By CandidProf, who teaches physics and astronomy at a state university. He shares his thoughts and experiences teaching today’s students anonymously every Thursday—anonymously because that’s the only way he can be truly candid. Read all of CandidProf here.
Some students are just “needy.”  They want you to spoon feed them.  They don’t want to study and learn on their own. They would rather call you or email a question than to look it up on the textbook’s index.  They won’t go to the library to do research for a paper.  Instead, they’ll just do an internet search.  But they won’t do …read more

By CandidProf, who teaches physics and astronomy at a state university. He shares his thoughts and experiences teaching today’s students anonymously every Thursday—anonymously because that’s the only way he can be truly candid. Read all of CandidProf here.
On my last post, I wrote about a student who was taking quite a bit of a colleague’s time.  Today, I wanted to write more about that topic.
[Thus starts a multi-part discussion of what today's teachers face and the choices that they make. Miki]
Some students simply require more instructional time than others.
Sometimes they have gaps in their background that you need to fill …read more

Time—the most precious commodity.
Time—that heals all wounds and wounds all heels.
Time—which I’ve never understood.
There must be a million quotes about time, but since my attitude towards it is rather irreverent here are four that really resonate with me.
Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities. –Daniel J. Boorstin (If only time would hurry up and do it in my lifetime!)
An alarm clock is a device that makes you rise and whine. –Anon (Especially if you’re a night person.)
Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. –Will Rogers (Save …read more

One of my colleagues was talking to me a few days ago about a student who has already contacted her before the start of the fall semester.
Normally, this is a good thing.  I have a number of students who have already contacted me for the upcoming semester.
But I am still teaching summer classes, so I have not had time to prepare syllabi for the fall yet.
Instead, I direct these students to look at the syllabus on my web page for the previous semester.  I am using the same textbooks, so I’ll be covering the material in pretty much the same …read more