Ask-Dr-Kirk

Student Feedback: Enforce Your Classroom Rules!

I recently got this comment on a post I made on grading for professionalism.

"A grade for professional behavior in the classroom? I think this is a timely and terrific idea. There are a few college instructors in some poorly performing community colleges who have vague classroom rules printed in their course summaries. I am taking a class at a local community college where the instructor is not in control of her classroom. Students talk among themselves while the lecture is in progress, students come in late, leave early, and are regularly stepping out into the hall to make phone calls. It is a distracting atmosphere that is not mutually respectful. It burns me up when a student will sit right behind me in class and carry on a personal conversation with the student seated next to them. It's distracting, unprofessional, disrespectful of my student rights, and it's disrespectful to the instructor. My teacher needs to lay down the law instead of being so non-confrontational. It you don't post and enforce classroom rules, the students will assume that there really aren't any rules. Then the class becomes total bedlam. Thank you for sharing your terrific ideas with us on this forum."

As you can see, this student reinforces the fact that we should take control of our classrooms. I know it's tough. I'm struggling with a student right now that believes that he should not have to come to class on time or return from break on time even though the rest of the class does. But it is not fair to the good students to be distracted by someone who doesn't want to be there.

Interpreting Those Teaching Evaluations

As you read over those evals from last semester, this site interprets those student comments for us:

Here are some of my favorites:

What They Say in the Written Evaluation: “This class was one of the best classes that I have ever taken.”

What They Mean: “This class was one of the best classes that I have ever taken.”

***

What They Say: “This is the worst class that I have ever taken.”

What They Mean: “This class challenged many of my most basic assumptions and required me to work hard.”

***

What They Say: “This professor was really condescending.”

What They Mean: “I can’t take criticism.”

***

What They Say: “The professor should post the lecture notes on-line so that we can have something to follow in class.”

What They Mean: “The professor should post the lecture notes on-line so that we won’t have to go to class at all.”

***

What They Say: “The professor has the worst taste in clothes that I have ever seen.”

What They Mean: “I have no idea about what constitutes an appropriate professional relationship and will probably be fired from my first job.”

***

What They Say: “Grading for this class was totally unfair.”

What They Mean: “I am getting a ‘F’ in this class.”

***

What They Say: “Grading for this class was totally fair.”

What They mean: “I am getting an ‘A’ in this class.”

***

What They Say: “The attendance policy for this class treats us like we are children.”

What They Mean: “I had to cancel a two-week vacation in Paris because attendance was required for this class.”

And my favorite comment?  "This teacher is so arrogant; he thinks he knows more than anyone else in the class."

How To Use Humor In The Classroom

I recently received an email asking me for advice on how to use humor in the classroom. I have found the following articles useful.

Using Humor In The College Classroom To Enhance Teaching Effectiveness In "Dread Courses"

Ten Specific Techniques for Developing Humor in the Classroom 

I share a couple examples of how I've used humor with my students.  I find using humor (and laughing at myself on occasion) helps to create a positive learning environment.

How do others use humor in the classroom? Jokes? Cartoons? Storytelling?

How To Intrepret Decision Letters From Journal Editors

This article in the Chronicle of Higher Education was timely for me. Dr. Wendy Belcher (Princeton University) discusses how to interpret decision letters from journals regarding submitted articles. Her first piece of advice: delay reading it or at least "don't trust your instincts on that first reading." I have found it useful to do a quick skim of the letter especially noting if there are any deadlines involved in cases of revision/resubmission. I then put the letter away for a few weeks to take the sting out of the rejection or required revision. I agree with her that sometimes it's hard to tell which it is. I recently received feedback from two reviewers (both sent two pages of positive comments and one page of negatives and/or suggestions), as well as a two page letter from the editor, that I had to read to the end to determine that my article was rejected. I think. On the other hand, maybe the editor would "entertain a revise and resubmit?" As Dr. Belcher noted, "If you can't tell whether your article has been rejected or not, it is always acceptable to e-mail the editor and ask: "Thank you for sending me your decision on my article. I just wanted to make sure that I understand it properly: Are you requesting that I revise and resubmit this essay, or do you not expect to see it again?" 

Great advice.

Ten Ways To Curve Exam Grades

Yesterday I asked the question as to whether or not to curve exam grades. Just got this from Professor Dave Richeson (Dickinson College). He shares ten methods to use to curve exams and discusses the pros and cons of each.

Do You Grade On A Curve?

Here's an interesting discussion of whether you should grade on a curve or not. Dr. Rhett Allain (@ Dot Physics) and Professor Chad Orzel (Union College), as well as others (see the comments sections), present the pros and cons.

My take on this? I have never curved an exam. I do look to make sure that there are some A's to make sure the test was doable. A former colleague of mine used to make her exams so difficult that the top score would be 40 out of 100 points and then she would curve. To me, this doesn't make sense-you're really not motivating the students to do their best as they don't have the expectancy that they CAN do well. It also puts the professor in the position of giving points rather than having the students earn these.

I'd be interested in hearing what others think...

Quote For The Day

If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.  Bill Gates

Research Shows Multi-tasking Does Not Work

Here's an interesting article. According to research, multi-tasking does not work. Instead it increases the chances of mistakes and slows you down. As noted in the article, "Disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from the standpoint of our ability to process information."

I'd be curious to hear what others think about this? I seem to be constantly multi-tasking.

 

 

Write Or Die

Got this from Daphne Gray-Grant at Publicationcoach.com   It's a website for writers that are having trouble concentrating on their work.  As someone who needs to revise and resubmit a journal article, I may have to try it!

As noted on Write or Die:

[This] is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.

The idea is to instill in the would-be writer with a fear of not writing. We do this by employing principles taught in Introduction to Psychology. Anyone remember Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement?

Negative Reinforcement "strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior."

Consequences:
Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.

Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.

Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself. These consequences will persist until your preset conditions have been met (that is, your time is up or you've written your word count goal or both).

This is aimed at anyone who wants to get writing done. It requires only that you recognize your own tendency towards self-sabotage and be willing to do something about it.

Maybe our students would find this useful?

 

Answers To Questions On Classroom Management

I was asked to provide the link to an on-line chat that the Chronicle of Higher Education did with me about classroom management. You can find it here.