a) any time a teacher insists on reading an entire book TO a class, my first thought is "Well. That's a lot less prep, isn't it?"
b) Students falling asleep in my classes is rare (for reasons unrelated to my magnetic personality), but once, a student fell asleep in class. Hard. Snoring. I continued talking and wrote on the board "Slowly, and in small groups of no more than three at a time, begin putting your things away. When everyone has put everything away, slowly, quietly, TURN YOUR DESKS AROUND. We will continue our discussion as you do this. When you are finished, slowly, and in small groups, leave the classroom. Have a nice weekend." We left this guy in the classroom, asleep with his desk facing the wrong direction.
I'm sure your classes are both entertaining and illuminating. That is an excellent story. I think if I was a teacher I would feel compelled to torture the students a bit, I'm sure you must get to deal with plenty of dumbasses.
Phoenix, AZ has the best community college system in the US. The teachers there get paid more than university professors, the classes are smaller, and the courses are usually cover more material.
By FAR, the best math teachers I've ever had have been at Phoenix Community College. I took Trigonometry and Brief Calculus, both of which I made an A in with very little studying simply due to the teachers.
By contrast, I took an algebra class at University of Arizona in Tucson and HATED IT. I dropped it halfway through the semester even though it was remedial for me. The class size was enormous and the teacher sucked. I went directly into trig and then brief calc from there with no other math.
Of course, this is not a large sampling of schools.
The Illiad... it brings back great memories. I had to translate it for my Latin class summer assignment between junior and senior year of high school. I was one of the lucky ones and it only took one month. Or maybe it was because my parents required us to have an hour of study time everyday, even during the summer. To get back on topic, my wife and I have the same idea about learning and school. We are hands on with our kids. When they get their assignments, things don't get pushed off till the last minute. The same with math. When I was in school, a new topic would be started and they would try to get you to use a cookie cutter approach to solving all the problems the same way. After several weeks of doing this and having to solving problems that might take 2 pages you were them given short cuts or rules that would then knock the problem down to 2 or 3 lines. So instead of spending a half hour with many chances of making a simply error because of penmanship or having formulas not lined up right, you get a power rule that takes a couple of minutes. Our kids enjoy math and I believe that is because they know how to apply the proper rules to problems. It is great when they come up and say "Here is the way we are suppose to do our work but there has got to be a better way." That is when they seem to learn the most. I will say that for the multiplication tables, rote was they way my kids learned. After being shown the basic principal of how to multiply sometimes you just have to menorize.
The Illiad... it brings back great memories. I had to translate it for my Latin class summer assignment between junior and senior year of high school. I was one of the lucky ones and it only took one month.
That's pretty impressive. It took Alexander Pope 6 years.
I belive that this is the perfect thread to help me rant about a recent grade that i got, while keeping context of the thread. Two days ago i received a pretty shitty mark on an essay i did. Usually if i receive a pretty mark it's because i deserved it. I then suck it up, learn my mistakes and make sure not to do them again. Not so this time. I lost nearly 30% for, take a seat, "thinking too much". Now let me give you the direct quote of the t.a's comment "You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
That ladies and gents is what they are teaching us to do in university. To follow our professor's ideas and beliefs and to leave our own behind. #^%# And after all this people are all suprised that today's generation of students lack important skills. It's because we're put between either thinking for our own and getting a shitty gpa or following the prof and getting A+'s. Don't get me wrong i didn't lose all the points just because of "thinking too much". My grammar obviously isn't perfect but i did lose points in that department, but those ones are understandable.
I belive that this is the perfect thread to help me rant about a recent grade that i got, while keeping context of the thread. Two days ago i received a pretty shitty mark on an essay i did. Usually if i receive a pretty mark it's because i deserved it. I then suck it up, learn my mistakes and make sure not to do them again. Not so this time. I lost nearly 30% for, take a seat, "thinking too much". Now let me give you the direct quote of the t.a's comment "You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
That ladies and gents is what they are teaching us to do in university. To follow our professor's ideas and beliefs and to leave our own behind. #^%# And after all this people are all suprised that today's generation of students lack important skills. It's because we're put between either thinking for our own and getting a shitty gpa or following the prof and getting A+'s. Don't get me wrong i didn't lose all the points just because of "thinking too much". My grammar obviously isn't perfect but i did lose points in that department, but those ones are understandable.
[/rant]
That's a pretty terrible comment there, but if I run that through my TA translation matrix, I'd *bet* that what's going on is that you were asked to explain something in a specific way, but instead you injected your own opinion into it (or something like that). Regardless, to be graded down 30% suggests that whatever you did wasn't what was being asked for (in those situations, I'll usually note what is wrong with the piece and then require the student to re-write so I can be sure he/she can do what I'm asking).
