Student Guide Corner

I am lucky.    At my school, students register for classes early and the professors can receive their email addresses almost immediately.    I have talked before on this blog about patterning student behavior (what do I want my students to do and how do I go about getting them to do that?).    I usually start sending emails to my students pretty quickly to set the tone that I want for the semester.    I don�t want to wait until the first day of class to start patterning their behavior.    What tone am I trying to set in these emails:    (1) I am serious about this class so you better be as well and (2) there is a lot of challenging work to be done but the benefits are amazing.    If I can get those two points across before I meet the students in the fall, the battle is already half won.   It helps that I believe both points. Consequently, I sent out an email to my junior level students this afternoon.  ...

There are days, especially at the end of each semester, when I wonder why I keep teaching.    I guess we all face those dark moments.    Students will be lazy and then expect you to go out of your way to do them a favor.    Or, you will ask a serious question in class and get a ridiculous answer that causes the whole class to become distracted.    Or, a heated debate will arise over a grade, an argument that seems more painful than it is worth.    Yeah, days like that happen. Occasionally, I try to step back and remind myself of why I chose to become a teacher and why I want to continue to be a teacher.     We all need to recharge our batteries especially here at the end of a long academic year.    Never ignore that need or you will become grumpy and disillusioned and I have already met way too many teachers like that. It is nice when something happens that helps get us pumped up and ready to go back into the cla...