This week I finished another semester of teaching at SCC. I want to take a moment and talk about one class in particular and the students that were in it.
The class was a PHY 241 class. This is the third class in the series of physics classes that engineering and/or physics majors need to take during their freshman/sophomore year of college. Usually what happens is you start with a bunch of students in the first class (121) and then get about half in the next one (131) and finally about a third or less of those in the last one (241). By the time they reach this last class most of these students have had me for all three of these classes and therefore about 18 months in time. There are always some that are only in 2 classes and even some that are only in 1.
Well, these students in this class that just ended were special. As I have said before I am finishing up 20 years teaching in the district, and I have never had a group of students quite like this. I have had some great students over the years, don’t get me wrong, but I have never had a group of students that bonded with each other and with me like these students have.
I recently wrote about a few of them, and they were certainly a driving force as to why this group was so special, but there were others as well that made things really great.
It started the first semester (121) when at the end of the semester one student asked what we were doing finals week since they just had to turn in a group project report online. I said, “Nothing”. But they said we should get together and have a party. I thought it was a fine idea and so we did. We had food and snacks and just hung out. It was fun.
The next semester (131) the bonds between the students grew. Friendships were really flourishing in the class, and some of the students were talking to me more as well. There was a lot more communication going on in the class. There was more laughing as well. And come the end of the semester we decided to have a white elephant gift exchange (since it was the Christmas season (or holiday season if you prefer)) as our final’s week celebration. That was a blast. There was some food again, but the highlight was the gift exchange. As always there were a couple gifts that kept getting stolen. One student had his gift stolen, I believe, 3 times before he ended up with Bible Origami. The best part was that he was happy with all the gifts he picked and the last one he found something positive about as well. There was a road cone, a random family picture (of no one in the class), and more. We laughed as a group and had a great time. And a student gave me a personal gift of a whistle to help me keep control of my class when needed.
And now for this semester that has just recently ended (241). I knew coming in that this class would have less students since many don’t need it, and others choose to take it at the university they are going to. But I had 9 students return for another semester with me (I also had 2 new students). One of the cool things from the beginning was that at least 2 of them told me flat out that they didn’t think they needed the class, but wanted to take it since I was teaching it and their friends were taking it. That is proof of the relationships that were developed and were still developing among these people. The semester was good. I have only taught this class once before and it was the semester the Covid19 pandemic switched us all to online, so this was a new experience for me. The students worked well together. They helped me with some labs that I had never done before. I had to rewrite some of them on the fly and we even did one lab twice after I had rewritten it because I realized I made a big mistake in it. We got to do pinhole cameras in the class. That was a fun project. One student was also taking photo and he was very gracious and developed all our film. Some of the students took really good pictures, and one person even wanted to keep the camera to possibly take more pictures in the future. I did lose control at times with conversations taking place and had to use the whistle. But I loved the fact that there were conversations going on.
For one of their celebrations of knowledge (fancy for exam) one student went over the top and designed a cover that was amazing. I mean seriously look at that. I made a comment when passing it back that I thought about tearing it off and keeping it, and then the next week she gave it back to me and it was framed. I am going to hang it in my office.
These students loved being around each other. It made my heart happy to come to this class every day. There are times in teaching when you just don’t want to go to class, but that never happened in this class. I always looked forward to seeing these students. We talked about life, school, technology, cars, relationships, boys, girls, jobs, family, and so much more.
At the end of this semester we had another party. We weren’t sure what kind of party to do this time, so we just decided to hang out. We watched an episode of Top Gear (Polar Special) and we watched Veggietales (Silly Songs only, by request of a few of the students). I brought a graduation cake, a student brought doughnuts, someone else brought popcorn, another one brought chips, and someone brought some soda. One student even made a Tres Leche cake and decorated it with equations from the class. Some of them played a game together as the party came to an end.
BUT the big thing was that one student made a yearbook based on the people in the class with pictures of everyone and quotes/comments in it. She made copies for everyone, and we passed them around and some people signed them. It was very cool. It made me smile.
And then, for the first time in my teaching career, I got cards as well. I got three cards. I got 2 from individual students.One with a very nice note inside. But then I got a card from the entire 241 class. It was a great card, they all signed it, and most even wrote something nice too. It was incredibly touching. Thankfully I didn’t cry. They let me know that I mattered to them. They told me I made a difference in their lives (some tears are welling up right now though as I write this). I am going to miss many of these students. They weren’t all the best students (although some of them were some of the best I’ve had), and they made teaching a joy.
These students were certainly put in my life during this time for a very important reason. They were my first in person post-pandemic group. They were with me during a time when life in general for everyone was rough and they made teaching, and life, enjoyable. I will always value this time. I will miss these students.