When Will Teachers Understand: First day of class, from a students perspective.

[koku]

We've all been through it, syllabuses...rules...done to death. And there always the same, they never change. Do teachers know this??

Do they actually enjoy repeating themselves?? 6 times a day?? Then repeating the same crime a year or semester later??

Seriously, I had to sit through some of the worst lectures today. To be honest, if I gave the same lecture my math teacher did today in a public speaking class...I would have failed, horribly. He repeated things... 4 TIMES. Useless stuff that was IN THE HANDBOOK. He had a powerpoint presentation...in which he read EVERY SINGLE thing. Excuse me sir...I know this is math but uh....we can read.

Then after repeating things 4 times...there was a recap!(oh yay!).

*sigh*

Az you're a teacher, mabye you know. I know there are some things you HAVE to say and want to say...but why must some teachers WAISTE SO MUCH TIME?

And I really wouldn't have been all that angry If I didn't go to Japanese class today and experience this situation handled perfectly. First hour he didn't even go through the syllabus. We did what everyone payed and came there to do, LEARN. Then there was some comedy thrown in throughout the lesson. We took a BREAK. Then after all that, he went through the syllabus; He finished in about 20 minutes-mabye less. Then he Introduced himself without going on forever and we went back to learning.

So....is there a reason all my other classes' teacher didn't catch on? Is there a reason my Public Speaking teacher, someone who you would think would be a proffesional at giving a captavating first day lecture...bored me to tears??

Someone help, am I alone in this? Az?? AZ??!? DO YOU DO THIS TO YOUR STUDENTS??!? Here's an advice, DON'T! They will hate you forever.

[MFDub]

I know how you feel. To me, the first day of class should either consist of a quick introduction and overview of a syllabus and that's it, or a lesson that introduces us to the basics of the class. One or the other, none of this mucking about in the middle.

[harper]

I know how you feel, Kokujin, but from a teacher's perspective we've got to be able to say we covered it if a problem arises later in the year. My school has a half day for students the first day which works pretty well. All the classes are about 30 minutes long.

I have seating charts made out in advance for most of my classes (I let my upper level students pick their own seats). I make the announcements mandated by the principal (usually highlighting the attendance policy of the school, where to go if there is a fire, etc.). This stuff is kind of boring, but we're required to review it. I then go over the highlights from my syllabus and talk a little about what the class will be like - my expectations, etc.

Since I teach math, I make recommendations on what type of scientific calculator they should get and where they can get one fairly cheap. You might be surprised how many of the kids are unprepared in this regard. Gee, the teacher is going to let me use a calculator to do the math? Naw, I'll procrastinate and do it by hand or try to borrow someone else's calculator.

I usually spend about 10 minutes going over the syllabus and rules and take questions from the kids. This leaves us about 5-10 minutes to sit around at the end before going to the next class. I pass out the books on the second day and then get rolling.

[koku]

I know how you feel, Kokujin, but from a teacher's perspective we've got to be able to say we covered it if a problem arises later in the year. My school has a half day for students the first day which works pretty well. All the classes are about 30 minutes long.

I have seating charts made out in advance for most of my classes (I let my upper level students pick their own seats). I make the announcements mandated by the principal (usually highlighting the attendance policy of the school, where to go if there is a fire, etc.). This stuff is kind of boring, but we're required to review it. I then go over the highlights from my syllabus and talk a little about what the class will be like - my expectations, etc.

Since I teach math, I make recommendations on what type of scientific calculator they should get and where they can get one fairly cheap. You might be surprised how many of the kids are unprepared in this regard. Gee, the teacher is going to let me use a calculator to do the math? Naw, I'll procrastinate and do it by hand or try to borrow someone else's calculator.

I usually spend about 10 minutes going over the syllabus and rules and take questions from the kids. This leaves us about 5-10 minutes to sit around at the end before going to the next class. I pass out the books on the second day and then get rolling.


30 minutes I can take...if there's info in there.

but an hour?? what?? and this is college too. I jut sit there and wonder what the hell is going on.

[harper]

30 minutes I can take...if there's info in there.

but an hour?? what?? and this is college too. I jut sit there and wonder what the hell is going on.

