I Couldn't Stop Myself

Today's algebra class was supposed to consist of a quiz and then soldering on through the rest of Chapter 2, graphs and linear functions.

4:00 p.m., no professor. No surprise.

4:05 no professor but a few students who put together the pattern wander in.

4:10 nope. The students are actually more passive and I can imagine. There are almost no sarcastic remarks. And, to my surprise and in some ways, disappointment, no anger.

4:15, one of the students receives a text. It's from John, our professor. He'll be here in 10 minutes. He's stuck making copies of the quiz.

4:25, one of the kids announces, "at 4:30, we're out of here." Plenty of nods in agreement.

4:29, John walks in the door.

I tried to convince myself to sit still and act like a passive freshman. I tried to convince myself that I should stay in my reporter mode and just tale notes about how the class unfolded, that I should not become part of the story. But I couldn't stop myself. So I raised my hand.

"John, we really need to have a class meeting. There are some things we need to talk about."

That got my classmates' attention.

John smiled and said, sure, what's on your mind.

No need to quote myself here, but in a nutshell I suggested that if for whatever reason he can't make it to class at 4:00, let's agree to meet at 4:15, that our time is also valuable. I pointed out that calibration was important and he still hadn't returned our first quizzes. I also suggested that he create a more detailed syllabus or plan for the class that would impose some discipline to get us through the material and let us know exactly when tests would be and what they would cover.

He good naturedly and non-defensively seemed to agree with all that.

He asked for others to speak up and they did. One girl had a great plan for how to use the class time. She suggested that as soon as class starts he hand out a very short quiz based on the most recent homework (tied to the schedule in the syllabus). Then he should take time immediately afterward to go over and difficulties that students had. And right after that, move on to the key points that we needed to know in the following section. And then save the last part of class for work with the students who need more individual or hands on attention.

John liked that idea and implemented a version of it immediately.

Because so many people had left before he arrived at 4:30, he had decided not to give the quiz. Instead, he handed it out to us to complete with the idea the we would immediately look at the problems as a class. It worked.

I like John and believe his heart is in the right place. I think he wants to do a good job and wants his students to learn. I believe that he is incredibly smart. I also believe that it must be quite difficult and demotivating to try to teach low math-aptitude college freshmen about numbers in an antiquated classroom for not very much money.

It is also apparent (I imagine appropriately for a physics Ph.D.) that classroom management, planning, and high level social skills, are not big parts of his personal portfolio.

Still, respect needs to run both ways. We show up on time. He needs to also. We are counting on him to lead us through the material in this course. Most of the students are taking this class because they eventually need to pass college algebra. Hopefully this class will supposedly prepare them for that. College algebra is a pre-requisite for all kinds of majors.

We just learned about using graphs to predict progress or outcomes. According to my linear function, it is apparent that at the rate (slope: y=mx+b) we are going, we will not get through as much of the book as we need to. That realization made me probably overstep my bounds. I decided to talk with John after class.

Gail (my wife) was kind of appalled when I told her this story, but I went up to John and asked whether I could volunteer to help him write the detailed syllabus that I had brought up at the beginning of class. He was open to the idea.

I also told him about how impressed I was with the online help and the CD videos that were available for everyone who had purchased the book. I suggested that he think about switching more responsibility for learning the material to students and using classroom time for evaluation (quizzes and tests), prioritization, clarification, and remedial work for those who needed it. There is simply too much material in the book to cover in three and a half hours a week.

We agreed to try to get together some Tuesday or Thursday to talk more.