I lead a small group of freshmen girls here on campus. And as I was talking with a few of them over the break, they kept talking about school work, and how it was taking a back seat to other issues that were going on in their lives. It made me start thinking, how do we help our students balance their personal lives with the class work that we will give them as they walk into our classrooms? We’ve all had those days when something crazy happened the night before, a break up, a fight with parents, or a friend desperately needed to talk, so you didn’t get as much sleep as you needed. So how can we best prepare our students for college life? When you have so much freedom, and so many opportunities facing you head on, and you have to decide whether to stay up all night watching a “Friends” marathon, or to start writing the essay that is due the next day at 5:00? Some situations we have to be compassionate about what is going on, but at the same time, college professors aren’t nearly as accommodating to hearing that we broke up with our significant other and its still really bothering us, so we didn’t study for the test as much as we should have. Or is that even our place? Is that something that each student has to decide on his or her own? I guess this would pertain mostly to high school, but it is still something that we have to deal with. How about those teachers (we’ve all had them…) that give you so much work that you and all your friends talk about saying “does he/she not realize that we have a life outside of his/her class? There is no way I’ll be able to finish all of this…” While I don’t want to be “that teacher” I still want to challenge my students; I want to be known as a difficult teacher, but you come out of the class knowing a whole lot more than you did when you first came in. But where is the balance?
Haha Meganne my freshmen girls say the same things!! Coming to college is such an adjustment for everyone because there is so much more freedom and new distractions, and no parents here to guide us anymore. I agree that the balance between school/fun is really hard, and as teachers sometimes we don't know where to draw the line. I have had teachers who don't give any work so I have no incentive to learn the material, and teachers who bog me down with so much work that I feel like I have no social life!! As a teacher, I want to be fun and to be taken seriously, but I want my students to have a life outside the class as well. I feel like a good balance is necessary to any child's health, it's just so hard to maintain that balance.
ReplyDeleteYou provide a very good question here. I think, in the case of being a role model, the most important thing is to relate to their situation and show that you understand where they're coming from. I think it is necessary to emphasize the academic aspects of college but also encourage some time for fun too. In my opinion, part of the college experience is watching Friends marathons all night when you have a paper due. You can't run their lives for them, they eventually have to learn to manage their time on their own.
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