No. 57: The College Classroom Experience
September 2nd 2010 23:27
Off to College
It is back to school time and many colleges are starting. Maybe this will help some beginning freshmen.
Here is my advice for the new student --
Day One: You are past all the pre-college anxiety. You are actually sitting in a chair or desk now. The classroom size could be from as few as less than a dozen people, to an auditorium filled with hundreds. You look around—first for familiar faces, then to friendly ones. Your eyes lock onto those you find attractive, but you do not want to give this away, so you look around the place trying not to seem obvious. The instructor has not arrived yet, so you relieve tension by fiddling with your notes and books, stretching your legs, or looking out the door or window--just as you did in high school. Further tension can be relieved by bantering with others. Any subject will break the ice.
Almost every class has a clown, unique to the subject and environment. He or she is breaking tension by standing up and making jokes or puns. You have seen them before, so nothing is new, but it does help to see anyone or anything with which you can relate. And yes, class clowns will probably open up and initiate later classes also.
Your instructor walks in, begins a short welcome and jumps right into the syllabus, without any hesitation. You are surprised! Back in high school on the first day, the teacher usually spent the hour just getting familiar, but here – oh! The professor seems to care less. It is ALL BUSINESS! The first thing you say to yourself: “I have to ramp up, get it into gear, or get going.” You recognize things are much different. The teacher continues for almost all of the time period. He or she allows few questions; after all, questions set a bad precedent for the first day, and only send a false message that interruptions are tolerated. Just before the end of class, an assignment is given. It is long, replete with multiple chapters of books to study or problems to solve before next class. Before walking out the door, you peruse the syllabus thinking of the volume of work ahead and when the tests will be given. You have completed your first class and find the rest go similarly.
Down the road, some classes could go like this, for example: You try paying intense attention to the instructor as the topic you hear is Socialism and how it is supposed to trump Capitalism. (I chose this subject because it often breeds controversy.) The professor continues lecturing about the virtues of a system with which you disagree. You have heard the subject at home and from your friends. You may have even talked with someone who lived under a former Socialist/Communist system in “the old country.” You feel uneasy because something just does not ring true to you. As you bite your tongue, the teacher continues. Your mouth aches, your blood boils because the facts being presented do not relate to what you have learned before. You say nothing at that time for you know that to dress down the teacher could be interpreted as the dreaded insubordination. You feel furthermore, that to dispute your instructor will require a debate with someone you perceive (and usually is), much more knowledgeable on the subject, and you fear your rebuttal may fail due to feelings of intimidation. You are afraid you will look stupid in front of your fellow classmates. You tell yourself: “I will talk to him/her after class,” but usually, you do not, though maybe you should.
Far too many pulpit-hungry teachers and professors extol their soapbox opinions outside the text, and often without debate. Sometimes this helps to enliven the topics; sometimes it is an exercise in futility. The classroom is meant to be a place for open learning and dialogue, but in practice this is far too often not the case.
YOU SHOULD FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS. But, only raise your hand if you have read and mastered the required assignments. Nothing irritates your fellow students, and the instructor, more than to have someone asking questions that have been covered in assignments or prior lectures. In college, you do not want to waste anyone’s time in class. The tests will come, and the questions will be asked, even if they have not been covered in lectures. A good instructor will cover much of the required reading in a synopsis, plus expound on it for your understanding.
Now, you may be one of the lucky ones where the lecturer loves to be challenged. By receiving questions, the instructor can expose the depth of his/her knowledge of the particular subject. Professors love this.
Caution is advised! Some instructors act as though it is their civic duty to weed out the insincere, the frivolous and/or the incapable, and they have a point. You should always respond, or submit, with respect and from a position of strength--doing otherwise, can affect your grades!
Here is an example of what I mean: You are in a class where the professor responds to your query by treating the question as an invitation for expanding his/her ego. You can tell this is being proffered at your expense when the teacher tries exposing what is perceived as your ignorance. Because of teachers/professors like these, we used to say that course completion was reserved to the survivors.
Some more advice: Please remember that your instructors have probably seen it all before. Until you prove otherwise, you are part of the herd. The only way you can stand out is to follow instructions, and maintain respect. It will always help you to project an image of self confidence and strength. Do not back down to a professor, but always show respect.
TAKING TESTS—Ask for a pencil and blank sheet of paper, if allowed. When the test is multiple choice, mark though the obvious wrong options, and write down only the number of the question and the letters corresponding to possible correct responses. This way you will eliminate the need for wasting time on them again. You will use time only for the possible right answers.
COLOR CODING—While reading through texts, NEVER highlight more than a sentence at a time! Too much highlighting and overly highlighting an area will cause the most important text to be lost. Keep a multi-colored pen and different colors for highlighting. Draw circles and boxes around pertinent definitions and sentences with your pen, and then vary the highlighting colors on those words, phrases or sentences ONLY! This way when you review, they imprint better, and it is much easier visualizing them at test time.
Please keep it between the lines.
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