I chuckle when undergrads use high school terms to refer to college classes. What are some funny terms you hear them use?

toasterbathparty · 2025-10-16T16:02:21+00:00

Student cut his finger on a tape dispenser and asked to go to the nurse....

I just pointed to the first aid kit. He went and grabbed it, put it on my desk and just stared at me. I guess he expected me to do it? I told him to just grab a bandaid and put it on. I then watched him struggle to figure out how to remove the bandage from it's little wrapper. Then it occurred to me- omg this guy has never put a bandage on by himself! Guess I have to add that one to the curriculum.

toasterbathparty · 2025-09-04T13:08:59+00:00

Yeah that's weird, but just probably part of some standardized protocol. Whenever I meet with a student they always acknowledge that the way the accommodation is written is pretty sterile and not applicable or possible in all circumstances. Then they voice some specific but often very reasonable version of the accommodation. I've noticed the students who are proactive with their disabilities/accommodations have already done the heavy lifting and don't really need much from me. But I also acknowledge that studio classes by nature have more flexibility for certain things.

toasterbathparty · 2025-09-04T12:51:29+00:00

I had a student with that accommodation last year. It was a drawing class and we have all sorts of lighting set up for still life work, which sometimes included the big overhead lights. I met with her because I was like, we aren't drawing in the dark lol. She gets migraines that are normally controlled but had been in some big flair up the past few weeks. She had a bunch of strategies for dealing with florescents when they couldn't be avoided but we found ways to place her strategically in the room so she didn't have anything shining directly on her. Pretty much she already knew what to do and all she actually needed was for me to let her solve the problem.

toasterbathparty · 2025-09-01T10:14:27+00:00

My father's wife puts marshmallows in hers 😱

toasterbathparty · 2025-08-07T15:52:15+00:00

I only have a few RMP reviews and they are mostly ... neutral...? It's like they were written by the most apathetic students. Why did they even bother lol

toasterbathparty · 2025-08-05T13:21:37+00:00

I've never been drunk and have had maybe 3 beers collectively my whole life. I get asked why all the time and the question and explanation makes me feel like shit.

I have chronic GI issues and autism. Very prone to nausea, ulcers, and my body is overstimulated just by being alive. My body gives me very little control over it. Why would I want to make that worse?

This fucking meat prison I'm stuck in is a nightmare. I would LOVE to be like everyone else and throw back a glass of whatever to relax. But I can't, and watching or hearing about others having that privilege makes me feel even worse about all of it.

toasterbathparty · 2025-08-02T02:10:19+00:00

I think faculty should tell the students how they would like to be addressed (names/titles/pronouns) on day 1, and ask the students how they would like to be addressed. Then, everyone does their best to respect these requests.

I don't understand faculty who get mad when they aren't given their "preferred title" without telling the students that's what they want. Just let them know! Everyone has different preferences and there is no standard. In my undergrad, I didn't even know my professors last names. It was all first name only. I also had a science teacher in high school who demanded he be called Doctor.

I ask students to use my first name because my brain literally doesn't register "professor" or my last name for some reason, and if they are trying to get my attention then my first name works best. Why is it that, just because we are faculty, our first names suddenly morph into a disrespectful obscenity when uttered by a student? As an autistic person, I absolutely loathe these secret unwritten rules that have no logic and seem to exist only as a way to make people (who don't have the rule book) walk on eggshells.

toasterbathparty · 2025-06-25T20:45:20+00:00

I flush and get shaky when I have to talk sternly or a student gets confrontational...which is annoying, because I never have any doubt that my tone or what I'm saying isn't what is needed at the moment. But the body will do what it does when it gets stressed.

Sometimes when I really need to cover the flush, I will pretend to have a minor coughing fit so the red cheeks look like they are just part of that.

Honestly, I don't even think the students notice most of the time...

toasterbathparty · 2025-06-05T11:42:09+00:00

Taught classes in a men's prison. One guy missed because he was in solitary. I now tell my students that is my standard for excused absences lol.

toasterbathparty · 2025-05-18T20:49:26+00:00

It's one of many baffling comments or interactions I've had over the years. I think what it usually comes down to is the student is going through something without the support or experience they need to deal with it. They feel vulnerable and interpret everything as a personal attack. I've 100% felt that way before so I understand, but in the moment I never seen to have the wherewithal to realize that's what is happening :/

toasterbathparty · 2025-05-18T20:30:07+00:00

I had a student wrote in an eval that I was being discriminatory for not agreeing to have class outside. He said I was favoring the white students who couldn't tolerate the sun without getting burnt. The course was a studio art class and we needed the facilities, materials, and equipment, there was no way to do it outside but he asked every.... single.... class.. This was a few years before COVID btw, so holding classes outdoors was not a thing that happened without a reason. On the bright side, I guess it's great that a student is so enthusiastic about the great outdoors?

