119
votes
Accepted
Student sleeps in the class during the lecture
I feel very disrespected
Don't be. It sounds like when you wake him up, he tries to remain awake and pretend like nothing happened. So, I don't think he is intentionally falling asleep as a signal of ...
- 73.4k
72
votes
Accepted
Student is almost always late, and expects me to re-explain everything he missed
I know it’s not easy, but the key is to tell them this:
No.
Give or take some pleasantries as per local culture. You can add some details, such as stating that you need a break now too, or that you ...
- 3,973
36
votes
Student sleeps in the class during the lecture
I feel very disrespected
I will give you two perspectives to maybe change your mind
The Course I was Waiting For The Whole Year
When I was in my 4th year of physics, a lecturer was about to give THE ...
- 9,674
27
votes
Accepted
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I very much prefer option (1) as a general blackboard cleaning policy, mainly for the reasons mentioned in the questions, but there are some other points:
Efficiency: Where I am, cleaning staff ...
- 39.3k
24
votes
Student sleeps in the class during the lecture
Depending on their financial situation, many students have to work besides taking classes, which might be resulting in them not gettin enough sleep. Other issues can make their life stressfull as well....
- 22.6k
24
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
Please clean up your own mess
You could just as easily broaden your enquiry to cleaning up any resource that is used by multiple people in a communal fashion. Should I put my rubbish in the bin, or ...
- 73k
23
votes
What are the ethical considerations regarding mandatory class participation?
I think it's reasonable to treat being able to participate verbally in a classroom environment as a learnable skill, and therefore the learning goals of a course that's part of a broad foundational ...
- 135k
22
votes
Student is almost always late, and expects me to re-explain everything he missed
You need to have some kind of catch-up mechanism in place, as even the most diligent student might miss a lecture due to circumstances beyond their control. At my university, we record lectures. But ...
- 48.7k
18
votes
Did my decision to decline a full time lecturer position look bad at all?
A lot of people decline a lot of positions for a lot of reasons. I don't know of such things as "blacklists" in the US, though people in a given field know one another to some extent and may ...
- 399k
15
votes
Student sleeps in the class during the lecture
Alternative Perspective:
As an undergraduate engineering student, I found that I didn't learn in the same way as other students. Somehow, I was(am) wired differently. (Neurodivergent?) That is, I didn'...
- 2,350
14
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I admit that I am firmly in camp (2) --always erase at the end and leave a clean board for the next class. But I also recognize that I'm sure some of that is just "the way we've always done it.&...
- 241
10
votes
Student sleeps in the class during the lecture
Many mentioned that: Maybe they work night shifts to fund their studies?
As long as they are not antagonistic, it's their responsibility to decide how to use their time. They pay the fees, if they do ...
- 52.8k
7
votes
What are the ethical considerations regarding mandatory class participation?
What are the ethical considerations regarding mandatory class participation?
There are no ethical considerations specifically with requiring students to speak in class, when such requirements are ...
- 202k
6
votes
Student is almost always late, and expects me to re-explain everything he missed
By accepting to reexplain during the break time, you are doing to the student and yourself a disservice. For the student, because he will get used to come late and that it has no consequence, and to ...
- 1,137
6
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I think @Lars Seme's answer captures my sentiments already pretty well, except that I would add the following argument:
Let's just all be good humans and do something nice for the person who comes ...
- 105k
6
votes
Accepted
What can a final year PhD student do to prepare for teaching mathematics at a university level, despite complications due to mental health?
You are likely to really struggle with a lecturer role. As others have said, reliably delivering lectures is a core requirement of the role. Unfortunately, as you say, research and lecturing are ...
- 1,889
4
votes
What are the ethical considerations regarding mandatory class participation?
I think students have a right not to be embarrassed in front of their peers. For some, say the neurodivergent, it may go (far) beyond that. Even in the more typical case, not every student is ...
- 399k
3
votes
Student sleeps in the class during the lecture
I agree that it is annoying and can cause you to lose your line of thought. It has happened to me a few times before, and you cannot "internally, in your mind" ignore it!
My usual approach, ...
- 71
3
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
I've been erasing before-and-after for decades, and counting on allowing time for it. Once-upon-a-time I tried to argue with people about whether they should erase (or not) at the end of their classes ...
- 91.2k
2
votes
Comparing two conventions: erase when you finish teaching, or erase when you begin
What is the culture of your institution?
This is, in my experience, very much a matter of institutional culture. In the mathematics department where I earned my BA and MS, the culture was very much ...
- 7,062
1
vote
Student is almost always late, and expects me to re-explain everything he missed
If a student does not understand something in your lecture, it is absolutely a Good Thing that they try to make up for this. Whether this lack of understanding is due to them arriving late or not is ...
- 38.3k
1
vote
What are the ethical considerations regarding mandatory class participation?
I think any situation in which you are making people do something they do not want to do has ethical considerations, and in this case there is also a clear differential in the impact on different ...
- 12.1k
1
vote
Student sleeps in the class during the lecture
Many people have said he is likely not doing it on purpose, but it is also worth mentioning how you can help. Some of the best professors I've ever had took time to mention that they understood we had ...
- 49
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible