Since I started college, I've been more interested in learning, especially after I switched majors. Many of my professors were enthusiastic about their fields, and that made me enjoy class more. However, they can't all be great, and this semester was one of those not-so-great ones. Below are some of the things that frustrated me.
Don't be absent and fail to tell the class why.
Look, life happens. I understand that. Things happen that are out of our control, and there's nothing we can do to change that. Sometimes there just isn't time to inform your class why you won't make it. However, it's a completely different story when you fail to show up for class consecutive weeks in a row with absolutely no communication before or after and expect full attendance from students. Class should also not be cancelled if the TA is sick but you're in good health. The TA does not create the syllabus, or teach, or give assignments, or run the class. You do. Don't cancel because you don't have an assistant for one class. It's not an excuse. It's laziness.
If you noticed your class struggled immensely as a whole on an assignment, COMMUNICATE with them.
Your students cannot improve if they don't know what they did wrong or what material they really should have reviewed. You cannot adjust your methods to help future classes if you don't fully understand what went wrong. Sure, classes sometimes have low averages for tests and quizzes, but how often do entire classes fail, even with several students who spend hours studying material they were told they would be tested on? If you don't question why that happened, or ask your students why they couldn't do well, then you're doing something wrong. Don't place all the blame on them. Don't tell your class to study information you have no intention of using, and don't throw questions at them whose answers you decided not to share beforehand. Instead of just allowing them to retake a quiz they were thoroughly unprepared for, ask them what you can do to help, otherwise, you are still setting them up for failure.
Provide feedback on exams and assignments in a timely manner.
Again, I understand that life happens. I'm not saying you should grade papers and exams the same day and have grades up the next morning. But two months without mentioning grades for a short quiz, or three for essays, or no mention at all of other "required" assignments is unacceptable. As I mentioned above, your students cannot improve if they don't know what needs improving, and that means trying your hardest to communicate with them what they did well in assignments and what they can do to improve for future ones. Furthermore, you should be telling each and every student about fixes, not sending out e-mails to the class saying you will only be talking to those who had glaring mistakes.
Don't assume the class knows everything you do. They don't.
Obviously the goal of a class is for students to leave with more knowledge about a particular subject than they had going in. Of course they probably won't know everything you do. Your job is to help them reach that point, or get closer to it. Encourage questions and provide meaningful answers. That being said, when you throw around names, dates, and events, and your students need clarification, actually explain everything you said. Responding with more names, dates and events does nothing if your class can't connect it to the first thing they had questions about. While you may know a lot about a particular subject, your class doesn't, and you discourage learning when you "teach" on the assumption your class will automatically know what you're talking about.
If you decide to teach a particular topic, make sure it's relevant to the class.
Learning new information can be exciting and interesting. Learning new information that isn't relevant to the class, not so much. Sometimes it happens: you'll start discussing one topic, and your brain will take you somewhere else, but eventually you find your way back to the original point of the lecture. But your brain shouldn't take you somewhere that is not remotely relevant to the class, for an entire class. Why do your students need to sit in a lecture for a topic you decided to talk about because it happened to coincide with something outside the class that interests you, but does not move the class forward? They don't, nor should their dedicated class time be intruded upon by people who 1) aren't enrolled in the class, and 2) aren't students. It's not fair to them to have to sit through a lecture that doesn't pertain to them and should be held outside class time. They aren't paying thousands of dollars to listen to you talk about unecessary information.
Professors, or teachers in any level of schooling, your job is to make students feel like they are receiving what they signed up for. Keep in mind that those trivial things you think students exaggerate may be real problems you should pay attention to. They want to learn, so give them a positive learning experience.
