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sisterelwood 2010-01-17 07:43 pm UTC (link)

Attending college or university is a privilege, not a right, asswipe. You're only entitled to 12 years of public schooling. After that, you're on your own. I'm sure U of M (whichever campus you're at) would be more than happy to show you to the door and give your seat to someone who doesn't disrespect professors and disrupt the learning of other students. Honestly, when I would get bored in a class in undergrad I'd take in a Sudoku puzzle. You're not bothering any one else and it looks like you're taking notes. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	twinno 2010-01-17 07:46 pm UTC (link)
	Hey, at least Sudoku puzzles don't beep or vibrate. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2010-01-18 01:47 am UTC (link)
	And at least, it's making your brain do something more than remember the name of the guy that brought the keg last night. (Reply to this)(Parent)

sequinedlizard 2010-01-17 09:08 pm UTC (link)

That was my policy when I was teaching students. I'd prefer if you pay attention, and attendance was unfortunately mandatory (I hate those policies), but if you're going to ignore me, at least don't be obvious about it. If I walked by and they were doing sudoku or crosswords, I might poke fun at them by offering hints, but texting or IMming just struck me as that much ruder. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	evilsqueakers 2010-01-18 01:45 am UTC (link)
	If I got bored, I just worked on other homework. Like on the days I went to two or three classes and would need to work on a paper or something. Especially if I was definitely going to get an easy A in the current class. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sequinedlizard 2010-01-18 01:54 am UTC (link)
	I did other assignments, wrote stories, and composed music (this was easy to hide because I was a music major :) ). Most professors really don't care, as long as it's not obnoxious. Texting is all to easy to fall into the "obnoxious" category :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - evilsqueakers, 2010-01-18 01:57 am UTC

(no subject) - sequinedlizard, 2010-01-18 02:04 am UTC

(no subject) - evilsqueakers, 2010-01-18 02:06 am UTC

	nevadafighter 2010-01-18 03:38 am UTC (link)
	If I hadn't had to adhere to the university's attendance policy, mine would have been "I don't care if you only come to one class. Miss as many as you want. Your attendance or lack thereof will affect your performance one way or the other." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sequinedlizard 2010-01-18 03:43 am UTC (link)

That would have been my preferred option, as well. I had some freedom regarding what and how to teach, but unfortunately had to keep attendance and factor it in to the grade. I figure if they don't want to be there, that's just going to make them more likely to text or whatever and be a distraction. Of course, given that I was used mainly to teach smaller sections and there was a main lecture class that 200 students were supposed to go to, if I hadn't done attendance, I probably would have been spending a few hours by myself each week. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - nevadafighter, 2010-01-18 03:52 am UTC

(no subject) - sequinedlizard, 2010-01-18 03:58 am UTC

(no subject) - nevadafighter, 2010-01-18 04:03 am UTC

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(no subject) - snarkhunter, 2010-01-20 01:11 am UTC

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(no subject) - snarkhunter, 2010-01-20 01:51 am UTC

(no subject) - nevadafighter, 2010-01-20 05:11 am UTC

(no subject) - snarkhunter, 2010-01-20 02:06 pm UTC

(no subject) - nevadafighter, 2010-01-20 07:11 pm UTC

(no subject) - nevadafighter, 2010-01-20 07:58 pm UTC

snarkhunter 2010-01-20 04:12 am UTC (link)

I'm much crankier on this subject, below (possibly too cranky?), but I guess I feel like mandatory attendance is necessary in classes where participation is a significant part of one's grade. My classes are heavily weighted towards class participation, so not showing up (after the *generous* number of freebie absences I allow) affects your participation grade, which affects your final grade. After all, you can't participate if you're not there. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - nevadafighter, 2010-01-20 04:30 am UTC

(no subject) - snarkhunter, 2010-01-20 02:13 pm UTC

(no subject) - funwithrage, 2010-01-20 10:51 pm UTC

(no subject) - snarkhunter, 2010-01-20 11:17 pm UTC

(no subject) - isaiddietpepsi, 2010-01-21 08:21 pm UTC

(no subject) - snarkhunter, 2010-01-21 09:29 pm UTC

	finchbird 2010-01-17 09:11 pm UTC (link)
	It says he's goes to the Dearborn campus. And yes, take a Sudoku puzzle to class if you're bored. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dragonfangirl 2010-01-17 09:25 pm UTC (link)
	Honestly, when I would get bored in a class in undergrad I'd take in a Sudoku puzzle. I'd sleep. But at least I don't snore! And that tended to be not so much a voluntary activity as an inevitable one, given my schedule that semester. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	quantumreality 2010-01-17 11:16 pm UTC (link)
	I remember being quite embarrassed when I was in this huuuuge lecture hall and I figured I'd sit in the front so I wouldn't be tempted to sleep. Guess what, halfway through the class my eyes flip open and I'm thinking "Oh crap" D: Yeah, that was FML that day. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	finchbird 2010-01-17 11:29 pm UTC (link)
	I fell asleep in the front row of my intro to biology class way back when I was a freshman. I felt really bad for it, but when I apologized to my professor for it, she was cool with it. I have SAD, which explains my tendency to be fatigued and/or tired during this time of year, but it didn't really excuse me for sleeping in the front row. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	adevyish 2010-01-18 12:04 am UTC (link)
	I fall asleep in class a lot, and unfortunately in 20-person classes, there is nowhere to hide D: (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - jaseroque, 2010-01-18 12:57 am UTC