Yeah, an hour would be too long. I'm glad we do a half day the first day. Teachers still have to work in the afternoon, but the kids are gone by lunchtime. Get em in. get em out.

I will say that the kids who hadn't been in my classes before are often surprised that I have a seating chart on the first day. :D

It cuts down the time needed to take roll and allows me to move on to other things. It also helps me get to know the students names quicker.

[Nessa]

In high school, I loved the first day of school cause we rarely ever did any work. English class was the best cause the teacher would go over the course prospectus for the entire year and explain things in great length. It would take the whole class(an hour and a half) for him to finish everything.

[Kass]

kokujin, you'd be amazed at how freaking clueless so many college kids are. They assume that it will be just like high school and people will nag them to do their homework and will hold their hand through the classes. That hour on the first day is all you get then you're on your own and come the end of the semester, half of your class will say "But I didn't know we had to read the whole book." Duh...that is what the syllabus is for.

It always boggled my mind how so many kids 18-22 could have a piece of paper in their hands that detailed to the page what they were supposed to read and when, then proclaim with wide-eyed astonishment three days before the final that the teacher never told them they'd have to know the stuff in the text book too. What? Oh yeah, that's right, they spend hours going through the books and making up a syllabus because it is fun. Yeah. That's it.

[harper]

What I love is that I put right in my syllabus things like all homework and tests must be done in pencil and even mention it in class. Then I have several students who will proceed to turn in homework or do a test in pen and complain when they don't get any points. They may not like the rule, but it was certainly explained.

[koku]

alot of times when you take tests and quizez, highschool or college, the teacher will still say, "test on chapter 3 and 4 on friday."

I think that's cue in to STUDY CHAPTERS 3 AND 4.

All the important things will get mentioned as the course continues, college or highschool. The rest you can read on your own in the syllabus. Things that students normnally wouldn't pick up like Harper's "only pencil on tests. this type of calculator" sounds good. But things that are dead obvouis??

*sigh* I WANNA GO HOME!

Nessa...you are strange. I wish i could enjoy 1hr and a half of a teacher lecturing. No i wish I could even tolerate it. That's good for you though.

[Jay]

I remember first day of school. Every class after the first one, I'd sit there and make a big scene out of yawning and stretching, and when the teacher pulled me up on it, I just looked at them and said "yeah, I heard it from another teacher already" and go back to what I was doing.

FIRST DAY IS TUNE-OUT DAY! REMEMBER THAT!

[Rogue_7]

Yeah, I think a lot of the first day, especially in college, is an exorcise in Cover Your Ass. It allows the Prof to make sure that there is no excuse, the students read and heard what was required of them. It also gives a little time for late-comers. The first day of classes almost always has plenty of people who are a bit late, and this way they don't miss anything truely vital. It is boring, it is a waste of a day of classes, but it is pretty universal.

As far as listening to an hour and a half lecture? Depends on who is giving it, but I had some Profs that I love to sit and listen all day long. Intelligent, cogent, just great teachers. Rare, but it CAN happen.

[akitaka]

undercover teachers (http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_catalog.taf?_function=detail&title_id=4374&_userreference=1124802325EF78270BDE7C363642D41373) . Neat stuff where a teacher immerses herself as a college freshman; even lives in a dorm room.

JPN class yesterday was like a cold stretch, and I still find math teachers to be f'n cooky. Otherwise, I'm not sweating the work/syllabus.

[setrict]

"I jut sit there and wonder what the hell is going on."

I had a prof for 3 different classes in college. People often drove several hundred miles from others schools to take his robotics classes. Really smart guy. I think I understood less than 10% of what he said because he didn't speak english well at all. He had emphysema so not only was it unintelligible, it was whisper quiet. Worse was a most annoying tendancy to change numbers mid-problem when doing example problems, so they would come out with nice non fractional answers he could do in his head. Nothing quite like trying to understand an example taking 2-3 chalkboard fill/erase sessions to finish with a number changing prof who mumbles in unintelligible engrish. :confused:

Actually, except for maybe 5 or 6 classes college lectures were terrible in presentation quality, even if they had reasonable technical content. The difference between high school and college is in high school they try to form and shape the students. In college they beat you until you give up or they get tired of it and let you graduate. What I'm try to say, is don't get your hopes up for entertaining classes!