I could be wrong, of course. Do you still have a copy of the assignment?
"You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
I belive that this is the perfect thread to help me rant about a recent grade that i got, while keeping context of the thread. Two days ago i received a pretty shitty mark on an essay i did. Usually if i receive a pretty mark it's because i deserved it. I then suck it up, learn my mistakes and make sure not to do them again. Not so this time. I lost nearly 30% for, take a seat, "thinking too much". Now let me give you the direct quote of the t.a's comment "You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
That ladies and gents is what they are teaching us to do in university. To follow our professor's ideas and beliefs and to leave our own behind. #^%# And after all this people are all suprised that today's generation of students lack important skills. It's because we're put between either thinking for our own and getting a shitty gpa or following the prof and getting A+'s. Don't get me wrong i didn't lose all the points just because of "thinking too much". My grammar obviously isn't perfect but i did lose points in that department, but those ones are understandable.
[/rant]
The T.A. is absolutely right. (S)he did you a TREMENDOUS FAVOR by telling you!
If you're a liberal arts major, you MUST agree with the teacher on all the things they say, no matter what.
Otherwise, you are taking a huge risk in addition to wasting your time.
Usually, spelling out the professor's argument is easier than formulating your own and has probably already been done by them, in class. Not only that, but the professor, like most idiots, thinks that they know all the facts, and have come to the only logical conclusion from those facts. Therefore, if you don't think the way they do, you must be ignorant.
Welcome to college!
Liberal arts is all about restating exactly what the professor says on paper, even if you think otherwise. This is an EXTREMELY useful skill in the real world. The better you convince them that you agree, the better you do.
You're probably the argumentative type. For a single day, try and fake agreement on everything with anyone. Dicussions will last 20 seconds and end with 'lemme buy you a beer!' nearly every time. It's remarkable.
P.S., as someone said earlier, you probably did the assignment wrong anyway, which is what the person was probably trying to tell you. The rest of my post was just there to rant about why I went from political science to pre-med.
Pm me your email and i'll send you the copy of the assignment (scanned) and my essay.
I'm not a liberal arts major, i'm studying science. This is, however, a philosophy class so i guess it falls under the arts.
I've emailed the t.a and he said what you guys are saying, that i didn't follow the assignment correctly. I'll be meeting with him to discuss this, if he's right i'll retract all i said earlier.
Pm me your email and i'll send you the copy of the assignment (scanned) and my essay.
I'm not a liberal arts major, i'm studying science. This is, however, a philosophy class so i guess it falls under the arts.
I've emailed the t.a and he said what you guys are saying, that i didn't follow the assignment correctly. I'll be meeting with him to discuss this, if he's right i'll retract all i said earlier.
Why don't you just post the assignment you were given?
Comments
Heh.
a) any time a teacher insists on reading an entire book TO a class, my first thought is "Well. That's a lot less prep, isn't it?"
b) Students falling asleep in my classes is rare (for reasons unrelated to my magnetic personality), but once, a student fell asleep in class. Hard. Snoring. I continued talking and wrote on the board "Slowly, and in small groups of no more than three at a time, begin putting your things away. When everyone has put everything away, slowly, quietly, TURN YOUR DESKS AROUND. We will continue our discussion as you do this. When you are finished, slowly, and in small groups, leave the classroom. Have a nice weekend." We left this guy in the classroom, asleep with his desk facing the wrong direction.
I'm sure your classes are both entertaining and illuminating. That is an excellent story. I think if I was a teacher I would feel compelled to torture the students a bit, I'm sure you must get to deal with plenty of dumbasses.
By FAR, the best math teachers I've ever had have been at Phoenix Community College. I took Trigonometry and Brief Calculus, both of which I made an A in with very little studying simply due to the teachers.
By contrast, I took an algebra class at University of Arizona in Tucson and HATED IT. I dropped it halfway through the semester even though it was remedial for me. The class size was enormous and the teacher sucked. I went directly into trig and then brief calc from there with no other math.
Of course, this is not a large sampling of schools.
The Illiad... it brings back great memories. I had to translate it for my Latin class summer assignment between junior and senior year of high school. I was one of the lucky ones and it only took one month.
That's pretty impressive. It took Alexander Pope 6 years.
He was lazy.
That seems to be the consensus about him and his work. Hackery, all of it.
