Final(s) Thoughts

[stoutfellow]

Normally, during the last class session before a test, I give a review. Among other things, I identify various pieces of knowledge and various skills which I expect them to have. Now, normally there are too many of these to actually put on any one test; all I can do is take a reasonable sampling of them. Telling them which will appear on the test would defeat the purpose. (My purpose, at least, which is that the students acquire all of these skills and bits of knowledge.)

This not infrequently leads to the following situation: shortly before the test, a student comes to me asking for help with something that I already know is not going to be on the test. When this happens, I give them the help they ask for. I always feel vaguely guilty about this, as if I'm misleading or distracting them. I shouldn't, though; test or no test, what they're asking for is part and parcel of what I'm contracted to give them. Still...

On the other hand, sometimes things work out right. The night before the calculus final, one of my students called to get help with Newton's Method for estimating solutions of equations. I spent half an hour on the phone, trying to make clear how and why the method works. (Give me a blackboard and I can do it in ten minutes, but lacking visual aids it's much harder...) Newton's Method did, in fact, appear on the test, and when that student handed in his final the next morning (yesterday) he thanked me for the help.

Did I mention the precise time of that phone call?

Midnight.

Yesterday was a very long day.

Comments

[toraks.livejournal.com]

Midnight?!?!??! What horror!!

I don't know what I'd do if one of Tom's students called that late!!!

I'm glad they're not quite as motivated as yours!!

It is nice that it worked out that you were able to help him though!

:-)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

In fairness, I should say that on the first day of every class, I do give them explicit permission to call me at home, at any hour. (The spiel is usually something like, "I promise that I won't be surly. I may not be coherent, but I'll give you what help I can.")

[toraks.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's very generous! Do you tend to get a lot of calls in the middle of the night?

I'd hope not! :-)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Not really. I've had that policy for more than ten years, and I've gotten maybe three calls between midnight and six, and rather more between ten and midnight.

Students just don't seem to be that anxious to ask for help, so I make myself maximally available in hopes that some of them will take the opening. It's turned out to be a low-risk (and also relatively low-payoff, but what can you do?) gamble.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

Now, *this* is a dedicated teacher!

And the poor guy! Think how panicked he had to have been to have actually called at midnight.

Glad for him it worked out.

[allyra.livejournal.com]

I agree with Tora that your calling policy is very generous! I was a mean bitch when I was teaching: They could see me at my office hours, make an appointment, or email me. Calling at any time (except to my office) was verbotten. I did that after dealing with *far* too many post-midnight calls when I was a history TA.

As for your feelings of guilt when a student asks you about something that won't be on the exam: Shouldn't he/she walk out of the class with a good understanding of the concept whether it's on the exam or not? No, the student may not need it right then, but I'd think it's still a good thing to be sure he/she really understands.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

(grin) You may be right about the generosity of the policy. I told the story during the Christmas party, and the Chair suggested that perhaps everyone in the department should give out my number in their classes...