these categories let me know.
ReplyDeleteNow that you have tenure, I'd show a bunch of movies for the rest of the semester. ;)
ReplyDeleteOkay - for a real suggestion... I had one class in my undergrad years that was two students and the professor. They had to let it run because we needed the class for our major. We spent a lot of time doing activities. It was a music class, so that made sense. We were playing instruments the whole time. (I have a BA in music.)
ReplyDeleteFor your class, I think that doing interactive stuff is the only way to go. To me, having three people in class could either be awesome or nightmarish. If they are interested students, that would be great. From what you describe, though, it sounds like it could be a nightmare. If I knew what your curriculum is like in that class, I could give better suggestions. What are your learning objectives?
Move it to a café so you can eat muffins and things, and bring a laptop for the a/v? Start going on excursions when the weather improves ... take them out to play frisbee golf in Spanish?
ReplyDeleteWhat I have to deal with Mon. is a complaint about the culture class you and I are giving -- it is too avant-garde and has too much critical thinking.
Thanks for all the suggestions: now I am down to two students, though fortunately the one who left was the disgruntled one. I'll have a talk with the two remaining students tomorrow, so we can make adjustments to the course.
ReplyDelete@profacero: while moving the class to a cafe is impossible (urban university in the middle of a high crime neighborhood, with monthly shootings at the United Dairy Farmers a block away), I might suggest meeting in my office at a more convenient time for all of us. I have a huge, amazing office, so that is actually feasible. In the culture class, I'm doing fine, luckily. It is always my favorite class to teach, and it shows. Also, this year, I mostly have seniors that are taking it as their last elective for the major/minor, so you can challenge them more. And for those who are not there, I compensate with the power points, being easy in the grading, and exaggerating my enthusiasm when they get it right. They don't feel threatened, and they actually learn a lot.