Letter to my Students

from Uriel Wittenberg (uw@urielw.com)

Updated April 30, 2002

 

Please read the following carefully so you can help make our classroom experience as beneficial as possible for everyone.

How to be a Good Student in my Class

Be Alert! Students have two choices in a class: to pay attention, or dream about going for a dumpling feast with their friends. Many choose the latter, forgetting that they came to Tsinghua to learn. Don't waste your time and your opportunities at Tsinghua.

Be Healthy! Your mental strength depends on physical health. In a nutshell -- Eat, Sleep, & Exercise:

  • Eat healthy food. Do not adopt the American junk food habit. Avoid candy, potato chips, ice cream, coffee, chocolate, Coca Cola and other soft drinks, things filled with cream, cookies, french fries, and all the other bad things marketing people are pushing you to consume so they can make money at your expense. You will look and feel better if you don't eat and drink junk.

  • Get enough sleep. Your brain will work better, and you will be healthier, if you sleep enough.

  • Get regular exercise. You'll be happier, mentally healthier, and better able to perform academically.

Do the homework. You will understand the classes much better and learn more. Think about the material and do your best to understand it. Prepare questions about anything you don't understand, and ask them in class. If there's too much homework, tell me in class.

Demand comprehension. If you don't understand what we do in class, there is a problem. Do not assume problems have no solution. Help me teach you well. Overcome your shyness -- it will hinder your success in life. Ask questions.

Use a good dictionary -- not a bad one that gives wrong information.

Courtesy in the Classroom

We are in class to talk together. When students ignore the class and talk to each other they impair the educational process by distracting other students or preventing them from hearing what is going on. It wastes everyone's time because things that have already been explained have to be repeated.

The class is 90 minutes. If you want to talk privately to friends during that time then please do not come to the classroom.

Student List, Readings

If any of your information on the Student List is incorrect, please speak to the Student List Volunteer for the class. If you did not get a reading that was distributed in class, you can get it via email from the Photocopies Volunteer. Please don't email me about these things. Ask me in class if you don't know who the volunteers are.

Missing a Class

I've gotten several emails from students saying something like:

I'm writing this letter for asking for leave.Because Tuesday afternoon I have a experiment to do,and that is a required course,so I cannot be present in your class.
I hope you permit.Thanks.

Thank you, but there is no need to notify me when you will miss a class (or when you have missed one). Just try to get missed material from a friend so you're ready for the exam. (I would also mention re the message above that the author might benefit from A Few Tips re Formatting.)

Email

You should use a reliable email system. (If you use 263.net, abandon it! It's one of the worst.) Please see Use a Reliable Email System.

You're welcome to email me. You're also welcome to speak to me in person after class. If you email me, please always:

  • provide a meaningful SUBJECT line;
  • sign your name; and
  • indicate, after your name, which class you're in (WRI, LS, AOE, NR1, NR2, NR3, or NR4).

Note that my email address is uw@urielw.com, not urielw@yahoo.com. (See Why urielw@yahoo.com? for more info.)

Don't Use Dictionaries During Class

While you're using the dictionary, you are missing what's being said; so explanations have to be repeated, wasting everyone's time. Also, if you don't know a word, it is likely that other students don't know it either. Bring this to my attention by raising your hand, and give me a chance to help the whole class.

Final Course Grade and Exam

Please do not ask me privately about this. It is unfair to give some students more information than others.

The exam will be very similar in format to tests written during the semester, and will be based on material discussed in class. You don't need to remember all the details, but you need to remember the main points and, most important, you have to understand them.

Tests / Assignments

My policy is to discard each student's worst test/assignment. So if you miss or do badly on one test/assignment, that will not affect your course grade.

My records of your scores are shown at this website (see http://urielw.com/tsinghua/). If you find an error or omission, please bring your test/assignment paper and talk to me after class. (Don't email me about this.)

How to Interpret Test / Assignment Scores

I explain the detailed grading scheme for each test/assignment to students in class and/or via email. You can compare your own score to the class AVG, MIN, MAX for the same test to see how your are performing relative to your peers. Note that a zero or negative score on a test/assignment is better than not submitting the test/assignment at all. Scores will be scaled in determining final grades, but the score for a test/assignment that was not submitted will remain zero after scaling.

Recommendation Letters

It's unfortunate that graduate schools demand recommendation letters of students. But please don't ask me. I will say no.

Communicate Your Suggestions

If anything we do in class should be different, LET ME KNOW. I want what you want. If most students agree with you, then I will be happy to change my teaching. We can read more articles, fewer articles, different kinds of articles; we can change the structure of the class; we can have more discussion and debate -- if that is what you want. But you have to tell me, or else the improvements you have in mind cannot happen.

If you would like a change in my teaching please make your suggestion in class so we can see if other students want the same thing. But if you'd just like to offer a comment or discuss something, feel free to talk to me privately.

If you have any questions about the above, please let me know.

See you in class!

Yours respectfully,

Uriel

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