[Niki07]

In high school, I loved the first day of school cause we rarely ever did any work. English class was the best cause the teacher would go over the course prospectus for the entire year and explain things in great length. It would take the whole class(an hour and a half) for him to finish everything.

Same here. I don't mind because it means I don't have to do much. All of my classes seem to want to go over EVERYTHING we're going to be learning and what the major grades will be based on and all that jazz. If there is time left over at the end, they don't make us do anything anyway. So for me, first day=good. Or...atleast better than the ones that follow.

[Uh_oh]

First day of school = nap time. I totally agree with Kokujin's statements.

Also stuff where the teachers tet you to see what you know - makes sense sometimes, but when you were all in a class WITH THE SAME TEACHER lest year... ARG!

[Rogue_7]

Heh, I had a prof for American History, he was Chinese, moved to the US in the mid 80s. He had a very very think accent. So between his accent and the general tumolt of Freshmen US History, I couldn't understand a thing he said. I ended up dropping the class! I did take him later for an upper level class on East Asia since 1800, and it was great. Not many profs can speak from experience, but he sure could. "When the Cultral Revolution hit my town..." Yikes!

[Bobbybirdtree]

Kinda ot i guess but yeah classes with a teacher that has a horrible accent suck. My chemistry teacher was from Africa and really didn;t know a lot of the terms that americans use. So half the time i just nodded like wtf!? I actually guessed all of the quizes and tests and managed a B+. :D

[harper]

My mom was a math major/music minor at the University of Michigan. She had a number of foreign instructors that she had a lot of trouble understanding so she switched to a music major/math minor instead so that she wouldn't have to take as many math classes. It worked out pretty well for her as she ended up teaching music (and math sometimes) for nearly 30 years and was String Orchestra conductor for a long time as well.

I had several foreign instructors in college. My Calc II teacher was from Australia and was pretty cool. I had a married couple from India for Differential Equaations and for various computer classes. They were both very good. Another professor was from Pakistan and had difficulty explaining the material. He was a nice guy, but had some trouble expressing himself in English, or maybe he just wasn't a good teacher. It worked out okay, though, and we mostly taught ourselves.

[Citizen]

I tend not to comply with any school related activity that I deem retarded. Which is one of the many reasons that I've been kicked out of many a class, had the police called on me at school, and am banned from certain areas of the school.

First day bullshit are amoung the things I ignore. They're innane, repetitive, and annoying.

Well, was and did, anyways. Graduated last year.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Generally colleges have a few days at the beginning of classes for people to look at various classes before deciding which to take, since you are still given some flexibility in changing your schedule at that point. That's part of the reason they do it. Some professors also go for max boredom so that people will drop their classes and whatnot.

And it likely didn't happen in Japanese class because there are probably few students, let alone new students, and so you all knew what was going on without having to have it all explained again.

[Defcon]

Ah, yes...the dreaded first day.

Sociology wasn't bad; the teacher got us involved in class. Psychology was pretty boring, though, and even though the math teacher seems pretty good I nearly ended up drifting to sleep while he reviewed fractions...

[akitaka]

Until college I've never disliked school to the degree I do, now; it's mainly because I have other things on my mind that generally go against the grain of "learn by studying". I like to do things while learning; like an apprenticeship or something of the sort. I'm lucky enough to have my college offer culinary arts as a major, and boy, do I enjoy cooking.

Of all things I think an overburdence of material knowledge scares me the most; at least at the college I'm going to, the academic teachers are notably eccentric in some manner. English and language teachers are the exceptions, though.

Some professors also go for max boredom so that people will drop their classes and whatnot. I never really thought of that. But it's a healthy tactic, I think; if a student really feels importance in the subject, then he/she will stay.

[Pierrot le Fou]

Some of my best teachers tried to be as dry and Dr. Stein-ish (a la Ferris Bueller's day off) as possible to drop the lecture size down. They hated carrying 200 photocopies to class when they could get away with 80.

I had one professor I TA'd for who did the entire first class in monotone, because he had let too many people sign up for his course, but it failed miserably because everyone knew that his classes were fun and an easy B (but nearly impossible A).

Professors are pretty clever. Go out for a drink with one sometime if you can.