On average, how long are your office hours visits?

SLACFac
Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:05:08 +0000

I write this because I know that this is the point where a lot of freshmen are starting to be confronted by the reality of their struggles in the classroom.

The #1 way to start addressing any and all classroom problems is to GO TALK TO THE PROFESSORS IN THE CLASSES WHERE YOU ARE STRUGGLING. I know that it might be embarrassing, I know that it might be scary, I know that your professors may have made it clear that they have priorities other than undergraduates, but you have to suck it up and go. In twenty minutes I can correct understandings and suggest study tactics that it would take most students an entire semester to generate, even if they did seek out other peers and general tutoring resources. I’ve been teaching my subject long enough that I understand the common errors that students make, why they make them, and how to best fix them. No one else on campus has that knowledge, and I’ve found that students who stubbornly try to fix their issues by seeking out extra help without keeping me in the loop do not usually see significant improvements (unless they just had bad basic studying/reading skills) because without me to explain precisely what a student is doing wrong, tutors can only be of limited help.

Even if you’re not struggling, go to office hours. [WARNING: Humanities perspective now in effect. What follows may not apply exactly to all types of disciplines. Those in lab disciplines may need to substitute “lab” for “office”–I don’t know] My best letters are always the ones that I write for students who regularly visit my office. I simply have a superior and more nuanced understanding of their intellect, the trajectory of the development of their ideas, and their sense of curiosity and creativity. If you are interested in research opportunities, those are the types of letters that you will need.