Friday, August 24, 2007

Do a little prep work first.

Today I was leaving my building on my way to a meeting, and a student stopped me and said, "Excuse me, where are the stairs? I need to get downstairs to 100-something."

I said, ". . . there's no basement in this building, so you're already as far downstairs as you can go! What room are you looking for again?"

She: "101. Or 124. Or . . . I don't know."
Me: "Um. Is it for a class? Which one?"
She: "I don't remember."
Me: "Do you remember the subject?"
She: "No."
Me: "Good luck."

Honestly . . . knowing neither the room number nor the course number and not even what the general gist of the class you're looking for? Why?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I've met that student at my college!

A while back, I was at the library picking up an ILL item, and this student walks up to the librarian and says, "My professor told me to pick up something here."

The librarian was very patient, and she asked, "Was it an item on reserve?" The student goes, "I don't know. I was just supposed to pick it up here." So, the librarian asks, "What is your professor's name?" It is about a month into the semester. The student goes, "I don't know." So, she asks, "What subject is it?" "Biology, I think," the student replies. She starts to name off a few names, and after two women in a row, the students goes, "No, it is a guy." The librarian finally asks, "What biology course is it?" The student doesn't know. However, he suddenly remembers that he has the textbook for the class with him. He pulls it out. It is historical geology.

Irie said...

Sounds like the middle school students that I teach. At least they have an excuse- they're 13.

Ms.PhD said...

She wasn't looking for a class, she was looking for a boy.

Just a guess.

astroprof- that's frightening. I hope that was an outlier and not an example of an average student at your college!

Anonymous said...

I was telling this story to a colleague, and he said, "Hey. We had two students not show up for ___ 101, and that meets in Room 124 ____ Hall (a different building that my department also uses for some of our bigger classes).

So, maybe I was a little hard on her, kind of. But just a little.

Unbalanced Reaction said...

My first year as a TA, a student came into my office and thrust some homework at me. From a different class. From a different, department actually.

Me: I don't teach this class.
Student: Yes you do. You are my TA.
Me: No, I'm pretty sure I am not your TA.
Student: Yes! You are my TA!

It eventually came out that the student had me confused with my coworker---who is 8 inches shorter and 20 lbs lighter. The sad thing is, coworker was TAing a class of 25 people, so it wasn't like she didn't have lots of contact with her students. Sheesh.