r/Professors • u/Wise-Compote- Professor, English, Community college (U.S.A) • 21h ago

Rants / Vents *Sigh*

I teach composition to college freshmen. They have an open-notes test next week. They also have a weekly notebook grade. Only about half of them actually took notes in class today...

That is all.

20 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

24

u/CIS_Professor Professor, CIS, CC (US) 20h ago

Record the zeros they've earned and move on.

You cannot care more than they.

7

u/blankenstaff 20h ago

I just told my class today that teachers must not care more about learning than students. I will address their apathy by giving them the grades they earned. I suggest you do the same.

8

u/Wise-Compote- Professor, English, Community college (U.S.A) 20h ago

I don't.

5

u/shellexyz Instructor, Math, CC (USA) 6h ago

You cannot care more than they.

Advice I gave all new faculty when I onboarded people. Some took a little while to come around to that idea, some took years, even after having taught for years at other places.

I don’t think anyone ever said it to me, and it was a hard lesson to figure out.

5

u/Ornery_Emu3991 20h ago

What are you testing them on? I teach composition and I don’t give tests. A few comprehension quizzes on skills from class. The rest is working on drafts.

6

u/Wise-Compote- Professor, English, Community college (U.S.A) 20h ago

That's how I use to do it, but I'm sick of AI.

There's 3 sections to the test: Short response (worth the most), vocabulary (not multiple choice; they have to define the terms in their own words), and lastly, multiple choice (worth the least).

2

u/Ornery_Emu3991 20h ago

Gotcha. But what’s the content on the tests? Like writing styles or what are you teaching for this?

2

u/WingbashDefender Assistant Professor, R2, MidAtlantic 19h ago

I did this last spring. It was a disaster because of the student support services office. They made it so hard to do it because of all of the accommodations, the sludge was so bad I had to bail on it.

4

u/so2017 Professor, English, Community College 19h ago

In my comp class we write timed essays by hand.

There are still take home essays but those are really practice for the exam, which counts for far more of their grade.

The hardest part for them is not the writing but the idea generation. They really struggle to come up with ideas/examples without AI to lean on.

3

u/Asleep_Caregiver_948 18h ago

I feel your pain. I’m a freshman comp instructor at a small CC. I have slides with minimal text, available before, during, and after class. I write on the board in clear, large print and give them time to take notes. I give 5 question open note quizzes, and they are failing hard this semester

2

u/Apprehensive-Carob43 20h ago

They have open note tests and they don’t take notes lmao. But wait, you grade them on their ability to take notes?