Out of Control Cornell Instructor

cobrat
Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:52:00 +0000

[We do have clinegirl who was in the class, did not hear the yawn, and does not report anything disruptive in the class except the prof. ]

IME, the person lecturing in front of a given class…even in a large setting has a much easier time picking up on student actions…especially wayward disrespectful ones such as yawning obnoxiously in class, conversations with neighboring students at whatever volume, texting, and more.

This is not only because he/she has sweeping visual command of the room, but also has the job of maintaining control and gauging student interest. This was something I would have never realized if I did not have a chance opportunity to substitute teach 2 one hour sections of an introductory history course at a community college for an adjunct friend. Each section averaged around 50-75 students and despite it being my first time…I was surprised at how many more things I noticed from the instructor’s vantage point as opposed to that of a student…especially in a medium to large sized lecture class. It is very possible the Cornell student here may not have heard the obnoxious yawn that may have occurred…especially in a large lecture hall like that.

[What’s a little gas? I’ve smelled a lot worse. ]

One high school teacher I had actually went ballistic once for the entire class period upon finding the room had a strong distinct stinkbomb odor. He kept ranting about how whoever among us set that stinkbomb off was “going to hang” and he will do so “personally.” The temper tantrum was, of course, way past the intensity of what this Cornell Prof did. If my high school teacher’s temper tantrum in that incident was a 10 out of 10, that Cornell Prof would be lucky to even rate .1/10