Lab Salsa and Gender Feedback
We have many different theme weeks at RCN and this week was no exception, in fact we had 2 themes. Gender week and feedback week. Important not to get them confused. I made sure that I told my students that the feedback was not about gender however I did notice that there are a lot of girls doing physics, but then there are a lot of girls at the school. The photo speaks for itself.
It's always interesting to get feedback but a bit scary too. I run the physics course as an entirely student centred class. Students work through a set of carefully prepared activities (on this website) which guide them through the course combining observation, theory, experiment, simulation and problem solving in a logical progression. I am there to get out apparatus answer questions and mark tests. Students get so absorbed in their work that they often forget I am there. In the beginning I would walk around and try to engage the students in some sort of conversation but having your teacher leaning over your shoulder doesn't lend itself to good communication. I had to learn that the guide on the side has to be on the side.
I have also learnt that probably the most important thing is the class atmosphere. The start of the year is always a bit difficult, new students with a new teacher. Why doesn’t he teach us? It takes some time for them to realise that I am. Standing at the front it’s easy to show that you know your subject and are excited by it, not so easy when you are sitting on the side. It takes time and can’t be rushed.
A cross word to a late student used to have no effect on my one-man performance, a couple of humorous stories and a funny face would get things back on track. Not so easy anymore. It can take weeks to recover from the impossible to hide irritation when a student isn’t doing what I want them to. Relax, let it go. Atmosphere is more important than structure. Happy students learn stuff. Not too happy mind, I draw the line at salsa in the lab.
Small classes are important. I opted to teach more classes so they would be small. Not small enough it seems. The rapid dropout rate was mildly depressing but as optimum size was approached the decay slowed. 6 is a little too small 12 is a bit big 8 is just right. Students do not have to work together to make a good team but they must allow each other to both make mistakes and excel without hindrance. Not very well put but the best I can do. One person can ruin a class, and sometimes that was me.
After 6 months we are getting there. As one student said in her feedback.
“Well it’s much better now I’ve got to know you. You know what I mean?”
I think I do.