OK, I originally posted my message because I seriously want to know what people do in such a situation; I didn't mean to incite arguments. I have been enjoying, for the most part, the comments about this thread and I think they are pretty telling. Because I want to prepare for times when I might be unprepared (and not if I just don't feel like teaching--that's not what I really meant), I wanted to know what others do. I can't be 100% prepared for every class, and I wanted some insight. I rarely miss class, I think I've had the flu twice in my life (and lucky for me they both occurred on Christmas). I rarely get colds, in general, I rarely get sick (I'm knocking on wood now). When I had to take Family Medical Leave time for my daughter's heart transplant, for the most part my classes were covered and I taught two of them as online courses. The other day I had the situation where I felt really, really crummy; had class sandwiched between two meetings (spontaneous ones, so there was no planning for them); and I felt I'd do a lousy job of teaching if I just "soldiered on."
Yes, I have tenure, yes, I'm a full professor, and yes, I'm department chair, which means that I have a great deal more freedom than an untenured or adjunct instructor. I believe I have an obligation to my students to be as prepared as can be and to do my very best. But I'm human and when I'm at my worst, I'm not worth all the money students pay to spend that one hour with me when they could be doing something far more profitable; to think otherwise seems like a great deal of hubris to me. What I ended up doing was this: It was a Sensation & Perception class and we have been discussing object perception, the Gestalt principles, bottom-up vs. top-down processing, and attention. I had already covered much of that and oddly, was on schedule. So I talked briefly, gave my student a list and told them to go find examples of the topics on the list. I told them after they had done that, they should go find examples of the Gestalt principles in a modality other than vision. It's been a long winter in the Midwest and we've had a couple of nice days lately, so I think they were happy for the opportunity to do something different. In addition to class, the students have lab activities to complete, and various writing assignments. I don't believe I short-changed my students. My take-home message from all your postings are: a reminder of the incredible obligation to do what is in the best interest of our students, a reminder to plan ahead as much as possible, and a reminder to visit some of the websites and other sources mentioned so that I always have a set of back-up plans. Thanks again for your collective wisdom on all of this, I truly appreciate it. Carol Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University Davenport, Iowa 52803 phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=1095 or send a blank email to leave-1095-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
