Update for June 18th, 2010
Today was a great day.
I guess it was just one of those days when it feels like your hard work is paying off. We are still a long way from the goal of having the class prepared for any of the COSC subject tests, but this morning I felt like we started on the right path. It was my first day teaching a full lesson, and we reviewed reproductive biology. The night before class, I was pondering what I could do to really motivate the students to participate. I debated using candy, which had been suggested to me several times, but it just seemed too childish for these students. I even debated using a point system that accumulated to prizes at the end of class, but that still didn’t seem like the right kind of motivation. Then I thought about their journals. They gave me the notion that they were pretty motivated already, so perhaps a little accountability was all they needed.
I decided to make a class poster titled “Today, I Took Full Advantage of My Education”, and had them write their names in one column. I then dated the next column and instructed them that, if they participated significantly in class (came up to the board or answered a difficult question), they could put a star next to their name. This way, they could keep track of themselves and whether they were using all their available resources to succeed. I am excited to report that the class was enthusiastic and involved, and that every student had a star by their name at the end of class. I am so lucky to be teaching a class of such self-motivated individuals.
They answered questions, filled in anatomy charts, and even asked additional questions that expanded on our topics. It was like night and day compared to my physics lesson on Wednesday. Thinking about it now, the striking contrast was probably caused by the difference in expectations. On Wednesday, I expected them to remember physics concepts and review them, whereas today I just expected them to try and learn new material. Starting from the basics will be necessary for this course.
Looking at the syllabus, I believe it will be possible to cover all of the biology topics for the COSC during our 8 lectures. However, the physics syllabus is considerably longer (3 pages of topics longer, to be exact). In order to go through everything, I’ve decided to offer and strongly encourage homework assignments and extra classes to give them a chance at being fully prepared. By all of my childhood standards, this officially makes me the evil teacher. I am using their own motivation to inspire/guilt them into even more work during their vacation. Of course, I prefer to call it tough love.