Unprepared Student
What do you do with an unprepared student?
It is really frustrating when I have to force my students to read. I put in so much time into class; reading, outlining and create work for class. It seems like they just want you to do the work for them. I try to give pop quizzes every other week to keep them on their toes. If they think that there is a chance that they will have a quiz, they will at least attempt to read.
Hi Charlotte,
Sometimes students have to learn the hard way. Once they fail an assignment from not reading, they begin to buckle themselves down by reading.
Patricia Scales
When I start a new class, the outline is simple, Read the chapter before taking the end of chapter quiz and also working on any lab work that is assigned. I have had many students, who said they read the chapter and you find out the students did not read it, or they would have known how to do the work. They more then likely embarass themselves by saying they know what they are doing, and still end up needing my help with the lab work. The student ends up failing the lab work (which is computerized and graded), thus the realized they were unprepared for the class or assignment.
Hi Jerome,
Unprepared students need to know that being unprepared in the real world is not going to work.
Patricia Scales
I like those suggestions. Thanks
Hi Jerome,
I understand! It is amazing that even college students will not read the chapter a head of time or at all for that matter. I have known instructors to give homework assignments, such as outlining the chapter, answering questions, etc. to force chapter reading. It is a shame that you have to force college students to read. Students simply do not want to read. This is unreal!
Patricia Scales
Along these lines, how do you get the students to read the material ahead of time?
I assign reading the next lesson before it's taught. Before the next class, I would ask who read the chapter. Nobody...
In my experience, struggling through the concepts first helped me understand the material. Any questions would usually be answered by my instructor's lecture. If not, I had better questions to ask.
I explained this to my class, they seemed to agree with me, but still nobody pre-read the material.
