From what I heard Jerz did this last week too. Right at 7:30, everyone looked at the clock, a few people said "break" in an audible voice since it's always so quiet, and Jerz continued the class. Thanks, it's gonna take a day for my rear-end to recover.
I made a few footnotes and addendums in my portfolio to my previous blog entry, for the matter of interest, here's what I put:
-Added a footnot after the word "disorganized" that read: "constant pauses finding what you want to talk about tonight, you should know what you're doing beforehand"
Added a proper addendum at the end of the blog entry:
"It reflects bad on you when:
-The students use a lo less "Ums" and pauses when talking/presenting
-one of your internet sources has a typo
Call me a jerk for criticizing, but how do you expect a student to discuss when you expect them to carry the whole class for you? Your motivation is just asking, 'Well what do you think?' which does nothing but break a silence that comes back immediately afterwards. You offer little to no help to your students and leave them high and dry. When someone is not on the same page, you expect them to just be on the right track. And there were certainly most, as in one or two or three excluded I'm assuming, that either talked about what I said [regarding my previous entry] or told me personally they agreed. Students have even dropped out of your class over your methods of teaching."
And these are some things I noticed that I didn't have the room nor desire to write:
-When the first presentation was going on, Jerz was playing with his PDA, and made himself look like a bigger jerk than I when he was finished and we had to wait for him to be done toying with things, or maybe the silence tipped him off. That's VERY rude. That's just as bad as Dr. Alexander sleeping with a constipated face when we did presentations for him. How is a student going to get motivated when the teacher can't even look at his students?
And the comment about how the blogs helps the students with thier papers I found humorous at best. The only thing the students can do is help themselves, because Jerz wants the students to motivate each other. How can we motivate each other when you have a teacher that isn't motivated enough to remember what hes talking about and spends more time asking the students to teach themselves?
I'm sorry if I'm in a very ranty mood. I'm sorry if I am lax and unmotivated to do the work, but I don't have faith in someone who is going to run a Deism-style class, i.e. make the syllabus and expect everything to fit together the way you want.
I'm sure the few, few critics of my harsh evaluation of class will say that the students need to band together. Well as Stormy said in the last entry, we have lives. We have things to do. People like me who commute don't have the time to lounge around and hunt down various students.
Take a look at how many little comments everyone has in thier blogs. Take a look at how many people don't update or do half-hearted updates.
I said it before, I'll say it again: For a literature class, we've done more about the internet and new media. And if I may rant about the typo in the Pound poem tonight... A TYPO. A FLIGGING TYPO. Doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Especially after the class finds out it's a typo during the middle of class. Something like that... the laziness of using common poetry they teach in Intro to Lit just because you can find it on Google really makes me angry and not wanting to do the work out of spite. Why should I try when the teacher doesn't?
Jerz, you are a fine person, and a fellow comrade nerd-at-arms. Just have subjects to talk about, don't sit there like a bump on a log and give your job to the class.
Posted by at March 3, 2005 09:12 PM | TrackBackOkay, there's a right way to say things and there's a wrong way...and I have to say, this post is leaning towards the rude. I'll admit, the course load has been overwhelming, to the point of me having to work on the rest of my classes in snatches of time. I'll also admit that among my peers, and with you, I've also gone off on rants when the pressure got too much to handle, mainly because I don't agree with some of Dr. Jerz's methods.
However, to publicly call anyone names is humiliating, Tim. Granted that we've been given a medium to communicate here. But being able to say whatever you can doesn't mean that you should. Some communication is meant to be discreet - this is why teachers have offices and office hours.
Posted by: Neha at March 5, 2005 08:44 PMThanks, Neha.
I like communication, and I don't mind criticism. But nobody enjoys being attacked in public.
Neha, if you'd like to share your concerns with me via e-mail or after the break during office hours, I'd welcome them.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at March 6, 2005 12:04 AMIt's called having "respect" Tim. While I've never had Dr. Jerz for a class, I do know him and have a tremendous amount of respect for him and the things he is trying to do. All of the professors at this campus, and all schools, deserve the respect of their students. Just because you disagree with how the class is being run, doesn't mean you need to call names. This isn't high school, and each teacher has his own style and methods. If you don't like it, then go the way of some of your peers and drop the class.
Posted by: Mike at March 6, 2005 01:49 AMTim...Tim...Are you just looking for comments? There are nicer ways to boost your comment count without playing "Jaws" with your professor's dignity.
True, you don't get to speak chaucerian Middle English in Jerz's class, but you get to hear Jerz; a middle aged English professor. And aren't they the same when you take away everything but the "Middle English"?