Yesterday I had that class again, the one with that was primarily exchange students studying primarily Czech subcultures (primarily, not solely). The one with the rudest bunch of students I have ever experienced in a college atmosphere. The class hasn't been helped by the acoustics of the room - along the outer edges you experience the phenomenon where if you whisper the sound reverberates throughout the room, yet if you're in the middle it's almost like your voice gets stuck in an alcove and diminished.
The students talk constantly and clack away on their keyboards and phones when they're mouths aren't moving- sometimes even when they're mouths are moving - blatantly ignoring the lecture, fellow classmates' presentations, the movie, or whatever else may be going on. The course has been ridiculous in that no-one can hear what's going on, and unfortunate in that the instructor is knowledgeable, passionate and interesting and unable to transfer any of that to her students. I've walked out of the room when it gets to be too much.
Her anger and frustration have translated in to increased assignments, more demanding papers, shortened classes, and a loss of interest in our specific course (I really hope it hasn't affected her passion for teaching others).
Sometimes the reprecussions of her frustration made me even more frustrated. She'd be desperate to get a discussion going and so would start to ask a question but make it to expansive yet incredibly specific with information juxtaposed against an interrogatory that I couldn't reconcile - no-one understood how what she was asking corresponded to the information at hand and so no-one would answer. And she'd get even more frustrated.
Last week she finally told the students to shut their computers. (I may seem very anti-technology these last few posts, I'm not, keep reading). If they had been using them for anything relating to class it wouldn't have been a problem, but they weren't and it was obvious. Facebook, YouTube, movies, DVDs, music and headphones, IMing, papers for other classes.... typing during video clips, during a time for reflection, outbursts of laughter... that sort of thing.
This week she asked a student to not eat her lunch - the person she targeted and the way she did it I thought weren't too fair as the girl wasn't one of the rude students and every day people were eating... but the constant crinkle of the plastic wrap is distracting and has been for months. Then she asked everyone to shut their computers. And she started on time rather than wait for stragglers.
Two girls, chatty kathies, came in late - took their seats and started talking during the class's final presentations. Non-stop. Finally the instructor stopped after a presentation and gave a basic manners lesson.
She had to tell a bunch of 20 somethings that you greet people when you walk in a room and you say goodbye when you leave. Basic manners. She also had to say - you don't talk during class or over other people.
Then she apologized for being so intimidating and told the girls they could either move away from each other or they could leave.
She was FAR from intimidating and her comments were LONG overdue. It's unfortunate she waited until the final class meeting to express her feelings, but at the same time, I'm glad she finally did. She really needed to.
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