So I’ve been teaching for over a year now …

My main challenge is the students themselves! The job itself it is not challenging at all and by that it doesn’t provide any kind of satisfaction! I guess this is why teaching as a profession is considered a selfless act!

Today’s students don’t want to learn or at least mine don’t. They’ve complained about me to other instructors! Complains that my assignments are too hard! In one of my lab courses after the students go through the lab, I grade them based on a problem they have to think about and solve. This apparently has never been done … Why don’t I write the solution on the board and have them copy paste it? WTF, am I testing their eye sight! To those I say, next time avoid my classes, this is my way!

One student actually said … I’m not an Engineer, my job is NOT to think … I do what I’m told! I replied, you know you just insulted yourself O_o’

As an instructor I do my best, sometimes I’m so exhausted and frustrated and I can see their blank faces not registering a thing I’m saying!

Every now and then I’m asked a question I do not know the answer to, I simply say, I’m sorry I don’t know the answer, I’ll check it out and get back to you. Especially in programming and different editors out there that I’m not totally familiar with. Sometimes I realise that I’ve said something wrong in class when discussing with another colleague so next lecture I correct that information. My colleague told me, you can’t say you said something wrong! Why not? I’m not miss know it all! I do lose confidence in myself, when I realise that I’ve said something wrong or I can’t provide an answer but I know no other way …

!تقولي، مريم اكثرت الشكاوي عليك! شنو قاعد تعطينهم! قلتلها ودي وحدة تقول يعطيها العافية أستاذة مريم قاعد تتعب معانا و تعلمنا غصب

But in my environment I consider this as a compliment since this is what I hear while walking around … “I LOVE this instructor, first 3 weeks he doesn’t attend, he gives a lecture now and then and the rest is off, no quizzes, no homeworks and the exam is open book, YEHABIL”