Affirmations (#1354)

Topics/tags: Autobiographical, unedited

I’ve been meaning to write this musing for more than a month. However, today is the first time that the inclination and time to put it together lined up.

On the last day of classes, I generally give my students a short in-class assignment. I randomize the list of students in the class and ask each of them to write a short note about a positive experience with each of the next few students on the list along with a few others the choose individually. The next few students ensures that everyone gets some notes. A few others you choose gives students some agency. Since building community is a central part of most of my classes, I find the exercise helps us better reflect on that community. Most of my courses involve regular randomized pairs, so the odds are good that students have worked with many others. I also call on students randomly, so they can also consider how their peers contributed.

It seems to be a successful technique. People feel good getting notes, even somewhat generic notes. And people generally generate positive feelings while writing the notes. There are, as always, some flaws. Some students are better known than others. Some were less good partners. Some students channel too much of my snark in writing their notes [1]. Some don’t take it seriously enough. And, once in a while, students include inappropriate comments. In spite of these flaws, even the last one, I find that the exercise generates net positive happiness.

Like many of my approaches to teaching, this one stemmed from my willingness to embrace my intuition [2]. I taught CSC-151 online, in a five-day-per-week, two-hours-per-day, seven-week format. I had already heard that my students felt that they’d built a lot of community in my class. So midway through the last day of class, I popped up a shared Word document, added everyone’s name, and asked people to write comments for others [3]. In that context, I could simply say Make sure everyone has some comments and the class would do so.

Once the pandemic ended, I moved to notecards. It’s a bit less chaotic [4], but, as I said, it works well.

Although I ask students to write notes to each other, I don’t ask them to write notes to me or the class mentor. I get comments from students in the end-of-course evaluations, so these kinds of notes seem less necessary. It also seems like an abuse of power to say Write me a nice note. So, I don’t even mention writing notes to me. Still, some students choose to do so. This past semester, no students from section one wrote me notes, a few students from section two wrote notes, and over half the students in section three wrote notes. I wonder if my mentor encouraged them to do so.

Reading the notes makes me happy. I even feel a sense of pride for doing well. This year, I thought it would be valuable to share them in a musing. That way, when I invariably lose them in the entropy of my office [5,6], I’ll still have a record. It’s also a way to share with my sons.

Here goes. Typos are almost certainly mine. Grammatical errors are almost certainly theirs. Italicized text is theirs. Roman text is my commentary.

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Your snark, humor, and charm makes the class infinitely more fun. You’re right - snark is love. While some might say the Friday PSAs are redundant, to me, they show that you care about us every week, and for that, Thank you. I truly enjoyed your class.

The Friday PSAs are weekly announcements I make encouraging them to be moderate if they choose to consume substances that alter their body chemistry and reminding them that consent is essential.

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You taught me to laugh a little more, to not assume that people feel appreciated but show it; to be patient in considering others’ ideas; and the importance of comp. thinking in a Liberal Arts setting.

I get the laughing, the patience, and the computational thinking. I don’t know where the showing appreciation comes from.

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Hi Sam :-)

I am very thankful for the immense amount of support you provided me with. I want to thank you and this course because I was so close to dropping the course but staying was my best option and I am so glad I am here in your CS class. Thank you.

The smiley was vertical. I wasn’t sure how to reproduce that symbol.

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Thank you Sam for this semester of classes. This class wa stressing and challenging but you, with your jokes, humor and flexibility and comprehension, made this class much better. Thank you for teaching me and hope to see you again.

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Thank you so much for your patience and understanding with me throughout the semester. You are one of the best professors of all time, and I really appreciate it.

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It was a really fun class! You’re so kind and supported me a lot. I learned a lot from the class. I hope I can take other courses with you in the next 3 years!

You are awesome.

I’m on leave in 2025-26, so the student won’t have a chance that year. If they are a CS major, CSC-207 in spring 2026 would have been their best bet for taking another class from me. However, one never knows what opportunities will present themselves.

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Thank you for always making the end of a long day of classes enjoyable and engaging. Your levels of snark and on-the-fly rewriting of our responses to questions may be unparalleled in this school. Thank you for a great semester.

[O]n-the-fly rewriting of our responses references one of my other teaching habits. Rather than using the whiteboard or a slide deck, I type class notes during class, projecting them on the screen. After I ask students questions, I do my best to record their answers. However, snark ends up being a consistent part of my typing. For example, if a student answers I’m not sure, I might type Sam failed to convey this information with sufficient clarity; if a student answers UM, I’ll attempt to decode the acronym, as in UM - Use Math or UM - Universal Mechanism.

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Thank you for this semester and being kind about missing class. That is really nice and something you don’t find much here.

It’s taken more than twenty years, but I’ve finally reached an attendance policy I’m happy with (and that students generally seem happy with). I expect students to be in class. However, if they miss class and tell me about it in advance (no explanation necessary), I don’t impose any penalties. I shouldn’t have to make decisions about whether something is an acceptable or unacceptable absence. Students have different experiences; some need more days away from class than others, so a policy of N free absences doesn’t work well. In the end, most students make it to most class sessions.

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Sam,

Although you seem snarky at first, everyone can see you care. You have been my best professor so far. Please never stop being you.

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You are my favorite prof and you have shown so much kindness and patience, I believe that you deserve the world. Please be kind with yourself like you were kind with us. We love you! :heart symbol:

I’m snarky with myself like I’m snarky with others. Does that count? Snark is love.

I know that I can probably insert the unicode for a heart symbol. I’d rather leave the text.

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Thanks for everything! Through this semester, I learned many things. Your help always saved my life. Have a great summer!

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You were a great instructor. Many of my favorite teachers have been CS teachers and you have been another point in that pattern. Your snark is delightful & I loved being in your class so much. Thank you so much.

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That’s it. I also have a very nice note from one of my class mentors. That feel a bit more personal, so I’m not including it.

Thanks for the notes, students. Thank you, also, to the students who didn’t leave notes; I certainly didn’t ask for them. I appreciated the opportunity to help all of you learn. The notes reaffirm that what I do is of value.

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Postscript: Should I analyze the notes? Conider word frequency? Common topics? Nah. Listing them with short comments suffices.

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[1] Perhaps I shouldn’t tell them that Snark is Love is one of the course’s informal learning outcomes.

[2] Don’t worry, I also base my approaches to teaching on conversations with colleagues and on what I learn from reading about teaching in books and papers.

[3] Note: Word online does not do well with twenty-plus simultaneous editors.

[4] In this context, chaos was fun.

[5] I’m trading my big lab for a small closet, so my office will be even more chaotic.

[6] Amazingly, I kept track of them for more than a month. My secret? I crammed them into my wallet.

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Version 1.0 released 2025-06-25.

Version 1.0.1 of 2025-07-08.