"Do I look like I care?"

Those words actually came out of my mouth this afternoon, after the end of the 101 class. One of the students who was hurled from basic education to 101 has repeatedly complained about how hard things are. Obviously I don't have the same kind of temper surges I used to have, or I'd have been a lot closer to yelling at her--but I did say exactly that: "Do I look like I care?" She was bewildered. She also came to class very late and was shuffling her papers around, trying to get organized; I had to make her stop, as it was distracting to me and to the other students in the class. (I also had to tell one young woman not to brush her hair.) I had to explain to her several things (and fortunately, the Not-So-Cowardly Lioness was there to reinforce what I was saying). So, to little Miss Complainer, I explained the following:

1. When one comes to class late, that is not the time to be flipping through papers in one's notebook, trying to get organized. Do it before class or after, not during.

2. When one comes to class late, "I got lost! Seriously! I'm not lying!" is not an appropriate response. (First of all: got lost? In the sixth week of classes? Baby doll, get your head out of your ass and pay attention to where you are.) It does not matter why one is late. I asked her what does matter: blank look. The Lioness chipped in: "What matters is that you were late." Yes. Thank you.

3. It is not appropriate to complain to the professor about how hard the class is. "Why not? Who else?" Professors have egos; we have put a lot of work into designing our classes, and we believe that what we are offering is appropriate for the students' level. If all one is doing is venting, the professor needn't be the sympathetic ear. If one is genuinely struggling, then rather than complaining, one should approach the professor for specific help. Professors will get annoyed by hearing repeated complaints about how difficult the class is--and much as we try to be objective, we're human, and we're likely to be just a little bit harder in marking work from a student who complains.

I didn't say "College is supposed to be hard," because I don't think she'd hear that. I did ask her what she expected me to do about her complaint. "Nothing," she replied. "Then why do I have to hear it?" I responded. Oh. OK.

She also continues to call me Miss, despite having been corrected numerous times. Today--as she was going to tell me the sad story of how lost she got and how hard everything is--she said, "Listen, Miss..." (imagine a very plaintive tone). I interrupted: "Excuse me: who??" (Chagrin, correction,
"I mean Professor..." I should damned well hope you do.)

Today I told them that there are five keys to academic success, in addition to working through frustration: the five that I want to convey in my TED talk (should I ever do one). A couple of the students who are struggling diligently started taking notes--and didn't quite get the humor. The Lioness got the joke. (If you missed it, the five are Read carefully, pay attention to detail, read carefully, pay attention to detail, and read carefully.)

But we got some good thinking on the food issue--and a couple of them are already interested in the topic, which is great. (This is the "food and the environment" topic.)

Today was also one of those days in which I ended up re-doing a lot of assignment handouts, working on the theory that if I do the changes now, while I'm thinking about them (usually because something has come up in class that makes me rethink how I've said something--as in my realization yesterday that my "In what circumstance" question was leaving students baffled)--and once I make one adjustment (and save it, export the document to a PDF, and upload it to Blackboard), I invariably think of at least one other change to make, and oh, yeah, I need to make the change to these handouts, too, and oh, that reminds me, I should....

And hours pass....

It's still early as I write this, and I got dispensation to leave early today. I got it because I have a physical therapy appointment, but since I got home so late the last two nights, I haven't practiced fiddle--and I'm going painfully short on sleep. So I'm going to take advantage of the early departure sanction and just go home. It is rather lovely that it's still light out (and in another eleven days, it will be even lighter, as we'll have sprung forward). But mostly, I'm just omigod tired and need to get home.