Resuscitating a dead class

[JFlanders]

I have a class that is increasingly x_x  dead.  It's a gen ed humanities class with tough reading for which ~70% of the students are unprepared, so definitely a challenge to teach.  However, they're a good-natured group, there are sexy elements to the subject material, and I initially thought we might be able to generate some esprit-de-corps.   

I may have dropped the ball somewhat-- there was a stretch where the demands of other classes meant I fell back on a certain amount of traditional chalk-and-talk + Socratic Q&A in this class rather than constant films/ games/ stunts/ individual attention/ pyrotechnics to keep everyone engaged.  Regardless, we're now stuck in a pattern where only a handful of stellar students talk, the bottom 30% will barely complete in-class exercises, and nobody seems particularly prepared or interested (although at least nobody's hostile). 

I'd really like to restore some energy to the classroom, but nothing I've tried (including: reading material aloud before discussing; various activities involving drawing, storytelling, etc.; doubling down on the friendly/enthusiastic persona; drawing pop culture into class discussions) has much effect.  Has anyone successfully resuscitated a class like this midsemester? 

[Caracal]

I have a class that is increasingly x_x  dead.  It's a gen ed humanities class with tough reading for which ~70% of the students are unprepared, so definitely a challenge to teach.  However, they're a good-natured group, there are sexy elements to the subject material, and I initially thought we might be able to generate some esprit-de-corps.   

I may have dropped the ball somewhat-- there was a stretch where the demands of other classes meant I fell back on a certain amount of traditional chalk-and-talk + Socratic Q&A in this class rather than constant films/ games/ stunts/ individual attention/ pyrotechnics to keep everyone engaged.  Regardless, we're now stuck in a pattern where only a handful of stellar students talk, the bottom 30% will barely complete in-class exercises, and nobody seems particularly prepared or interested (although at least nobody's hostile). 

I'd really like to restore some energy to the classroom, but nothing I've tried (including: reading material aloud before discussing; various activities involving drawing, storytelling, etc.; doubling down on the friendly/enthusiastic persona; drawing pop culture into class discussions) has much effect.  Has anyone successfully resuscitated a class like this midsemester?

No, but I think it is still worth doing the stuff you are doing. Students notice when you give up and classes can always get worse.

[sprout]

A mid-semester survey?  Offer a couple of extra credits and ask a few targeted questions - like, what's working for you, what's not working for you, what would get you to participate in class, etc.?

[Hegemony]

I feel your pain and am watching this thread with interest.  I agree a mid-semester survey might help reveal more — hope it's useful.

[downer]

It might not be much to do with you, OP. It might just be the class.

It's worth prodding, poking, joking, threatening, dancing, or whatever to see if you can raise the energy levels. Do something to interrupt the existing pattern. Once you are in the Thanksgiving week, you can be pretty sure that it is all over anyway for the semester -- they won't be interested in anything.

[Parasaurolophus]

I feel your pain and am watching this thread with interest.

Chime. I'm sort of hoping the upcoming topics will be of greater interest to them, but I sort of doubt it. I think I probably just need to re-think the course's mechanics.

[HigherEd7]

To get students to take notes and read I do the following:

1. Weekly unannounced quizzes and I give them the chance to use their notes taken on 3x5 note card.
2. They have an exit ticket after every class. For example, after one class I might have them write fives things they understood on a 3x5 note card.
3. On one day I might ask them to write one thing they did not understand and I will answer these questions the next class period.

I have noticed students reading in the halls before class and in the classroom before the class starts. Thoughts?

[Aster]

I have noticed students reading in the halls before class and in the classroom before the class starts. Thoughts?

In a world where the average young person spends 5-8 per hours per day wired into their smartphone, it is a minor miracle to see them outside of class doing anything else.

Kudos to you.

[Hegemony]

I think that in many cases not only are they not particularly motivated to read assiduously and diligently, but they don't even know how.  I had one of my best students remark to me the other day: "You know, I figured out a trick to doing the reading!  I started by putting my phone across the room, but it kept dinging so then I had to look at it.  But then I thought of turning it off.  I turned it off for 25 whole minutes!  It was unbelievable how much reading I got done in that time! I'm going to try it again some day!"

And I thought: if this only just occurs to one of the best students, and he's going to do it again "some day," what is the situation of the others?

Similarly, when I wanted students to memorize a paradigm the other day, one of the students came to me in despair because she wasn't having much success.  I suggested that she should try repeating it over and over to herself (it consists of 8 items), checking it, then repeating it to herself again, etc.  The scales fell from her eyes.  She was excited and said she would try that!  Apparently memorizing is not a skill that they are all familiar with.

[Parasaurolophus]

Similarly, when I wanted students to memorize a paradigm the other day, one of the students came to me in despair because she wasn't having much success.  I suggested that she should try repeating it over and over to herself (it consists of 8 items), checking it, then repeating it to herself again, etc.  The scales fell from her eyes.  She was excited and said she would try that!  Apparently memorizing is not a skill that they are all familiar with.

Oh my. Imagine her delight when she discovers mnemonics!


For my part, I junked my discussion-management technique (which works very well in other classes, so I've kept it there) and just went straight to cold-calling. That, plus the shift in content, seems to have reinvigorated them for the last couple of classes. We'll see if it holds.

In the meantime, I have to pick up the pieces in the class for which I'm covering, and man, are things in that class disorganized. How on earth do people manage?

[polly_mer]

In the meantime, I have to pick up the pieces in the class for which I'm covering, and man, are things in that class disorganized. How on earth do people manage?

They don't and then they leave school with the surety that academics are just fooling around while the rest of us are getting things done.