I Hate To Say It
Sometimes, I wish my students read my blog. If they did, they'd get an earful from me today. Since they don't, you will get an earful. Feel free to log off now.
Here is how I teach my classes, in case you were wondering. I post online both the actual PowerPoint file and an outline version of the PowerPoint file for the students to print out and bring to class. I find that it is impossible for them to scribble everything I say down, and by providing these items, I can spend more time on getting through the material and helping them understand it. My outlines/PowerPoints are not completely comprehensive. There is plenty of material that I say in class that is simply prompted by the slides. That, in my opinion, is the point of the words on the slide: to remind me what I want to say.
So, at the start of every semester, I tell the students that they MUST attend class and take notes. If they don't take notes, they will not succeed. You cannot pass a test of mine by simply sitting in class and listening. Inevitably, you will miss something important that I said.
Well, I gave my first exam yesterday. I didn't get a chance to scan the exams until today, and I was horrified to find a mean of a 60%. I almost fell over. There had to be something wrong. I checked my key, and luckily, there were two errors on the key and one question that so many people missed, I threw it out. I calcuated the mean again, and it is still only a 65%.
I'd like to think that maybe it was just a tough exam, but I looked at it again, and really, it wasn't. The questions the students missed are those that could really only be answered if they had been taking notes. And so, I am going to say it here, since as I said, they do not read this blog:
I TOLD YOU SO.
Here is how I teach my classes, in case you were wondering. I post online both the actual PowerPoint file and an outline version of the PowerPoint file for the students to print out and bring to class. I find that it is impossible for them to scribble everything I say down, and by providing these items, I can spend more time on getting through the material and helping them understand it. My outlines/PowerPoints are not completely comprehensive. There is plenty of material that I say in class that is simply prompted by the slides. That, in my opinion, is the point of the words on the slide: to remind me what I want to say.
So, at the start of every semester, I tell the students that they MUST attend class and take notes. If they don't take notes, they will not succeed. You cannot pass a test of mine by simply sitting in class and listening. Inevitably, you will miss something important that I said.
Well, I gave my first exam yesterday. I didn't get a chance to scan the exams until today, and I was horrified to find a mean of a 60%. I almost fell over. There had to be something wrong. I checked my key, and luckily, there were two errors on the key and one question that so many people missed, I threw it out. I calcuated the mean again, and it is still only a 65%.
I'd like to think that maybe it was just a tough exam, but I looked at it again, and really, it wasn't. The questions the students missed are those that could really only be answered if they had been taking notes. And so, I am going to say it here, since as I said, they do not read this blog:
I TOLD YOU SO.
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