¶ Invisible students
I just had a student come into my office for a conference. I have never seen her before. I had to ask her name and it sounded completely unfamiliar to me.
OK, I have seen her before; I must have seen her before. My class has only 24 students and they sit in a large circle. I’ve graded her papers before and I have her marked in my attendance rolls (which, of course, I stopped doing after the first week of class). She is clearly coming to class; it is just that I have never noticed her before.
She’s actually pretty attractive and intelligent. She can speak well and doesn’t stare at the floor or mumble when I asked her questions. When I tried to get her to take an intellectual leap, she paused and stared at the ceiling for a minute before answering with surprising confidence. She is getting a good (not great) grade in the class.
So why haven’t I noticed her before? Partly because I have a healthy percentage of students who do participate in class. Out of the 24 students enrolled, nearly half of them contribute regularly to class discussion. I suppose I’m surprised to discover that another half have become invisible to me.
I’m afraid at this point it’s too late. There will be a bunch of anonymous students in my class until we finish up in four weeks. Then they’ll move on to other classes and I’ll never see any of them again. Still, I can’t help but feel guilty for letting her become invisible. How many others won’t even show up to conferences today? How will I figure out who the other anonymous bodies in my class actually are?
30 October 2007