Back to School for GrownUps

I teach 3 sections of the same course…. all students in the same semester of the same program.

You would think that the classes would be relatively similar…but they are SO not.

Part of it is due to class size, I think… both of my Monday classes are quite a bit bigger than the Tuesday group …. and attendance in the Tuesday group is abysmal compared to the other 2.

But some of it is just good ol’ dynamics - how many know (and like) each other, who the leaders are, and so on.

One of the biggest differences is the fact that the larger groups have more non-traditional/mature students. Those who are fully cognizant of how much it is costing to be there tend to take the whole experience a whole lot more seriously than do those whose families are paying - or even who are attending via student loans - they tend not to see it as “their” money until they have to pay it back. An awful lot of them that didn’t bother to do the reading I had assigned them … 4 whole pages that they had a whole week to read … I did a pop quiz re: the reading and people either did REALLY well, or really badly - hardly any in the middle.  Hopefully the next time I ask them to read something before class, they will be more likely to (yes, there will be another quiz) - but I’m not counting on it… few seemed at all concerned about their poor showing. *sigh*

Should be an interesting semester.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS