I’m sorry, but why does it take a good portion of teachers a good ten or more weeks to get around to assigning things? By this point in the semester I like to know exactly what I have left to do, and it’s not just so I can schedule my relaxation time.

It peeves me when teachers don’t have a legitimate syllabus in the first place, but when they decide to spring all new assignments on my ass at the end of the semester, especially spring semester, it makes me want to cry. Within the last four to five weeks of class, I usually plan out exactly when I’m going to have things done by so I can have a little bit of down time before I dive into finals week. Spring finals are twice as stressful as fall, not because of the amazing weather, but the monumental amount of crap I have to pack and move out of my room.

I’m not fortunate enough to live nearby or have more than one vehicle in which to move my stuff, so the last week of school is really a mixture of trying to find time to think about my finals while I’m attempting to fit a semester’s worth of junk into small plastic tubs. But I digress.

I don’t like coming to class within the last few weeks to find that I have another project to do. It throws off my whole schedule. By that, I mean that I go into hyper drive and end up accomplishing things that I didn’t mean to have done until the last week. Anyone with a workaholic personality such as mine understands that this causes a lot more stress than it’s worth.

On top of that, please don’t assign things that will force us to have to use the library. Last spring I found out that the library practically becomes home to half the student population toward the end of the semester. This makes finding space to work and a computer much more difficult than usual.

If anything, the end of the semester should become easier. You had a good 14 or 15 weeks to teach whatever it is you were supposed to be teaching, and if it’s necessary to cram things in at the last minute, then maybe you should reconsider your lesson plan. Nothing that I’m supposed to be learning really sticks in the last few weeks of school. Mostly because at that point I’m totally burnt out and I’m only showing up to class because I’m under the illusion that I might still be able to absorb something.

I also beg teachers who have Tuesday and Thursday classes to let students out early if there isn’t much left to say. Last week I sat through 45 minutes of just looking at graphs in ITEC 100. This is something I already understood and really didn’t care about. I really don’t feel cheated if I’m let out of class early. It’s actually greatly appreciated.

So teachers, just do me one favor and chill out at the end of the semester. I’m sure you’d enjoy the little break before finals, too.

Cover and story photo by Thomas Bowman

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Vent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.