argh
The other thing I have to say is that I am struggling a bit lately with my teaching. Most of the time it is great and even when class doesn’t go as I hoped, I leave excited about the conversations I have with my students and the connections they’re making.
But one class isn’t seeing the excitement, it feels like. No matter what I do, or what we talk about, the class is quiet, showing little of the interest back to me that I felt when planning it or doing the reading. The night before, as I am working on the class plans I’ll be thinking, “Oh this will be great, we’ll have a really good discussion here” and it will fall flat the next day, with little or no input from the students. I even chased them out of class the other day, frustrated with the lack of interest. To me, learning and thinking are of the utmost importance and I forget that not everyone feels that way.
I guess I am learning that I can’t get a class interested just by example. Maybe it’s too late by college to get students to be readers, but I still don’t think that’s true. I think they need to pony up and meet me halfway, true, but I also need to be doing something different — I’m just not sure what. Any suggestions you have, though, just let me know.