I’m in week nine of a ten-week academic term. It’s this part
of the term that really begins to drag. Students are tired. Faculty are tired.
We’re there, but we’re not really there.
It’s now when pleas from failing students can arise. I’ve
seen it happen. Someone doesn’t work the whole semester and all of a sudden
they want to make up everything at the end. I’m now a seasoned teacher, so I no
longer fall for the gambit. I enforce the late policies I established the first
day.
While it may seem the worst students would be the most
difficult, at this time of the term it’s often the best students. I’ve seen
students with high A’s who are so tense and worried about their grade. They
scratch and claw as if they are losing grip, when in reality they have nothing
to worry about.
I think one of the things that has brought me success as a
teacher is that I feel students. It’s like I have a sixth sense. Whatever mood
they’re in—happy, sad, frustrated, exhausted or whatever—I feel it. At times
the mood hangs in the air. There’s a palpable exhaustion and infuriation that
wanders the halls. Unfortunately, it penetrates me. But, I’m the teacher and I
have to be the one to supply energy and positivity. I know if I didn’t care,
I’d be far less effective; yet, I also firmly believe if I didn’t care, the job
would be far less stressful.
Lately teaching has become both more stressful and easier at
the same time. It’s hard to explain, but I know I’m burnt out and I question
how much good general education classes (which is what I primarily teach) do
for students. Most students just do what is necessary to make it through. Without
vibrant emotional engagement, little learning occurs. I also ponder how
different academia is from the real world and also how incongruent it is with
how we learn. In academia we package information, but that information can only
be packaged after it has been slaughtered, dissected and sterilized. If the
whole system is a flop, does the efforts of one instructor really make that
much difference? And, if I don’t make that much difference, why put in the
effort? This makes it more stressful, because it’s harder to keep my motivation
up; but, it also makes it less stressful, because I’m not giving the same
effort. In truth, I’ve grown burnt out.
It’s about this time in the semester that I’m really
figuring out how to teach my students. Each student has a unique set of needs,
wants, personality traits and learning styles. Each classroom is a unique
mixture of individuals and develops it’s own personality and needs. It takes a
while to figure out how to adapt what I know to their needs. But, these ten-week
terms are too short. I’m just figuring them out when we’re entering the
downward spiral of the final weeks. I somewhat envy those that teach elementary
students. At least they have time to really develop the needed relationship
with students. They actually have the chance to know their students. Of course,
I also think this could be a real stressor. There are certain students I only
want for ten weeks.
So, this is where I find myself this Monday morning. It’s
probably the same place many teachers find themselves—questioning not just
themselves, but also the system they exist within.
