I went into class today excited because of the great involvement and attitudes the students had. But I’d be lying if I said it was anywhere near the same. They were extremely quite and I would try to lighten the mood by making small little comments or jokes. They would laugh and be involved one moment and then completely silent the next. Some key issues might have brought on this different experience. It could have been me or my powerpoint, the fact that its almost spring break and their exam isn’t until after, or they just didn’t know/understand the material. Most likely it was a mixture of all factors but personally I felt as though the group I have are not shy, timid students they all were extremely vocal so from my past experience with them I am making the assumption that they just do not know the material well enough in general to feel comfortable being vocal.
Some different things that happened was being a little short on chairs so two people had to sit right up in front, the classroom is more of a trapezoid shape with the projector screen on the wall with the smallest side. This caused problems because people on the ends were only able to see half of the screen. We tried various way to make the situation better but sadly the only thing we could do was project it onto the wall. Then because it was on a dark background it was hard to see so we shut off the lights which made the environment very dark. Thankfully there were two windows to allow light so people could see their stuff. Surprisingly though when the lights were off people tended to be more active and vocal in discussion. We ended up finishing class at 12:15 pm and a few people stayed after to go over some individual questions/comments.
Overall I thought I had a good turnout and the review went smoothly but they have a lot of studying to do.
A few people emailed me to schedule a time to go over the material or help them. We decided on the time 3:30pm in the Coffee House tomorrow. If anyone had students that the know wanted a little extra help feel free to let them know.
Both here and in our conversation, you begin to identify a good set of reasons for why things may have been different in that session. There are some ‘tricks’ to get things going in a class. The key is always how do you then go back and do things differently. We all have days when things do not go as we wish or when the audience does not react. Those are tough days indeed.