I belive that this is the perfect thread to help me rant about a recent grade that i got, while keeping context of the thread. Two days ago i received a pretty shitty mark on an essay i did. Usually if i receive a pretty mark it's because i deserved it. I then suck it up, learn my mistakes and make sure not to do them again. Not so this time. I lost nearly 30% for, take a seat, "thinking too much". Now let me give you the direct quote of the t.a's comment "You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
That ladies and gents is what they are teaching us to do in university. To follow our professor's ideas and beliefs and to leave our own behind. #^%# And after all this people are all suprised that today's generation of students lack important skills. It's because we're put between either thinking for our own and getting a shitty gpa or following the prof and getting A+'s. Don't get me wrong i didn't lose all the points just because of "thinking too much". My grammar obviously isn't perfect but i did lose points in that department, but those ones are understandable.
[/rant]
Okay,
I belive that this is the perfect thread to help me rant about a recent grade that i got, while keeping context of the thread. Two days ago i received a pretty shitty mark on an essay i did. Usually if i receive a pretty mark it's because i deserved it. I then suck it up, learn my mistakes and make sure not to do them again. Not so this time. I lost nearly 30% for, take a seat, "thinking too much". Now let me give you the direct quote of the t.a's comment "You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
That ladies and gents is what they are teaching us to do in university. To follow our professor's ideas and beliefs and to leave our own behind. #^%# And after all this people are all suprised that today's generation of students lack important skills. It's because we're put between either thinking for our own and getting a shitty gpa or following the prof and getting A+'s. Don't get me wrong i didn't lose all the points just because of "thinking too much". My grammar obviously isn't perfect but i did lose points in that department, but those ones are understandable.
[/rant]
That's a pretty terrible comment there, but if I run that through my TA translation matrix, I'd *bet* that what's going on is that you were asked to explain something in a specific way, but instead you injected your own opinion into it (or something like that). Regardless, to be graded down 30% suggests that whatever you did wasn't what was being asked for (in those situations, I'll usually note what is wrong with the piece and then require the student to re-write so I can be sure he/she can do what I'm asking).
I could be wrong, of course. Do you still have a copy of the assignment?
"You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
I want to see an assignment sheet and a scanned copy of the paper with the t.a.'s comments.
Okay,
I belive that this is the perfect thread to help me rant about a recent grade that i got, while keeping context of the thread. Two days ago i received a pretty shitty mark on an essay i did. Usually if i receive a pretty mark it's because i deserved it. I then suck it up, learn my mistakes and make sure not to do them again. Not so this time. I lost nearly 30% for, take a seat, "thinking too much". Now let me give you the direct quote of the t.a's comment "You actually write fairly well, but you thought too much. Next time, to raise your grade, you should leave behind your own thinking and follow the professor's."
That ladies and gents is what they are teaching us to do in university. To follow our professor's ideas and beliefs and to leave our own behind. #^%# And after all this people are all suprised that today's generation of students lack important skills. It's because we're put between either thinking for our own and getting a shitty gpa or following the prof and getting A+'s. Don't get me wrong i didn't lose all the points just because of "thinking too much". My grammar obviously isn't perfect but i did lose points in that department, but those ones are understandable.
[/rant]
The T.A. is absolutely right. (S)he did you a TREMENDOUS FAVOR by telling you!
If you're a liberal arts major, you MUST agree with the teacher on all the things they say, no matter what.
Otherwise, you are taking a huge risk in addition to wasting your time.
Usually, spelling out the professor's argument is easier than formulating your own and has probably already been done by them, in class. Not only that, but the professor, like most idiots, thinks that they know all the facts, and have come to the only logical conclusion from those facts. Therefore, if you don't think the way they do, you must be ignorant.
Welcome to college!
Liberal arts is all about restating exactly what the professor says on paper, even if you think otherwise. This is an EXTREMELY useful skill in the real world. The better you convince them that you agree, the better you do.
You're probably the argumentative type. For a single day, try and fake agreement on everything with anyone. Dicussions will last 20 seconds and end with 'lemme buy you a beer!' nearly every time. It's remarkable.
P.S., as someone said earlier, you probably did the assignment wrong anyway, which is what the person was probably trying to tell you. The rest of my post was just there to rant about why I went from political science to pre-med.
Pm me your email and i'll send you the copy of the assignment (scanned) and my essay.
I'm not a liberal arts major, i'm studying science. This is, however, a philosophy class so i guess it falls under the arts.
I've emailed the t.a and he said what you guys are saying, that i didn't follow the assignment correctly. I'll be meeting with him to discuss this, if he's right i'll retract all i said earlier.
Hey,
Pm me your email and i'll send you the copy of the assignment (scanned) and my essay.
I'm not a liberal arts major, i'm studying science. This is, however, a philosophy class so i guess it falls under the arts.
I've emailed the t.a and he said what you guys are saying, that i didn't follow the assignment correctly. I'll be meeting with him to discuss this, if he's right i'll retract all i said earlier.
Why don't you just post the assignment you were given?
Dear lord... take the paper to the prof or some academic review committee...
I agree, take it to the prof. That comment is unacceptable.