My first day of classes last week happened to be my birthday. No cause for celebration when you pass fifty. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist making 120 students in American Culture and Literature practice what to call me (JP), by having them repeat things like, "Good afternoon, JP," and finishing with, "Happy Birthday, JP!" And then when they realized it really was my birthday, they clapped roundly and generally celebrated my accomplishment (?). So it was funny and fun and nice, really.
There was a worm in my Eden, though... This new student, one of the seven new law students taking my English department class for some reason, came in a little late, shuffling right in front of the room past where I was standing and starting the class, and then sat down in the front far row, probably because he'd come late and the room was full so he couldn't sit in the back. He proceeded to ignore my words and keep his eyes downcast, his head aimed down at... his smart phone! Now, one of my pet peeves is smart phones in class, so I regularly scold students for checking them and take points off their grades for checking them and even confiscate the phones of addicted people for the duration of class and so on. So I knew he was a new member of the class, not having taken it in spring term, so at first I only told him to put the smart phone away, which he did, and I also told the entire class to put their phones away and proceeded with my first day lecture. About five minutes later I saw an English major I'd failed in spring term sitting near the back and swiping his finger over his phone screen, his whole being intently focused on it, so I called out, "Takumi! Put your phone away!" Then when I had my TA take a picture of our class so I could put it on our website, I was sitting down in the front row next to the new law student guy, and happened to see that rather than getting ready to take a photo with everyone else, he was checking his smart phone again! So I asked him what he was doing, and reached over to take his phone away, but he grabbed onto it and said in coarse, rude Japanese something that, translated into English would come out something like, "What the fuck are you doing?" So I told him, "I am the teacher!" and then on second thought, "Leave the room!" He refused to leave the room, so I decided just to let him be, but told him that if he wanted to take my class, he couldn't look at his phone anymore... Not only did the episode spoil the fun feeling I felt from the "Happy Birthday, JP," but this bozo also spoiled our class picture, because in every shot my TA took, he had his head down and radiated sullen funk. Sigh... Still more. Then I told the class that I needed to talk in the corner of the room to several different groups of students, and the first one was the seven law students new to my class, so I could give them the syllabus and some pointers and photo cards and so on, so I called out, "All JJ or JB students come here now!" two or three times. After the first time, six of them scattered throughout the room came, but the smart phone rude boy remained sullenly in his seat on the far side of the room, so I had to leave the others in the other corner and walk over to get him to follow me back to the corner... The other six new law students in the class will be fine! They were responsive and normally smiling and interested seeming... but what is this guy's problem and why is he in the class? I suspect that he doesn't understand a word of the English I use, but the online syllabus students are supposed to check says that my class will be in English only, so maybe he didn't read it. Or maybe he has some kind of learning disability? Hmmm...... Often one or two law students who start taking the class end up dropping out after a day or two, and needless to say I sure am hoping he is one of them. ANYWAY, then for my birthday I had an English department meeting!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Jefferson Peters (JP)
Can you find me in the picture above? Archives
December 2023
Categories |