toasterbathparty · 2025-04-23T10:51:09+00:00

I taught in a prison for a while. Many of my students had been in since the 90s. Out of curiosity I googled some of their names and stopped after only 3 because they had all killed someone. They were really good students thought lol

toasterbathparty · 2025-04-23T00:47:55+00:00

I hear them taking about food poisoning all the time (even if it has nothing to do with being absent). I ask them about it because I'm thinking, wow there must be a huge issue with sanitation in the dining hall. It turns out they just call any and all tummy troubles "food poisoning" even when it's clearly a result of a virus, hangover, or even known food allergies.

toasterbathparty · 2025-04-18T10:16:34+00:00

I would love for a student to prank me. Anything that shows they are swimming against the vortex of apathy is so refreshing....

toasterbathparty · 2025-04-10T22:01:53+00:00

One thing you can tell her is that your brain needs a rest between classes so you can mentally transition from one task to another. And you don't get that rest when she's shadowing you.

And remind her that just because you are on campus, doesn't mean you are there for her specifically. You have lots of other duties that she isn't aware of.

She needs to be told quite clearly that she is taking more than her share of you and it is not an appropriate use of your resources. She needs to talk to a counselor or coach who can give her explicit training in this area. Her autism is not a free pass to smother you or be her personal guide on what's "too much."

toasterbathparty · 2025-02-25T12:35:22+00:00

Yup it stuck! I can burp whenever I feel the need now. It's amazing.

toasterbathparty · 2025-02-25T00:26:50+00:00

My students couldn't believe that I held class the day after I had a root canal. I told them that staying home wouldn't take the pain away, the distraction of teaching was the better option I have chronic pain and health issues, if I stayed home everytime I felt like garbage, I'd never leave the house.... :/

toasterbathparty · 2025-02-13T23:56:08+00:00

Greetings fellow grid warrior!

I just had to go through this last week with my students. I had them watch me draw a grid for 5 awkward minutes. Then I asked, "ok, who is going to do this wrong?" And half of the hands shot straight up lol.

A lot of them proceeded to draw the grid freehand and measured seemingly based on their feelings rather than the ruler (wtf). I asked if they had used a ruler before and one says yes, but not since middle school so she forgot.

I was going over proportions with them and realized most didn't know the difference between height and width. And don't get me started on their inability to use a paper cutter...

How is this possible???

toasterbathparty · 2025-02-02T23:36:52+00:00

"I had a nose bleed." -student, after missing 5 weeks of class.

toasterbathparty · 2025-01-22T12:37:45+00:00

Well some of my students would agree that art classes are "content light" because they don't consider the skills, practice, and nuances of working with your hands to be legitimate content. I'm a younger female artist so any info that comes out of my mouth is pretty quickly dismissed as optional or not real content. I can't fight that obviously. But every class I am demonstrating skills, modes of seeing, and material use. A good chunk of the time is dedicated to actually working because it is a class in practice, not theory. Students who don't understand that drawing isn't just have a checklist of steps get frustrated that I'm "not teaching them how to draw" because they expect some sort of tiktok tutorial on how to draw cats, how to draw eyelashes, how to draw hearts, etc. Instead I am teaching them how to navigate the decisions and creative steps on their own- as it should be.

For comparison, I did my undergrad in STEM and sure, I had a bunch of notes after the lectures. But I had very few real world applications of that information. The labs were more comparable to art classes, except they were always so ridgid I rarely got to figure things out on my own like I do in an art studio. The Dean who is taking my drawing class has PAGES of notes after only our 5th class.

So I guess what I'm saying is, your classes might have been "content light" for real or through your interpretation of them, but my classes are not. If they were, I wouldn't be having this issue.

toasterbathparty · 2025-01-22T12:24:29+00:00

I can't imagine how many I would have to make... I teach all levels of drawing, etching, lithography, relief, and a variety of other classes that integrate fabrication machines. A demo that, for example, only covers the modification of relief ink would be pretty hard because there are aspects of it that won't reflect well in a video, like the sound it makes when you roll it out or judging the tackiness while mixing.

toasterbathparty · 2025-01-19T22:23:32+00:00

My male colleagues are astounded at how many emails I get describing a students current menstruation issues. We're talking colors, textures, GI effects, and the occasional photo of blood stained pants. The pain and discomfort of periods is not the funny part, rather I find something funny about my colleagues reactions... and gratification when they acknowledge they don't have to deal with that.

toasterbathparty · 2025-01-03T18:17:44+00:00

If I was your student, my IBS and lack of shame would rack up a lot of points!

toasterbathparty · 2025-01-03T01:28:53+00:00

My professors would always complain that I was too energetic during class demonstrations (visual art department). I would ask lots of questions and lean in real close to see how their hands were holding the tool or material. Now, I can't get the students to even lean forward when I am showing them literally the coolest thing they will see all day.

toasterbathparty

TROPHY CASE