Another example. After my last post, I gave one last set of midterms. I gave advance warning. I said, "I can see the future. Many of you will ask questions. Your question will be, 'How do I solve this?' I am telling you in advance that I cannot answer those questions. I will shrug and walk away."
Anyhoo, after this mini-speech, a student rolls in late. She starts taking the midterm. Meanwhile, students are repeatedly asking me how to solve questions, and I am repeatedly shrugging and walking away.
I give students warnings when there are 40, 30, 20, and 10 minutes left. Then I vocally announce when five minutes and one minute are left.
Finally, thankfully, time is up. I say, "Time's up! I need your midterms now."
I walk around the room. Nobody seems to want to give up their midterm. They just continue working. Before, I used to just grab it.
Nowadays, I just say, "You want to keep it? Okay. Write a zero for your grade and put it on your bedroom wall." Or something like that. Then they run up behind me and beg me to take it.
I should've done that with the late student. My problem was that I had collected everyone else's test and I was hungry. I came up to her and held out my hand.
She said, "I am not finished," without looking at me. She continued working.
This should not have surprised me. In their minds, the teacher is the servant. You could explain to them how silly this idea is in the following way:
(A) I tell you to do work --> (B) You then do the work --> (C) Based on the work you do, I give you a grade --> (D) If your work is not satisfactory, I force you to come back and take the course again --> (E) You sure sound like a servant to me, fucktard
But logic is as rare here as a snowstorm.
So, when the late student tried to continue working on her midterm, I reached out and grabbed the edge of it. She gripped it with her other hand and started maniacally circling various words (none of the circled words were part of any answer. They were words like "The" and "Your name.") I gave the paper a tug. She held on tighter. She had officially announced Tug o War, and I was game. I started to pull the midterm away from her, slowly and forcefully. Her pencil, which was still on the paper, drew a long line across her work. She looked up at me in shock.
"You are finished," I whispered to her.
Then I had the best lunch I've eaten all week.
Anyhoo, after this mini-speech, a student rolls in late. She starts taking the midterm. Meanwhile, students are repeatedly asking me how to solve questions, and I am repeatedly shrugging and walking away.
I give students warnings when there are 40, 30, 20, and 10 minutes left. Then I vocally announce when five minutes and one minute are left.
Finally, thankfully, time is up. I say, "Time's up! I need your midterms now."
I walk around the room. Nobody seems to want to give up their midterm. They just continue working. Before, I used to just grab it.
Nowadays, I just say, "You want to keep it? Okay. Write a zero for your grade and put it on your bedroom wall." Or something like that. Then they run up behind me and beg me to take it.
I should've done that with the late student. My problem was that I had collected everyone else's test and I was hungry. I came up to her and held out my hand.
She said, "I am not finished," without looking at me. She continued working.
This should not have surprised me. In their minds, the teacher is the servant. You could explain to them how silly this idea is in the following way:
(A) I tell you to do work --> (B) You then do the work --> (C) Based on the work you do, I give you a grade --> (D) If your work is not satisfactory, I force you to come back and take the course again --> (E) You sure sound like a servant to me, fucktard
But logic is as rare here as a snowstorm.
So, when the late student tried to continue working on her midterm, I reached out and grabbed the edge of it. She gripped it with her other hand and started maniacally circling various words (none of the circled words were part of any answer. They were words like "The" and "Your name.") I gave the paper a tug. She held on tighter. She had officially announced Tug o War, and I was game. I started to pull the midterm away from her, slowly and forcefully. Her pencil, which was still on the paper, drew a long line across her work. She looked up at me in shock.
"You are finished," I whispered to her.
Then I had the best lunch I've eaten all week.
No comments:
Post a Comment