”[P]lease do not dumb down or slow down the class for me”

I know I sound completely backward, but please do not dumb down or slow down the class for me. As time goes on, I know I will become much more proficient and I am sorry if I am off to a clumsy and bumbling start…As I said before I learn fast and once I get into the swing of things I know I will be fine…I just hope I don’t make you batty [with] questions in the meantime. — Anonymous Student

A student who sent me a routine “Did I do this right?” e-mail followed up with this message. What a great attitude. Now, I’m not going to ramp it up and deliberately leave this student behind just because I’ve been given permission not to slow down. In fact, I’ll be watching this student even more carefully, now that I’ve seen this evidence of self-reflection and engagement.

It’s the first week of classes. All my classes have met once or twice, I’ve already got the first homework to grade, and I’ve started to notice the classroom dynamics form.

My dean asked me to pick up an additional section of basic comp, so every day I’ll see plenty of new faces that don’t look particularly thrilled to be there. I tried to pitch the course as being a vital tool to prepare them for the future, and their first writing assignment was their response to hearing the words “college writing.” So perhaps they can vent their angst usefully, and we can get focused on revision right away.

There are also a lot of new journalism majors in Media Lab (the course students take when they want to get credit for working on the student paper), and a good mix of familiar faces and new ones in “Writing for the Internet.”

Of course, “a lot” is a relative term — we’re a small school, but this year we have as many freshman English majors as there are English majors in all the other 3 years. In a minute, I’ll explain why that makes me feel a bit nervous.

I’m particularly excited about “New Media Projects,” a 400-level class that’s required for new media journalism majors, but has also attracted almost as many non-journalism majors. We’ll be creating interactive fiction, 2D games, informational Flash sites, and 3D objects for a Half-Life 2 mod. I’ve been preparing for that one all summer long, and while some of the students who are in the class are wary of the game-heavy content, others are excited about the class precisely because it does focus on games.

My wife is teaching a course for the first time since the stork first paid us a visit.

So why am I nervous? And why did this student’s e-mail message inspire me to blog it (with the author’s permission, of course)?

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for me. A few months ago, I learned that one of the senior English faculty was changing her schedule so that she will only be part of the graduate program. Another senior member is out on medical leave, and the one who’s been here a few years longer than me is enjoying his well-earned sabbatical.

That leaves, as the senior member of the English faculty… me. Since I came on board, three additional full-time faculty have been hired.

No momentous decisions are looming, and the two colleagues who are on leave are available for consulting if there’s a problem. But there are routine things that other people used to take care of, and now I’m taking a bigger chunk of the responsibility. Since things are actually going pretty smoothly, I’m enjoying the experience. (Knowing it’s only temporary really helps.)

So let me echo the words of my student: As time goes on, I know I will become much more proficient and I am sorry if I am off to a clumsy and bumbling start…As I said before I learn fast and once I get into the swing of things I know I will be fine…I just hope I don’t make you batty [with] questions in the meantime.

4 thoughts on “”[P]lease do not dumb down or slow down the class for me”

  1. I questioned myself on Wednesday and Friday about the pace of my lessons in visual rhetoric over a four-week period leading up to my freshmen’s first paper. I thought about spending one more period talking about the message and context parts to the rhetorical situation, but since only a few students are still hung up on those concepts, maybe I should continue my original plan and start discussing college composition specifically and encourage those students to use my office hours.

  2. You’ll be fine, Dr. Jerz. This post reminds me about what it means to be in college. So many friends in other fields (ie: psychology) get so worked up when a teacher is vague on assignments and confusing on tests. I shake my head and chuckle because I know it’s just as hard for the professor. Granted, sometimes it’s a matter of “are you cut out for the job.” One of my psychology classes proved this very well (without, of course, going into specifics, but anyone who took that class will agree with me).

    The cool thing about college, I find, is that we are all in the same boat. No one taught our professors how to teach. They have to pick that up on their own. And no one taught us how to learn in college. We have to pick that up along the way. So, already there is this tension and seperation from our professors.

    But from the same class mentioned above, I came to the realization that the dynamic is so different from high school. High school teachers are taught methods for teaching… so the dynamic is different.

    Open communication is what I find makes the process of learning from a quirky or disorganized professor easier (another thing I learned in the psychology class). I once thought that college professors were these “high and mighty intellectuals that spew forth their knowledge and the students collect it.” Now, I find it is much more complicated. Professors are only human. Students are only human. Both have their strengths and uncertainties.

    I put much faith in your ability to teach, Dr. Jerz, because I don’t think I would learn if I didn’t. I am both excited and terrified of Graduate School, but I have become inspired by the enthusiasm of my teachers (especially Dr. Klapak and his 9:00AM super-energetic, running on a two gallon cup of coffee lectures while I nearly fall asleep at the computer).

    Just like Dr. Atherton pointed out to me one time: commencement is the most appropriate word for the last ceremony of college.

    In around five or so years, expect to get a call from me with some questions of my own. By then, I will be banking on the hope that you will have become a pro at this.

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