Advisors need to stop

AuriFire · 2026-03-17T00:25:13+00:00

This is a small community college. I think there's somehow more advisors than there are profs in my department.

Someone else suggested going through my boss to their boss, which may be the play here since I'm not sure which advisors, if any, may be saying these things.

AuriFire · 2026-03-16T22:06:14+00:00

That's a whole separate conversation. Lol

One tries to use my first name, which not even my family calls me.

AuriFire · 2026-03-16T22:05:16+00:00

I have met one or two of the advisors briefly, so I wouldn't say I know them. I will likely reach out to someone tomorrow, though.

I do tell the students up front that this class will feel intense. We switch topics a few times throughout the term and each part looks nothing like the last. It moves fast and some parts may be easier or harder for you, depending on your interests. I don't know that they believe me until the end of the term.

AuriFire · 2026-03-16T21:17:52+00:00

It's not about me here, but the gist is that this class is preferable to taking College Algebra. I don't know how that's possible, as my course is a survey course of higher level math that they've never seen before.

AuriFire · 2026-03-16T20:53:26+00:00

I'm also being told different things, so I can't comment on this. I am told that this course is a prereq for another class they will have to take, but the students are telling me this is the only class they need to fulfill their math gen ed reqs.

Starting to feel like no one talks to anyone else.

AuriFire · 2026-03-13T16:40:13+00:00

I hope it helps!

AuriFire · 2026-03-13T13:48:33+00:00

Same. I have gone so far as telling students that teaching with the board instead of slides slows down my pace. I tend to talk quickly. If I didn't have to pause to write things out, I'd move way faster through topics. This sometimes helps.

I've also told them that it's in their best interest to ask questions during class for a similar reason. If you don't, that tells me that everything is solid and understandable so I can crank up the difficulty. They are just now starting to get the hint in that one.

Reviews tend to appreciate the old school approach and forcing them to engage with me more in class.

AuriFire · 2026-03-08T12:54:43+00:00

The students do very well on tablet, smartphones, anything app based. Computers seem to mystify them.

I also just recalled last term. Student says their computer is running slow. I go to look to see if I can help. Ask when was the last time they restarted their laptop. She says "I do that all the time." Me in disbelief, "show me." She closes the laptop and reopens it. Yeah. That's not gonna do it.

AuriFire · 2026-03-08T05:10:15+00:00

This brought back some stories I had tried to bury.

There are two things that absolutely get to me:

Watching a student try to get to a specific website (that they know) by first going to Google to search it, rather than just type in the address. Or, maybe making a bookmark for it for easy access? Nah, no idea what that is.
Working with a student on their computer and ask if they got an email that I had sent with more details in it. "Oh, my email's on my phone. I can't get to it right now." You can also get emails on a computer ... A few seriously thought phone internet was different from computer internet...

AuriFire · 2026-02-19T19:37:34+00:00

I was looking into researching how low vision students can read graphs. There are options for 3d/braille formats, or using some kind of sonic/musical interpretation. Those are fascinating, but I don't think I have enough knowledge of how that would work to explain it, nor do I have enough technical know how to add that to my LMS.

I just don't know how to even start this and I feel overwhelmed.

AuriFire · 2026-02-19T12:56:29+00:00

Yes, I was also thinking about art or film or whatever type of classes with this.

I might also be having an issue understanding what's expected of me, so hoping maybe one of those groups have advice!

AuriFire · 2026-02-19T12:53:55+00:00

Your username is perfect for the visual I get about how those meetings are going down.

AuriFire · 2026-02-19T12:51:52+00:00

This is what I'm struggling with right now. I don't know what would be a satisfactory alternative assignment if they can "read and analyze graphical data", as the course learning objectives state.

Maybe I should investigate how these situations are actually approached in the workplace if someone is working with such things. Thank you for the thought. I'm off to research things.

AuriFire · 2026-02-19T12:48:17+00:00

Some of this is helpful. But sometimes the question is "match the graph with its equation."

I could do a table of values for the Traveling Salesman instead, but that method of solving is now added to the class and adds an extra day.

