Over the last few months I have had to do a great deal of teaching. Specifically, I've been teaching the medic students on the topic of metabolism and digestion. The lecturing went as well as could be expected given the circumstances (having all your work on your laptop stolen a week prior to you starting your lecturing does tend to hamper your teaching somewhat...), and luckily for me, the section has been completed, freeing me from the responsibility of shaping young (albeit empty) minds.
The first of my problems I noticed on Tuesday, when the medics class wrote a test. I started marking the test and was horrified! They have absolutely NO CLUE what is going on in my section! My first instinct was to think, 'Oh no! I'm such a bad teacher!' but I then thought to myself, 'Wait, this is university! They are all adults! If they have a problem they can track me down for help or look it up in a text book! It's not like I'm completely unapproachable (as far as I know...maybe I smell faintly of eggs...?) and I'm on campus ALL THE TIME!!'
I also received confirmation, via Facebook, from one of my students that I had indeed taught them well and that, in his opinion, it is entirely their own fault if they are doing badly in the test. AMEN!!!
As an aside, it's a little weird being contacted, and friended, by one of your students on Facebook. Luckily for me, I'm not closer to 50 yrs old, which would have made the whole thing very awkward...
The other thing that is worrying me is that I have to now supervise the practical that is associated with my section of work. Normally this wouldn't phase me in the least, but the problem is that this practical requires of me that I explain how to do a chemistry procedure that I have not done in at least the last 7 years!! So, understandably, I'm a little freaked out...
I'm going to scan through the memo and hopefully find something that I can use to fool people into believing that I know what I'm talking about...when I don't. Otherwise, there's always google...
3 comments:
Oh dear... Good luck with the prac!
As to the Facebook friend student - I'm WAY ahead of you! You remember the student who used to annoy the heck out of me when I tutored stats last term? Well, he is now making me a CD of Icelandic rock music (?) and keeps smsing me to ask when I'll be at Wits. He's rather sweet though, and Serbian, and into depressing Russian literature. Why wouldn't I want a stalker like him?!
Good luck again! Just remember that all you to do is stress to them that they must NOT kill the goldfish...
And once it is over and all the goldfish are okay, we can go for a personalized tour and cup of coffee at Constitutional Hill, so all is not too bad :)
I saw your student's comment - it made me chuckle a bit! He seemed a little indignant... But Luke, if you can make ME understand the experiment and the content of the lectures in general, then rest at ease - it is most definitely not your lecturing that's at fault... :)
Maybe try playing the Happy Monkey Music during the prac to ;) see if that helps??
When Mrs Manana taught us Genetics in first year Biology i was Uber confused and blamed her for faring slightly worse in that section than others. Mainly because she couldn't speak english...
Are you positive you aren't babbling off in Italian? maybe it's an intinct?
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