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I've never failed a class before, but I will fail my science class. He announced it to the class one morning while I spent my time in the schools library, reading a book. I found it very rude that he decided to tell the entire class my grade, and I have reported him for such. So, instead of writing our final paper on "How Westfall kept through with his certain schema throughout his book" which makes absolutely no sense in terms of a history class (possible a literature organizational class), I've written him the paper below. It's much shorter than what he originally assigned, but I'm not really concerned with my grade any longer. What he has done is appauling and I can't believe he's still teaching. So without further interruption, I present to you my final paper for the class "History of Science: From Early Greek to Newton"
Starting this paper was a difficult choice. I could, in theory, throw something together that sounded half intelligible and take my C+ in the class and truthfully, that was my first choice in the matter. I care about my grades like any other student in the class. I am, however, incredibly stubborn and easily ticked off. I may not seem it to you, but I am very intelligent. Throughout my school career I have been a part of many ‘special education’ classes that represent not the lowest of the students, but the greatest. I have been praised by many of your peers on my intelligence, quick thinking, and creativity. On the other hand, when I am not challenged by a class I do become lazy, disrespectful, and spiteful. I do understand that I may be an isolated case when considering the demographic of my peers. A majority of them are taking the class, and indeed going through college, just for their degree. Nevertheless, I am more whimsical in my education. I truly don’t care about any certain degree or future job, I want to be challenged and taught in every subject. I care about knowledge here and now, rather than in the future. When I have had my fill of the education process (and if I have more classes like I’ve had this semester, that time will be quickly approaching) I will settle down with a job. This brings me to the main point of this paper: I do not believe you challenged me within your classroom, and I want you to know it. While I do understand that you have tenure, it may be possible that you take this paper seriously enough to consider alternatives to your now defunct teaching style.
When the class started you stated that you were retired in your teaching. So then, I ask, why are you teaching? It was immediately apparent from your course instruction that you have a very outdated and dusty way of teaching and assigning homework. I will tackle each of my objections in turn, as well as offer you future alternatives in order to receive more positive feedback from your future students.
Firstly, your teaching style needs to be improved for students. You must consider your classroom demographic before adopting a specific teaching style. Society as a whole has taken on a very ‘fast paced’ style to everything. We, as students and children, are brought up where half-an-hour programming is barely enough to keep our attention for more than ten minutes. We come from a generation where TiVo can fast forward or rewind to our favorite parts in a television program again and again, skipping all the boring parts. We come from a generation where ADD and ADHD still exist in a majority of males (and some females). So then, I ask, how do you expect to keep our attention for an entire hour and fifteen minutes with monotonous lecture? You can’t possible expect half the class to completely be absorbed in your lecture; which I might add, is a problem as well (but more on that later). Now you may be asking, well how can I fix it? Honestly, this is the hardest part of this paper. I’ve thought long and hard on how to fix it and it seems to all melt together throughout these problems I have with your class. So, I will give you an updated look on your class at the end of this paper, after I have outlined the problems with it.
A second problem in your class is the outlines. While you gave proper reasoning to do them, as they help our ability to read, you gave little to no direction on how to write an outline. That was your first mistake: assuming class intelligence. Throughout the semester you added rules, stipulations, and changes to the original assignment which only served to confuse your students. These new directions were all given verbally (and indeed, the entire assignment was given verbally) with no reference or guide except your scribbles on the board. The same goes with this paper and how you presented it to the class. Before you came any random class, the early students discussed what it was you wanted on the paper and the best way to go about writing it. I believe over half them had to approach you in order to fully understand your assignment. Personally, I never understood it. Do you feel that there is something wrong with that? I do. I believe a concise teacher would be able to show us exactly what he/she wanted and give adequate examples. Instead, we got more of your rambling and half-cocked answers that made absolutely no sense, which brings me to my next point.
A third problem with your class is the lectures. Most of this will be a rehash from the first paragraph, but I feel like I have a few concerns with this. At the beginning of the class you designated that there would be a lot of class discussion. However, as the semester dragged on I found less discussion and more of you talking at us. No, no, that’s the wrong idea; I mean that you talked to yourself. It became quite apparent that you designed this class in order for you to talk out your problems, concerns, and hypotheses with our required reading. The main feeling I received from your lectures is that you cared very little for the history and more about these authors and how they designed the history. Discussing how authors organized a history book is not what I signed up for in this class, and I believe most of the class feels the same way. I also did not sign up to write a paper on how a certain author kept a schema throughout a book, which is why I refused to do it and you’re getting this paper instead.
