Encouragement: More Evidence

This is a great time of year: the end of the semester. Don’t get me wrong, I love my students and find it difficult to see a class end. We have developed such a great classroom community together.

This time of year is great source of encouragement to me as I begin the next set of new classes. I wish it could be like this from the first week through the semester.

I need to remember how great each class becomes as the semester progresses. Many (not all!) of my students are resistant or scared or intimidated or overwhelmed (or many other negative emotions) by having a daily Wall Street Journal discussion in class. The requirement that they read the Journal on a regular basis is simple not appealing to many students. (Hmmm, I wonder why.) But this time of the semester is when I get to hear how much many of them have come to value and even enjoy reading the Journal and discussing current events in class. And that is after the grades are in!

Some of my most resistant students have told me that the WSJ current events discussion is the most interesting part of the class. For example, several traditional-aged students stopped me in the hallway after class to say they really enjoyed the Journal and plan to continue reading it even if it is not required in future semesters.

I was floored! I had no idea that they were so interested and stimulated.

Some of the initial resistant has diminished since so many of my colleagues are now using the Journal. It seems that students expect current events discussion and business applications from WSJ articles to be a part of the class. That is one of the many benefits you have when your school joins the Journal in an Academic Partnership.

Need more encouragement and inspiration? The thrill is not just from student comments. All kinds of excitement comes from using the Journal. Colleagues from my school and from around the country frequently share success stories with me.

One of my colleagues drafted a question for his business statistics exam using the use of statistics in the NBA. He asked the students to develop a model to predict the number of expected victories based on readily available basketball statistics (like the kind found on the back of trading cards). The idea was to show a real-life use of statistics with a fun topic for the students. Less than one week later, the Journal carried an article about how sports teams are using statisticians to aid in drafting, starting line-ups and play-calling. My friend excitedly shared the article with his classes. His students will definitely remember that concept application now.

In many of our classes, students fail to see the value of the material covered. Articles from the Wall Street Journal supply that crucial link for our students too see that it really is applicable to the world.

So remember, no matter how resistant students may be initially, things always get better as the semester progresses. They are different students now at the end of the semester.