What grade do I teach anyway?

For the past few weeks, I've been reading the teaching suggestions of Rafe Esquith, a 25 year veteran of an elementary school in Los Angeles. First it was There Are No Shortcuts and now it's Teach Like Your Hair Is On Fire, which I heard about on NPR. Rafe (this is what his 5th graders call him, so I'm gonna dispense with formalities) has some great suggestions for teaching 5th graders, which begs the question - why am I reading his books?

I teach college kids - mainly freshmen in an entry level Biology lab. In a past life I did do environmental education programs for grade-school kids but I was not their regular teacher. I'm still not a regular teacher, since I only see my students once a week for 2 hours. Or am I? The definitions must change when kids transition to college. What I'm pondering here is whether what I do can be compared in any way to what Rafe does. When I started my PhD, my advisor told me that teaching college kids is a lot like teaching 4th graders so I would have no problem teaching.

And I don't! For 3 years now, I have received pretty good reviews from my students regarding my teaching. But reading Rafe's books I am beginning to wonder if I'm doing enough. Now granted, I am a student myself and I certainly have this dissertation thing to finish. Giving the kids more time than what is allotted for lab is probably not feasible. Save this strategy for when I am a professor. However, I wonder if I should be teaching the kids more skills in addition to waling them through the labs. Should I teach them tricks for studying effectively (but shouldn't they know these already)? Should I do drills to make sure they've figured out the concept of null hypothesis testing (odds are - they haven't)? And a big question - how much should I care when they fail? Don't get me wrong - I DO care. But sometimes I find myself feeling indifferent when the students don't seem to care and then that gets me wondering if I should ever pester anyone who doesn't do well...

...like the kid who just scored 16% on the 1st lab quiz. Does she get a lecture, a gentle talking to ("What's up with this grade?") in the hall, a wry smile, or a downward glance as I hand her the graded quiz? What if she just doesn't care? The guy who oversees all of us TAs tells me not to worry about the students - if they're concerned, they'll come to you. So then, they're not to be treated like 4th graders, I guess. Or is he right? When does hand-holding become a bad thing?

And more on Rafe's books - one of his prime points is that mediocrity has become the norm in our society. I think he's right! Hell, I am a great example. I was in the 21st percentile in high school and a low A student in undergrad. Only as a graduate student did I consistently maintain an A average. This might sound ok to some people, but I feel like I could have done MORE!!!! I know I don't work as hard as I could on a daily basis. And I'm not gettin' any younger, as they say.

I think my students are getting off really easy...the material they're learning is simple, they continually use the same equipment over and over in lab, their quizzes are pretty darn easy...and yet some of them are making 16%. I guess I should console myself with the idea that these students are probably good at something else - just not biology. But could that be different if I choose to set the bar for myself at a point higher than mediocre?