You may be wondering at this point how I intend to fix your problems. Well, I wouldn’t be so just to consider myself applicable to teach your class, but I will offer you suggestions. It is up to you to take it or leave it. In order to garner student’s attention, I believe you should make class discussion mandatory. Facilitate an argument or subject by asking very open ended questions and allowing the students to talk each other, not only to you. Bring more of the philosophical questions and social ramifications of science together, instead of just pure history. Allow students to discuss their thoughts freely without interruption (something you need to work on), and let students change the subject of the question, as long as it stay within the bounds of the original question. Play devils advocate during these conversations. I believe that would not be very hard if you reorder your lectures to include spots for open discussion, the amount of information you present in class is stupefying at times. The outlines should be dashed in favor for small papers over two or three chapters. Use open ended and easier questions that deal with science as a whole, not how Lloyd organized a chapter. Also, be sure to give your future students a set of directions on a piece of paper. Make sure to be specific in what you want. Axe this final paper in favor of a final exam with a study guide. Make sure students can remember specific points of history that were important, as well as the names of philosophers and scientists. Also, allow more large scale projects. Tell students to research many of the early mechanisms and teach the class about them. This kind of student interaction allows you to see the intelligence levels of your class, as well as how hard they are willing to work for their grade. It is almost impossible to do so with your current classroom set up. Also, if you want to make attendance mandatory you have to get students to come to class. Half of the times I missed your class I was on campus in the library reading a book.
As for me, I will take whatever grade you assign. I do know that I will not retake your class again unless it is changed, and I will be talking to as many of your peers as I can about how you handle your classroom. There is no reason you cannot engage your students and actively work for them. We do pay a hefty amount of money to be in your class, and I feel disappointed and wasted that I did. I hope you take this paper in good faith and realize I am only trying to help you. While it may be hard for you to receive help from someone so young, I would appreciate if you at least took some of my suggestions to heart. These are legitimate claims and not meant to be offensive. I do hope you contact me through the email address I have provided to talk about this further. If not, then I can’t say I didn’t try. What you do is now up to you, I just hope I have made a difference.
Starting this paper was a difficult choice. I could, in theory, throw something together that sounded half intelligible and take my C+ in the class and truthfully, that was my first choice in the matter. I care about my grades like any other student in the class. I am, however, incredibly stubborn and easily ticked off. I may not seem it to you, but I am very intelligent. Throughout my school career I have been a part of many ‘special education’ classes that represent not the lowest of the students, but the greatest. I have been praised by many of your peers on my intelligence, quick thinking, and creativity. On the other hand, when I am not challenged by a class I do become lazy, disrespectful, and spiteful. I do understand that I may be an isolated case when considering the demographic of my peers. A majority of them are taking the class, and indeed going through college, just for their degree. Nevertheless, I am more whimsical in my education. I truly don’t care about any certain degree or future job, I want to be challenged and taught in every subject. I care about knowledge here and now, rather than in the future. When I have had my fill of the education process (and if I have more classes like I’ve had this semester, that time will be quickly approaching) I will settle down with a job. This brings me to the main point of this paper: I do not believe you challenged me within your classroom, and I want you to know it. While I do understand that you have tenure, it may be possible that you take this paper seriously enough to consider alternatives to your now defunct teaching style.
When the class started you stated that you were retired in your teaching. So then, I ask, why are you teaching? It was immediately apparent from your course instruction that you have a very outdated and dusty way of teaching and assigning homework. I will tackle each of my objections in turn, as well as offer you future alternatives in order to receive more positive feedback from your future students.
