I have to brag – the students in my classes this fall at Drake University have taken responsibility of their education in a way that I’ve not seen for quite some time.
It started over the summer when I got e-mails from some of them asking not only for textbook information but also responding to my early messages to them about what they could do to prepare for the first days of class. They were asking how much of the assigned problems they could do before Day 1.
It was truly amazing to have a majority of students ready to hand in homework during the first week. I wasn’t prepared to collect papers that soon so I even had to “make them wait” to hand in the first assignment until Week 2.
Responsibility is one of the lessons I try to instill in my students. Thanks to the diligent and thorough work by Wanda Everage, Vice Provost of Student Affairs and Academic Excellence, and her crew of student orientation counselors, the students in my classes entered their first day knowing that Drake has high expectations for them. At least in this case, they have accepted the challenge!
I’m proud of them. They have started their academic careers off on the right foot and I’m looking forward to being a part of their continued academic growth! Of course, time will tell how the pressure and stress of the first semester fares with them, but I’m optimistic they will continue to rise to the challenge.
Students will rise to meet our expectations - let’s not cheat them by setting the bar too low!
Image from Drury University
Tags: Students, Mathematics, Math Education
This is why we went into teaching! Can you give my blog readers some suggestions on how these expectations were set?
Posted by: Delaney J. Kirk | September 12, 2006 at 09:27 PM