Journals

I have my students do a somewhat unusual assignment. I collect journals from them every week. I require it to be at least two sentences, so it's not too strenuous. It's basically a way for me to check in with them, to give them a forum to complain that's not in front of the class, and a way for me to get to know them a little better.

I originally started requiring it because some of the MACSMEs from last year did it. They said it was pretty interesting to hear from their students. I'm not sure if they responded to them all (and almost certainly not to the extent which I respond to all of my students' journals), but it sounds like it was basically the same thing. It doesn't have to be about math and it's meant to be low key and easy.

I've gone back and forth on the idea over the semester of whether or not I'll do it again. For a while, I thought I wouldn't do it again for a few years, at least until I get my bearings. Though now as the semester is nearing its end and I feel like I have my bearings more than I did, I'm starting to think it's a really good assignment. Yes, I do have students who haven't been doing them and it's brought their grade down (that is very depressing, when they're working hard on the math and they just can't get it together enough to do a journal). That completely defeats the purpose of assigning it and frustrates me a lot. But some of the benefits of it have been pretty nice. I have gotten to know my students a lot better and I really do like the opportunity to find out what's going on with them. I find it fascinating more often than not and it gives me a good pulse on how students are feeling. They tend to be pretty honest overall, so I get a good sense of how they feel towards me. Also, I can find out if something is wrong and maybe help deal with that, or make allowances for it by going easy on them in some other way. It also give me an opportunity to explain what's going on or why I'm doing something they ask about. I have a lot more transparency. Transparency is always a good thing when teaching. I don't want to be some mysterious figure doing mysterious things. I want them to see that assigning homework, for instance, is something that will help them learn the material because one day, they won't have a teacher hounding them to make them do the homework. They'll have to get off their butts themselves because no one will make them. Now I don't think most of my students realize that what I'm doing is forcing them to be good students/learners, but I think transparency makes it a little easier for them to realize this. Some of the intricacies of learning are probably a little hard for them to recognize right now, but I like to think that I'm at least keeping the door open for that.

Mostly, I've found that teaching the class goes a lot better with the students on my side, when I'm comfortable with them. When I'm relaxed and when I joke around with them a bit, I feel better and have more fun and I think it goes a little smoother for them also. And it's hard to feel relaxed around a bunch of strangers. Getting to know your students is a really important part of teaching, at least it is for me. So I think I will continue with the journals. They probably end up being worth the effort.