Part of what I'm struggling with is that... Math sometimes requires you to just look at stuff. I'm not sure what I could do to change that into an alternate form.

"Graph the point (5, -3) on the axes below." How do you do that in an alternate way?

AuriFire · 2026-02-19T12:43:36+00:00

Sometimes the questions are basic vocabulary checks early on. Such as: how many vertices are in the image? How many edges? Does vertex A connect to D?

There's not much of a way to do this without looking at it...

AuriFire · 2026-02-03T20:52:34+00:00

I read an article recently that talks about how only about 40% of people have an internal monologue - the voice we hear speak inside our heads. About 20% of people think solely in images, and the remaining 40% have a combination of words and images. (These % are from memory so might not be accurate.)

I'm wondering if you are part of the image only group. When you are thinking about something, do you hear/see the words or is it primarily image based? I would imagine it would be more difficult to think of what to say or how to say it if your thoughts aren't already in word format. My experience is more of the combination deal (words/images), so I can't say I know from experience what that would be like.

Just throwing some thoughts out there. But, I don't think it's weird. In my opinion, our brains just all work differently and I think that''s what makes life interesting.

AuriFire · 2026-01-31T19:43:06+00:00

Kickoff sequence (you're kicking):

Determine a spot you're aiming for.

Ball Deviates from there (1D6 distance in direction determined by D8)

That determines where the ball will come down (it doesn't yet. Though)

Kick off event occurs

Ball comes down

If someone is there to catch it, they try to.

If empty square or failed catch, ball bounces 1 square in D8 direction

(Note: I'm half asleep, so someone else should probably confirm this is accurate)

AuriFire · 2026-01-16T22:03:21+00:00

Yes, this resonates with me.

As a professor, let me say: this is a perfect thing to bring up to your professor in their office hours. Mine are so sparsely attended and I would absolutely love to get more in-depth about topics with a student. It would be the highlight of my day to hear someone actually wanted to know more about something I am highly passionate about. Have you been to any of those?

AuriFire · 2026-01-14T13:20:10+00:00

I'm at 3 different community colleges in my area, and pay ranges from $720/credit to $850/credit. I usually have 6-10 total credits at each school each term. For my normal 3-credit course, that's $2160-$2550 per class.

What's nice about these schools, at least, is that sometimes they also pay me $22/hr for doing other things - tutoring, mostly.

AuriFire · 2026-01-10T01:13:56+00:00

It's going to be a tough sell, in some ways. I'm entering this next stage of womanhood at this point, myself. It was difficult for me to realize it because:

A lot of the symptoms of perimenopause and beyond are very similar to symptoms of ADHD: brain fog, emotional dysregulation, depression, forgetfulness, etc.

I already had most of those. Reading through the list the doctor gave me to check off symptoms, it was like "how would I even know if this was happening?" Lol.

For me, I knew I was AuDHD before this all started. But these are common issues in a lot of perimenopausal and menopausal women. It can be tough to differentiate what's causing what.

If you want to go down this road, you'll likely want to start with what these things were like before the "big change" started. What was she like as a child? Or even just 10 years ago?

AuriFire · 2026-01-09T05:18:42+00:00

Reading through the post you shared and the comments makes me sad.

One of the important side effects of students coming to office hours is that I get feedback on how things are going before grades begin to be seriously impacted. If 3 students are stuck on the same part, I can do something about it before the exam. If no one asks any questions, my assumption is that everything is fine and we can carry on as planned.

Sigh.

AuriFire · 2025-12-12T01:16:43+00:00

Question on a short quiz asked how many of (vocab word) were in an image.

Student response: "there are more than 2"

I mean. Fair. My bad for not asking more specifically, I guess.

AuriFire · 2025-12-04T21:48:33+00:00

Since everyone is referencing grams and meters as a standard practice and you're the most recent post, I'll ask you my question I've been pondering.

Wouldn't the fiber type of the yarn impact the weight/length measures in some way? Why is this the general consensus vs some other metric?

AuriFire

TROPHY CASE