Ask-Dr-Kirk

Tip On Laptop Use In the Classroom

2010-09-02T08:12:00-04:00

A professor at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, recently shared with me her tip for handling students who brought laptops to class but were using these to surf the web or play video games. Her policy? She told her students they were welcome to bring their laptops to take notes on and that the first two rows in the classroom were reserved for them only. She said the serious students were fine with the policy and that those who wanted to hide in the back playing video games decided not to bring theirs to class.

Using A Student/Instructor Contract To Set Expectations

2010-09-01T08:15:51-04:00

Dr. Nate Kreuter (Western Carolina University) uses a student/instructor contract as a way of helping students understand both his expectations of them and what they can expect from him.

As you can see, he uses humor but still makes it clear that he (1) expects the students to do the work, (2) gives them the choice to drop so that others can take the course if they are unable/unwilling to take the course seriously, (3) knows this is a great course (self-fulfilling prophecy here), and (4) realizes that while this may not be a legal document, he expects the students to illustrate their commitment to the course by signing it.

Here's his intro:

Welcome to the class. You’re probably wondering what this class contract is about, so I’ll go ahead and explain. I want to make sure that everyone in this class realizes from the beginning what we will be doing and what my expectations are for each and every student. This document is not intended to discourage you generally or to encourage you to drop the class. Just the opposite. I honestly think this will be the best section of Composition 101 offered in the Department of English this year. But I know for a fact that it will be one of the most demanding. The risks and rewards are great. If you put in the work, this will be a wonderful class. If you don’t, you and I will both be miserable. So, I’ve listed some of my expectations below. Look over them. Carefully. The reading and writing demands of this class are high. But the readings are also unusually enjoyable and the assignments will be, I hope, also enjoyable and enriching. If you can commit to doing this work, go ahead and sign the contract. If you can’t, consider giving up your seat to someone who can. This contract is not all-inclusive but should give you a pretty good idea of my expectations for the semester.

Please note that the course is designed to start very quickly, with a lot of work and reading due up front, and is designed so that the amount of work you have to do will gradually decline over the course of the semester. The hope is that you will have the bulk of the difficult work for this course completed by the time your other classes are becoming especially burdensome at the end of the semester.

The reality of this contract is that it is meaningless. If you sign it but fail to uphold your end of the bargain, I can’t do anything to you. I can’t have you expelled, or even lower your grade. However, I am absolutely certain that I will hold up my end of the bargain, and I hope you will too. Our word will be our bond. Welcome again to the class. Sign the contract, do the work, enjoy yourselves, make friends, and let’s never have to speak of contracts or similar unpleasantness from this day forward.

Best Of Dr. Kirk Series: Online Evaluation Of Teaching

2010-08-31T07:28:00-04:00

Today's post: Does moving to an online evaluation system affect how your students evaluate your teaching?

Best Of Dr. Kirk Series: Cell phones

2010-08-30T08:31:08-04:00

Today's post: Students checking cell phone messages during class.

Best Of Dr. Kirk Series: What If I Don't Know The Answer To A Student's Question?

2010-08-27T08:19:00-04:00

Today's post: How To Handle Questions From Students.

Best Of Dr. Kirk Series: Sensitive Issue of Student Body Odor

2010-08-26T07:25:00-04:00

Today's post: Dealing with issue of student body odor.

Best Of Dr. Kirk Series: Grading

2010-08-25T07:10:00-04:00

Today's post: Making grading more manageable.

Best Of Dr. Kirk Series: Small Classes

2010-08-24T08:18:00-04:00

Today's post: Teaching a really small class.

Best Of Dr. Kirk Series: What If You Are (Or Look) Too Young To Be A Teacher?

2010-08-23T07:44:00-04:00

Today's post: Getting respect from your students.

And me in my first teaching job. I look about 12.

Happy New Fall Semester!

2010-08-22T07:30:00-04:00

Tomorrow I start a new semester and my 29th year of teaching at the college level. To celebrate, I'm reading over this poem by Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003).

Schoolsville

Glancing over my shoulder at the past,
I realize the number of students I have taught
is enough to populate a small town.

I can see it nestled in a paper landscape,
chalk dust flurrying down in winter,
nights dark as a blackboard.

The population ages but never graduates.
On hot afternoons they sweat the final in the park
and when it's cold they shiver around stoves
reading disorganized essays out loud.
A bell rings on the hour and everybody zigzags
into the streets with their books.

I forgot all their last names first and their
first names last in alphabetical order.
But the boy who always had his hand up
is an alderman and owns the haberdashery.
The girl who signed her papers in lipstick
leans against the drugstore, smoking,
brushing her hair like a machine.

Their grades are sewn into their clothes
like references to Hawthorne.
The A's stroll along with other A's.
The D's honk whenever they pass another D.

All the creative-writing students recline
on the courthouse lawn and play the lute.
Wherever they go, they form a big circle.

Needless to say, I am the mayor.
I live in the white colonial at Maple and Main.
I rarely leave the house. The car deflates
in the driveway. Vines twirl around the porch swing.

Once in a while a student knocks on the door
with a term paper fifteen years late
or a question about Yeats or double-spacing.
And sometimes one will appear in a windowpane
to watch me lecturing the wallpaper,
quizzing the chandelier, reprimanding the air.

Source: Sailing Around the Room: New and Selected Poems.