	sequinedlizard 2010-01-18 02:06 am UTC (link)
	I seem to be sleep from 1-3 PM. It's really hard for me to stay awake those times. I even dozed off once in band practice, leaning against my instrument. I fight it, so you can see my head jerking up and down. Only one professor ever mentioned it. I did have some students sleep in my sections - I tended to ask them if they were OK, just in case. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(no subject) - dragonfangirl, 2010-01-18 02:42 am UTC

(no subject) - jaythenerdkid, 2010-01-18 06:07 pm UTC

(no subject) - quantumreality, 2010-01-18 06:14 pm UTC

(no subject) - jaythenerdkid, 2010-01-18 06:16 pm UTC

	shadowmonkey 2010-01-18 02:20 am UTC (link)
	There was no Sudoku when I was at uni. :( I used to count the ceiling tiles. Then calculate the number of holes in the ceiling from the number of tiles. Then count the stripes on the wall. They were not interesting classes just interesting classrooms. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	librarianmouse 2010-01-18 02:40 am UTC (link)
	I did a lot of journaling when I was bored in class. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lady_ganesh 2010-01-18 08:58 pm UTC (link)
	I wrote most of a (terrible) novel in one class. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - varethane, 2010-01-18 09:39 pm UTC

tez 2010-01-18 05:35 am UTC (link)

I did the NY Times crossword religiously. They printed it in the student paper and it was almost a ritual in one of my larger lecture courses. In between notes, I'd do the crossword. I developed the skill to do the NY Times crossword in pen, no white-out required, and thereby used it to freak out some of my co-workers at my first car dealership. (I think I scared one of the old guys when he asked for a six-letter word relating to Egyptian Christians and I fired off 'Coptic' without even looking up.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sisterelwood 2010-01-18 10:16 pm UTC (link)

*nods* Our student paper would print both a crossword and a sudoku puzzle. I would grab a copy at breakfast each day and take it with me to my larger classes. I'd sit at the back and keep it under my notebook so I could work on it in-between taking notes. I would keep it with me throughout the day and take it to each of my classes in a similar manner. Hell, I remember that at one point a professor put us in groups to work on a project. My group had finished ahead of the others and so someone pulled out the newspaper and we started working as a group on the crossword. The professor came over and after seeing we were finished with our classwork sat with us and helped with the crossword. xD (Reply to this)(Parent)

snarkhunter 2010-01-20 01:15 am UTC (link)

it looks like you're taking notes. It really doesn't, unless you're in a large lecture classroom. I usually don't say anything to the students who are doing the Sudoku/crossword/whatever, but I do glare. Sometimes I glare until they look up, and then I just raise my eyebrows. It generally works. B/c, you know, I am just talking to hear myself talk. Then again, I'm cranky tonight, which is making me more snarky about classroom misbehavior than normal, and as an auditory learner, I had a tendency to absorb more in classes where I was occupying myself with something in my notebook (drawings, writing) while taking notes. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

funwithrage 2010-01-20 02:35 am UTC (link)

For what it's worth, I was mostly interested in the lecturers when I was in college--except for some really dull core courses (oh, EL 40 and 60: if I wanted to take a Gender Studies class, I'd have DONE THAT, and Puritan captivity narratives could be used as sleeping aids)--but my God, the discussion groups drove me batty. If the choice is between writing notes for game and listening to the opinion of someone who thinks Romeo and Juliet was "so romantic, yeah, and it was for the best that they met even though they died because otherwise they wouldn't have had their soul mates"... ...well, you can see my predicament. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - snarkhunter, 2010-01-20 04:08 am UTC

(no subject) - funwithrage, 2010-01-20 10:40 pm UTC

	funwithrage 2010-01-20 02:40 am UTC (link)
	The reason I run games and write novels: four years as an English major, then jobs that involved meetings. It's one of those places where illegible writing comes in handy--I doubt anyone casually passing by can tell the difference between "quarterly profits are up fifty percent" and "PCs will encounter a mind flayer at the gates." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	snarkhunter 2010-01-20 04:14 am UTC (link)
	Faculty meetings. If I forget my knitting, my notes consist of things like, "God, why won't this conversation just DIE already?" Or scribbling angrily in German. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - funwithrage, 2010-01-20 10:49 pm UTC

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