Firstly, your teaching style needs to be improved for students. You must consider your classroom demographic before adopting a specific teaching style. Society as a whole has taken on a very ‘fast paced’ style to everything. We, as students and children, are brought up where half-an-hour programming is barely enough to keep our attention for more than ten minutes. We come from a generation where TiVo can fast forward or rewind to our favorite parts in a television program again and again, skipping all the boring parts. We come from a generation where ADD and ADHD still exist in a majority of males (and some females). So then, I ask, how do you expect to keep our attention for an entire hour and fifteen minutes with monotonous lecture? You can’t possible expect half the class to completely be absorbed in your lecture; which I might add, is a problem as well (but more on that later). Now you may be asking, well how can I fix it? Honestly, this is the hardest part of this paper. I’ve thought long and hard on how to fix it and it seems to all melt together throughout these problems I have with your class. So, I will give you an updated look on your class at the end of this paper, after I have outlined the problems with it.
A second problem in your class is the outlines. While you gave proper reasoning to do them, as they help our ability to read, you gave little to no direction on how to write an outline. That was your first mistake: assuming class intelligence. Throughout the semester you added rules, stipulations, and changes to the original assignment which only served to confuse your students. These new directions were all given verbally (and indeed, the entire assignment was given verbally) with no reference or guide except your scribbles on the board. The same goes with this paper and how you presented it to the class. Before you came any random class, the early students discussed what it was you wanted on the paper and the best way to go about writing it. I believe over half them had to approach you in order to fully understand your assignment. Personally, I never understood it. Do you feel that there is something wrong with that? I do. I believe a concise teacher would be able to show us exactly what he/she wanted and give adequate examples. Instead, we got more of your rambling and half-cocked answers that made absolutely no sense, which brings me to my next point.
A third problem with your class is the lectures. Most of this will be a rehash from the first paragraph, but I feel like I have a few concerns with this. At the beginning of the class you designated that there would be a lot of class discussion. However, as the semester dragged on I found less discussion and more of you talking at us. No, no, that’s the wrong idea; I mean that you talked to yourself. It became quite apparent that you designed this class in order for you to talk out your problems, concerns, and hypotheses with our required reading. The main feeling I received from your lectures is that you cared very little for the history and more about these authors and how they designed the history. Discussing how authors organized a history book is not what I signed up for in this class, and I believe most of the class feels the same way. I also did not sign up to write a paper on how a certain author kept a schema throughout a book, which is why I refused to do it and you’re getting this paper instead.
You may be wondering at this point how I intend to fix your problems. Well, I wouldn’t be so just to consider myself applicable to teach your class, but I will offer you suggestions. It is up to you to take it or leave it. In order to garner student’s attention, I believe you should make class discussion mandatory. Facilitate an argument or subject by asking very open ended questions and allowing the students to talk each other, not only to you. Bring more of the philosophical questions and social ramifications of science together, instead of just pure history. Allow students to discuss their thoughts freely without interruption (something you need to work on), and let students change the subject of the question, as long as it stay within the bounds of the original question. Play devils advocate during these conversations. I believe that would not be very hard if you reorder your lectures to include spots for open discussion, the amount of information you present in class is stupefying at times. The outlines should be dashed in favor for small papers over two or three chapters. Use open ended and easier questions that deal with science as a whole, not how Lloyd organized a chapter. Also, be sure to give your future students a set of directions on a piece of paper. Make sure to be specific in what you want. Axe this final paper in favor of a final exam with a study guide. Make sure students can remember specific points of history that were important, as well as the names of philosophers and scientists. Also, allow more large scale projects. Tell students to research many of the early mechanisms and teach the class about them. This kind of student interaction allows you to see the intelligence levels of your class, as well as how hard they are willing to work for their grade. It is almost impossible to do so with your current classroom set up. Also, if you want to make attendance mandatory you have to get students to come to class. Half of the times I missed your class I was on campus in the library reading a book.
As for me, I will take whatever grade you assign. I do know that I will not retake your class again unless it is changed, and I will be talking to as many of your peers as I can about how you handle your classroom. There is no reason you cannot engage your students and actively work for them. We do pay a hefty amount of money to be in your class, and I feel disappointed and wasted that I did. I hope you take this paper in good faith and realize I am only trying to help you. While it may be hard for you to receive help from someone so young, I would appreciate if you at least took some of my suggestions to heart. These are legitimate claims and not meant to be offensive. I do hope you contact me through the email address I have provided to talk about this further. If not, then I can’t say I didn’t try. What you do is now up to you, I just hope I have made a difference.
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