So I went in to my class thinking about my experience in my own classes. I wanted to ensure that my students didn't feel as panicked and lost as I had the night before. The trouble is the amount of material that has to be covered versus the amount of time given.
Even as I say that, I struggle with that teacher part of me that screams that I am teaching students and not material. In teaching public school the balance between ensuring that the required topics are covered and ensuring that enough time has been allowed to develop an understanding can sometimes be tenuous. And my guess is that it will be even more difficult to find this balance at the college level.
In middle school, I got to do a lot of hand holding to get my students to their proper destination. I think that there is a shift at high school away from the hand holding in an effort to prepare them for college. So it would follow that I am to be hands off with my current students to some degree.
The problem for me is that I'm guessing that hands off is what caused them to end up in this class with me. So my instinct is to grab their hands and walk them through the maze. But would so doing cause them to be unprepared for what comes next? On the other hand, if I focus on the material more than the students, aren't they still in danger of not being ready for what comes next?
It feels like I will have a lot to struggle with this semester.
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