Following the midterm some hours later, I had to teach later this afternoon. I was pretty sympathetic toward my students and the fact that midterm season is never pleasant so I showed up to class to have a very relaxed discussion. My students are really wonderful, funny people and I have to admit that I love this particular section to bits, for reasons that should become apparent below.
Admittedly, I'm pretty relaxed when I lead my classes. I expect a lot out of my students (and I'm told by my colleagues that I'm pretty strict), but I try to encourage this without being tyrannical. One of my students told me I should be mean - that I should yell and encourage them to fear me. One said they'd never had a class where people were so free to express opinions without fear of being judged. (I was really surprised by that!) Another suggested that I should grade assignments while drunk. (haha) I've had students in past years hug me after exams and ask to Facebook friend me so I'm guessing I can't be all that bad. Hopefully they learned something along the way, too.
While chatting today my students asked who would be responsible for grading the midterm. I told them there was a possibility that another TA would have their midterm because of the way exams were distributed and that I only had some that belonged to our group. One of my students then proceeded to ask me (jokingly) "But what if we wrote a note on it just for you?!"
To which I replied (without thinking): "What if you wrote me a note? When you get your exams back the only thing you'll see on it is a set of numbers" (indicating, of course, their grade).
Which led someone else in the class to ask: "What sort of numbers?"
(There were a number of ways I could have responded to that but I thought on the off chance that someone didn't find this exchange funny, I could've been hauled off with a report... so I kept my comments to myself.) :P
Maybe it's wrong of me to encourage my class to feel free enough to joke around, but the way I figure it, we're all human and I'm not that much older than my students. I can't stand the idea of erecting fictitious barriers in order to enhance my importance.
My class makes me smile.
Admittedly, I'm pretty relaxed when I lead my classes. I expect a lot out of my students (and I'm told by my colleagues that I'm pretty strict), but I try to encourage this without being tyrannical. One of my students told me I should be mean - that I should yell and encourage them to fear me. One said they'd never had a class where people were so free to express opinions without fear of being judged. (I was really surprised by that!) Another suggested that I should grade assignments while drunk. (haha) I've had students in past years hug me after exams and ask to Facebook friend me so I'm guessing I can't be all that bad. Hopefully they learned something along the way, too.
While chatting today my students asked who would be responsible for grading the midterm. I told them there was a possibility that another TA would have their midterm because of the way exams were distributed and that I only had some that belonged to our group. One of my students then proceeded to ask me (jokingly) "But what if we wrote a note on it just for you?!"
To which I replied (without thinking): "What if you wrote me a note? When you get your exams back the only thing you'll see on it is a set of numbers" (indicating, of course, their grade).
Which led someone else in the class to ask: "What sort of numbers?"
(There were a number of ways I could have responded to that but I thought on the off chance that someone didn't find this exchange funny, I could've been hauled off with a report... so I kept my comments to myself.) :P
Maybe it's wrong of me to encourage my class to feel free enough to joke around, but the way I figure it, we're all human and I'm not that much older than my students. I can't stand the idea of erecting fictitious barriers in order to enhance my importance.
My class makes me smile.
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