Again!

Okay, I really have to stop responding to the limp noodle hand-raise.

Twice last week, I called on students who weren't raising their hands because I can't freaking tell. One of the student's hands really looked like it was raised and that one was particularly annoying. Since she stayed in that position after I called on her and she told me she didn't have her hand up, I asked the class to turn around and tell me if it looked like her hand up. Nothing better than getting the students to gang up on one of their own.

What's the deal...

...with the trend for students to "raise" their hands by leaning their elbow on their desk and putting their hand in the air? Sometimes, they barely raise their hands off the desk. I can't tell you how many times I ask students if they're raising their hands when they're not because I can't tell the difference anymore between a student who's raising his/her hand and a student who is playing with his/her hair or pencil or the air.

I blame me, though. If I stop responding to students who raise their hands this way, they'll learn that they need to stick that puppy straight up to be recognized.

They think if they ask, they'll receive.

My students' exam is scheduled for 3:15 this afternoon. At around 11:00 this morning, a student came to my office and asked if she could take her exam at a later date. She wasn't sick. Her grandmother hadn't died last night or this morning. Nothing. She just wanted extra time to study. Needless to say, I denied that request.

And, of course, she asked me the chapters that the exam--in 4 hours--was going to be covering. I do not see this going well for her.

A classic.

This is a question that every professor gets multiple times each semester but it never fails to piss me off and amuse me at the same time.

An e-mail from a student on Wednesday said, "I need to leave for home on Thursday morning if possible, and I would miss class that afternoon. I wanted to make sure I would not miss anything too important during class. I have arranged to get the notes I will miss from a student already. However, if I am going to miss anything major in class, I will have to stay. "

Now, this is phrased slightly more nicely than the typical, but all professors love the "Am I going to miss anything important" question. No, we do nothing important in class ever. You should be fine. Take off the rest of the semester.

Brilliant!

When discussing the number and naming of God(s) in various religions in The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins (2006. pp. 56-57) writes, "More sophisticated theologians proclaim the sexlessness of God, while some feminist theologians seek to redress hisotric injustices by designating her female. But what, after all, is the difference between a non-existent female and a non-existent male?"

Amen and hallelujah!

And he beautifully combines feminism and atheism, two of my loves.

Who's surprised? Part II.

As predicted before the semester started, one of the lazy students who had e-mailed me two months ago, came to today's exam 50 minutes late. (It's a one-hour exam.) I told him that he would have to reschedule to take the exam at another time. After doing so, he asked, "What chapters does the exam cover?"

Useful, considering he thought he was taking the exam today.

This student is going to annoy me all semester

In my general psychology class today, I was teaching about the sensory systems. At the end of the section, I talk briefly about ESP and basically crush all of their delusions telling them that there is no empirical evidence supporting extrasensory perception. The students asked a few of the typical questions like, "What about twins? Do they have any ESP?" Okay, fine. I understand those types of questions.

But then a student asked, "What about epilepsy?"

Me: "What about epilepsy?"

Student: "I don't know. Just epilepsy."

Me: "You mean is epilepsy related to ESP?"

Student: "Yes."

Me: "No."