hilltopics Images People Features 6A
Friday, September 8, 2000
For comments, contact Clay McCuistion at 864-4924 or e-mail features@kansan.com
Early-morning classes test devotion to learning as students, teachers rise at the...
By Karen Lucas writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Kirby Fields teaches writing at an hour that is unthinkable for some people.
Fields, a graduate teaching assistant in English, meets with his English 101 class at 7:30 a.m. three days a week. But being in the classroom before many students and staff arrive on campus is not something he dreads.
"I requested it because I think you get higher caliber students at 7:30 in the morning," he said.
"Almost all of them chose to be there," he said. "It makes you at least optimistic they are not going to be nodding off at that hour."
Fields' preference for an early morning class is shared by others, including most of his 25 students. He said he took a poll the first day of class and learned that his students wanted the 7:30 class.
Jeff Koenigs, Seattle freshman, gets up at 5:45. He said Fields' class was compatible with his 40-hour work week schedule. Koenigs said he also liked being there at a time when the building wasn't crowded.
Yet Rahle Fonteen, Manhattan freshman, said even though she liked Fields, she would have preferred to take the class later in the day.
"It's hard getting up early," she said. "This was the only one I could fit into my schedule," she said.
Regardless of their reasons for being there, Fields' students seemed to have no problem staying interested in a recent class.
Fields drew laughs from them when he referred to the 2 Live Crew song "Me So Horny" and compared attendees at the recent Republican convention to the characters from Beverly Hills 90210.
"I didn't expect him to be engaging and funny," Koenigs said. "His sense
of humor makes the time go by faster.
If we were to have a boring teacher, I might very well go to sleep."
"This is kind of what I got stuck with," he said. "Basically, I think the new GTAs get the early classes."
No problem finding a parking space
In another classroom on the fourth floor of Wesco, Ken Parker, GTA in mathematics, teaches a 7:30 a.m. precalculus class to about 55 students. Unlike Fields, Parker said he would
Parker did say that having a 7:30 class was beneficial in one way.
"The plus is you don't ever have a problem finding a parking space," he said.
Even though students can't say they were late because they had trouble parking, Parker is not strict
about tardiness. When a few students arrived during the first 10 minutes of his lecture on graphing equations, Parker didn't let it bother him.
"I don't care," he said. "They weren't that late."
One latecomer, Frank Dillon,
Eudora freshman, said he was late
because he missed his bus. Still, he
said he liked going to class that early.
"I don't want to have classes in the afternoon," he said. "I've always been a morning person."
Another of Parker's students, Stuart Holmes, Dallas freshman, said he preferred a 7:30 class so wouldn't waste the day. But his 6:15 a.m. wake-up time also has a drawback.
"Sometimes, I get a little tired later in the day, and then I just take an hour nap," he said.
Trying to accommodate all students
Parker's and Fields' departments aren't the only ones offering 7:30 classes. Chemistry labs and health, sport and exercise sciences classes are some of the other courses that students can take early in the morning.
Brenda Selman, associate registrar,
said schools and departments decided
when they wanted to offer classes.
The Office of the University Registrar,
in turn, finalizes the schedules
and works with a school or department if there is a space problem.
Robin Holladay, office supervisor for freshman and sophomore English.
said she emphasizes variety when scheduling part-time staff.
"We try to accommodate all students, from those that like an early morning class to the nontraditional student who needs a class after work or in the evening," she said.
But Hollady said she would stop scheduling 7:30 classes if the time came when nobody wanted to teach them.
Some departments don't offer 7:30 classes.
Melanie Hepburn, assistant dean of Social Welfare, said scheduling classes before 8:30 a.m. would inconvenience many of the school's students because they had to commute to Lawrence.
"It would be a hardship for them to get here any earlier," she said. Even if a 7:30 class is listed in the timetable, that doesn't mean it ends up being offered.
"Sometimes, we only have two or three students who enroll in a 7:30 section," said Danny Anderson, professor and chairman of Spanish and Portuguese. "With classes that small, we cancel them and move the students into other sections."
Jeff Moran, professor of history, said he doubted students could perform well at 7:30 a.m.
"I don't think students are ready to think analytically at that time of day," he said.
- Edited by Amy Randolph
STU'S MIDTOWN TAVERN
If you are interested in volunteering as an advocate for battered women and children, come to one of our informational meetings. Training starts September 16.
- Saturday, September 9, 9:30-11:30 am Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont
- Tuesday, September 12, 7-9 pm Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont
For more information, call Women's Transitional Care Services at 865-3956
4