With college classes getting bigger each year, getting to know your professors has become increasingly difficult. Often times, students end up sitting in lectures hall and simply listen for hours upon hours.
Thinking back on college, I wish I would have shook that hand of all my professors. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so. However, in my last year at UCSB I found a couple ways to bridge the gap between student and teacher. Here are my suggestions….
Office Hours
Surprisingly, professors usually sit in small offices for a couple hours completely alone. Make an effort, especially in the first few weeks of the semester, to swing by their office hours and say hello. You don’t even have to talk about course material. “How long have you been teaching for?” or “What’s new?” will work just fine.
Speak Up
This is tough when you’re in a classroom with hundreds of people. It takes confidence and courage to ask or answer a question. Don’t be scared of those laughing at you, cause those students aren’t that cool anyway.
Disagree
Repeat after me, “Professors Are Not Gods”. In fact, they’re are often times wrong. Why not challenge what they say? If you’re right the teachers will definitely remember you. If you’re wrong, they’ll have a great time proving they’re right. It’s a win win situation.
Don’t Fall Asleep
Laugh as you may, but I remember dozens of students falling asleep during long lectures. Professors hate it when students aren’t paying attention. You don’t have to go to class if you don’t want to! Make sure that you’re paying attention and actually want to be in a classroom.
There are infinite ways to stand out in large college classes, but these tactics helped me immensely in the last years of college. Getting “lost in the crowd” has never been easier at large universities, but getting to know your professor will make your life much easier. So while your peers are finishing crossword puzzles, sit up straight and give your professor a reason to remember your name.
This article was written by Woody Robinson of FindTheBest. What is FindTheBest? It’s an objective, socially curated comparisonengine that allows you to find a topic (from colleges to cars), compare your options and decide what’s best for you.
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Professors should change the way they teach so no students fall asleep and people are actually engaged into the session. I don't even want to say "lecture" because I hate the word. We live in the 21st century and we need to prompt our role models to show some initiative when it comes to teaching us. Professors know that people will either fall asleep, or just wait till the talking is done so they can go home. They don't really take this to heart as a problem. The reason is, teaching doesn't matter when it comes to professors' performance reviews. They are not there to teach, they are there to do research, get published, and bring funds to the faculty they work for. So challenging them is great, asking them questions and not agreeing with them is great. But remember, they would rather be left alone. Which in my opinion cannot be more wrong. Sometimes professors forget that if there were no students, they will be out of jobs.