...for a bit of kvetching, and a not-quite-open thread:
Who out there feels like this year's incoming students are showing the worst consequences of NCLB (in terms of engagement, critical thinking, creativity, etc.)? I'm at a mid-tier regional uni; is it the same at other institution types? I don't want to generate a "Kids these days/it's the end of civilization" type of post; I'd rather think about how we're dealing with it as classroom teachers. If you're seeing this, what are you doing? Have you lowered your expectations? Changed your approach? Are you putting in more one-on-one hours?
And will Common Core save us all?
**Job search series to return Friday. I'm thinking I'll talk (and listen!) about the mid-career search. After that, the influence of technology. So stay tuned.
13 comments:
ZOMG. I could write for hours about this, Notorious. The NCLB generation is all grown up and they're now our issue.
I haven't lowered my standards, but I have decided to devote more time to explaining how to "do" college well, how to write an argument-driven essay, etc. For a while my essay assignments were getting longer, and longer, and longer with their suggestions and prompts and reminders, etc. But now I go for the shorter essay assignment but spend more time in class answering student questions and modeling how one might approach a particular question or problem.
I've also started to incorporate more material culture into my classes and assignments. That kind of analysis seems to get them jazzed much more than textual primary source-based questions, for some reason. Because of the period and region I teach, these assignments tend to incorporate digital museums/archives, so maybe they're just excited to have access to this kind of digital history and to use it in their intellectual work. Hard to tell.
We must soldier on. The students aren't any less bright or capable of doing college-level work. They just haven't been asked to commit independent intellectual thought or to develop evidence-based arguments on historical topics. We just have to be a little more creative in our approach, but most of them do pretty well and learn something along the way.
I'm not sure I'm seeing a trend. My experience with this year's first year students is pretty positive; they seem like a smart bunch. On the other hand, I'm not teaching the usual comp course, so maybe I've got students who are ahead of the game?
My students in composition are very, very quiet and don't engage with each other. I have been trying to get them to talk by doing a lot of different activities, but even now -- it's midterm -- they are not talking to each other before class. They're all just tied to their phones.
Now, as far as their writing goes -- they're okay. They make all the same mistakes that students have made since I've been teaching. (Started in 1999.) But they have done very little research work. They can write personal essays until the cows come home. But none of them have ever, ever been asked to write an argument. I am having to beat it into them, but I have been finding that the more I raise my expectations, the more they try to meet them. So I say -- don't lower your standards. You aren't doing them any favors if you do.
PS - I really want to see a post on midcareer job searching.
Honestly, I'm not seeing this. My students are actually more engaged and stronger than they've ever been, but I think this has everything to do with my location, the economy, and the rising reputation (and admissions standards) of my institution. In other words, I'm not disputing what you're seeing, but I think conditions vary based on other factors. We used to admit MANY students with deficiencies they needed to resolve. This year, I think for the first time ever, we admitted no (or very few) students with deficiencies. That makes a huge difference.
The biggest thing I've noticed this year is that students no longer talk before class - they are all on their smartphones. And also for the first semester ever, students are using their phones to bring up readings for the course that are on Blackboard, as opposed to printing them. (And they really are bringing the readings up... they aren't just texting or something.) I find this weird and alienating, but I'm rolling with it until I see how it affects their performance.
I'm teaching this year at a university in France, where, I really kid you not–it's so much worse. And I know it's not just me, because the other American instructors notice the same thing.
Apparently, the French university is very "sage on the stage," and emphasizes basically rote learning. So while they will take gorgeous notes in three different pen colors (not kidding about this) on everything I say, getting them to talk is sometimes painful. The fact that it's a foreign language for them contributes to the problem, but they're also kind of fantastically uncreative. Case in point: on Monday we were thinking of adjectives to describe different jobs. Someone said "stressful" and "interesting" to describe the first job. Every job thereafter became "stressful" and "interesting."
It's a pity–I had high regard for the bac system, but now maybe not so much. But all of that is to say: it's not just US.
I wonder if this is disciplinary? I.e. Notorious, Historiann and I see this (and on my campus we've been commenting on it for several years) the lit people don't? In history the problem is the NCLB promotes a stupid notion of history, where it's facts with right answers. There's a kind of historical thinking and analysis that they don't get -- even the ones with AP credit. Like H'Ann, I've taken to doing more short essays to build the analytical skills students need. I'd rather grade twice as many two page essays than struggle through dire 4 pages ones. And with 6 or 7 two page essays, by the end of the semester you can assign a longer one and they know what to do.
Actually, Common Core hasn't been implemented yet in most states. (And a select few are never going to implement; some others are only using parts of the plan.) We won't see the "worst" of the effects of Common Core until CO2018, assuming that districts actually stick with a curriculum and assessment plan for that long. Which, given trends, is highly unlikely but still possible given that funding is tied to the foundational beliefs of the system.
I feel a little bad about ragging on French students earlier. Last week I told my second year students to think of fantastical or silly problems so that we could practice offering advice using modal verbs. (Don't know what modal verbs are? Neither did I, six weeks ago.) One student wrote that her shoes are in love, but they don't get to speak when she's walking because they're always whizzing past one another. Her conversation partner suggested that she get around by hopping.
Nothing to do with Common Core, but I thought it was adorable.
Susan - It's not just History. Last year, a student told me (regarding a Humanities class I team-teach in) that she liked taking the tests more than writing the papers. I asked her why, and she said, "Because there's always a right answer on the test, but not in the papers. I like being right." Scary.
I experienced this problem last year. Overall, students were extremely hostile and uncooperative when learning. Our university also had almost 600 Freshmen on academic probation after the fall term. It was that bad.
This semester, the students are generally more pleasant and somewhat more engaged. BUT, they also have absolutely no clue about how to engage critically with the readings or with each other. We went over the basic components of sentence structure last week (object--verb--direct object) and nobody could tell me what a direct object was. This is something that was beat into me by the time I reached junior high in the early 80s.
Even though I am offering A LOT more in-class help with writing, I am choosing not to lower my standards. I have found that students will either rise to the challenge or they won't. And life is about facing challenges.
One of the things I like (in theory - goddess knows how it will work in practice) about common core is that it brings reading and analysis of non- fiction texts into focus. [N.B. I am agnostic about the whole, because I can't gage whether students will read less of the literature I also want them to read.]. I'm sure that one reason our students struggle with the history reading they are given is that they have never read such things before. . .
In response to Susan and others--I agree that the primary sources that we give to students can be overwhelming. Therefore, unlike my cohorts, I have cut my weekly reading down. Whereas other instructors have their first-year students read 30+ pages per week (which often includes scholarly journal articles and graduate level books), I have restricted my readings to about 10-15 pages a week. For instance, this week, I had them watch a half hour video for Monday; Wednesday read 15 pages of a freshman level 'textbook' and then for Friday discussion, 4 pages that included 4 20th century primary documents. Out of 300 students, less than half them completed the work!! That isn't inability--that's sheer laziness. And I have come to realize that I can't help laziness. Over the course of the last year, I have come to realize that it is OK to put an F in the gradebook because we are no longer in high school. As I have started to tell my students, you will get left behind in college--just like in the real world!!!
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