Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Just Let me Help You!

Tale 67 really struck a cord with me. My last university had a pretty low retention rate for undergads. We had a lot of commuter, nontraditional, and part-time students. The majority of the students were working at least one job, though I would estimate that a large majority were working at least two, and many of them had a family they were taking care of as well. I worked with students that were consistently late to class because they had to drive across town from work, students that had to miss classes because their child was sick, students whose jobs scheduled mandatory training the same time as our class, and even a couple of students who had lost their homes in the middle of the semester. There are so many obstacles that students have to deal with that its no wonder some of them decide that its not worth the effort and drop out. It's disheartening sometimes when we're not able to help students, especially when they've put in all the work, but I've come to understand that most of the time we can really only help them with what's going on in our course. Get all the points! - Help All of the students

1 comment:

  1. I have a similar experience, as many of the students at my previous institution were also commuter, non-traditional, and part-time. As far as managing a classroom with those kinds of students, it's difficult because of how much of their lives are filled with families, jobs, and other obligations--things apart from the classroom. On the other hand, those students bring richness, diversity, and experiences to the classroom that a teacher may not get with traditional students. I met the nontraditional/commuter/part-time classroom with both excitement and apprehension; I knew the classroom would be a great learning space when students were there, but I also knew those students' lives also followed them into the classroom (and sometimes take them out of the classroom).

    I agree with you that sometimes all we can do is help them within the context of the classroom.

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