When I went in to talk to one of my instructors the other day, I realized something.
Even though I’m not thrilled with how big the class is and neither is the instructor, she’s made the effort to learn a couple names in an almost 100-student lecture class, along with student habits. Who shows up, who takes notes, who interacts with her during class.
Am I impressed?
Yes, I am. I’ve been in smaller classes before, where the instructor can remember a face but not a name. I understand the challenge of putting names to faces, but I give props to the instructors who can pull it off.
To a student [me, at least], it means a lot, along with the interest shown in our test scores and just the overall caring aspects from an instructor teaching upwards of 100 students.
Do I expect an instructor with such a big class to achieve this? Not really. At one job, I work with a magnitude of people, but I haven’t learned most of their names, nor do I expect them to know mine.
But this instructor, who is probably my favorite this semester so far, has grabbed my attention with something as simple as remembering who I am and what I do.
The first day of that class, and realizing how big the lecture hall was, sunk in. I figured she wouldn’t even attempt to remember names, but as the semester’s gone on, she has. That’s better than the class I have after that one— I don’t think that instructor has even attempted to learn our names, and this is your standard class size of around 30 students.
Going into this year, I was indecisive when it came to how the University’s staff-cutting went, thinking that it really hadn’t affected me. But if this one class was meant to be smaller, I can see how it should have affected me, but with the efforts being made by my instructor, it doesn’t feel like I’m one of 100 students and I have to prompt the instructor on my name or who I am when I meet with her.
Even if you have one of those huge lecture classes and sit reasonably close, remember that your instructor can be watching you, taking in what you do. Don’t be afraid to see how much your professor has caught on about you— it might be surprising
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