The Adventures of Krystal Kid: You have 30 seconds to draw a duck...

Friday, November 16, 2007

You have 30 seconds to draw a duck...

Yesterday driving home from work I happened to catch the song Freebird on the radio. Normally I wouldn't have noticed this since in Macon they play Freebird once a day on pretty much every radio station including, I believe, the rap stations. But it had been a while since I had heard it (thankfully) so my ears perked up at the opening chords. "How ironic." I thought as I drove home, knowing I would soon be tossing a very NOT free bird (actually 3 birds plus stuffing) into an oven! And by the way, Tony Turducken is comfortably resting and defrosting in the fridge as I type this. About this time tomorrow, though, he meets the oven.
When I am teaching I hate taking attendance. I find it a bit insulting to everyone involved. When i was teaching on the base it was very important because my students were there instead of being at their work station. The class was their job for the day so missing the class was bad news for them.
When I was teaching at Mercer, I didn't take attendance at all. I figure they have already paid a lot for the class and if they want to skip it that's their call. They're the ones who suffer when test time hits. And in all fairness I did skip some classes in my college days (though none my freshman year).
Well times have changed. Most students get financial aid from either their state or the federal government. The government wants to be sure they're getting their money's worth so now we have to report attendance to the government. Anyone who doesn't attend 80% of the class hours fails the class. Period. So now I am forced tot ake attendance every day.
The reason why I personally don't care if someone attends is easy. The numbers clearly show that if you do not attend class, you will do poorly in class. I have stacks of data that confirms this. The bottom line is: Go To Class!
I begin to get frustrated with students who obviously do not care about attending classes. I get countless excuses for why they miss clas or show up late. Parking downtown can be a nightmare. However 95% of the rest of the students don't seem to have a problem. Perhaps leaving a bit earlier to give time to find parking, or take advantage of the parking decks a few blocks away that offer free parking with your student ID.
Anyway once recent 8am class I had perhaps 5 of the 18 students when class was to start. I decided it was time to become proactive. I told the class "This is a pop quiz. Everyone get out a sheet of paper and draw a duck. You have 30 seconds to hand it in."
I give 30 seconds because it often takes 10 seconds for them to realize that I am not kidding. That leaves 20 seconds for them to find a pen and paper (which they really should already have out since class is starting). That means they usually wind up with about 10 seconds of actual drawing time.
You should see some of the "ducks" I have gotten. I scanned them and was going to post them but then realized that since this was a graded assignment, I would be violating FERPA laws, even if I blanke dout the student's name. So you'll just have to imagine. A duck shaped like a Hershey's Kiss. one student got motivated enough to grab her highlighter and color her duck in yellow. Some ducks lack a beak and many are missing eyes. My favorite however was the one with four legs. I have also had one "Picasso Duck" where the head was not attached and both wings were on the same side of the body.
Pretty much if anyone put something on paper and handed it in it was worth 5 bonus points on the test. As expected word spread quickly to those students who skipped class or showed up late. I wish I could say it improved attendance. It hasn't.
I would love to take credit for this creative idea to encourage attendance, but I can't. One of my college professors, Jim Stumpff, used this in my FORTRAN programming class my freshman year. We were all dumb freshman and didn't know anyhting, but apparently the "Jim Stumpff Duck Quiz" was famous. I feel I have done my part to continue the legacy of the Duck Quiz.
I had the stack of ducks on my desk at work for a couple of days before someone in my office finally asked about them. Also once I had taken them to my department secretary to get them scanned I had to explain the story to her. So now the legend of the Duck Quiz has spread among some of the faculty as well.
So there are really just three important things to remember to survive college: