December 15, 2006
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Classroom quote of the day
Today was the last teaching
day of the semester – final exams begin on Monday. My required
“Semester Exam Review and Help Sessions” were yesterday (for chemistry)
and today (for physical science). That is an extra 2-hour session
tacked on at the end of the day during which I answer every question,
re-teach almost every main concept from the semester or otherwise
attempt to prepare my students for the harsh realities of “truth or
consequences” – the Semester Exam. There was standing room only
for part of the time as fearful students hoped for miracles. I
was in turn appalled (at what they didn’t know) and comforted (that a
few things had apparently sunk in). In this afternoon’s session I
had a list of some 70 terms and concepts that are essential for them to
know. In the two hours I got through the list twice – extracting
the information from them bit by bit. Toward the end of the time
one (blonde) female student, overwhelmed at the amount of information,
apparently had an epiphany: “I should have paid
attention!!!”Let’s hope she doesn’t forget that lesson….
