Writing Back In Time

By Brian Sweeney

I spent 3 years teaching physics and math to first and second year college students.  I then spent 5 years teaching math to high-school students in dual enrollment classes.  I found that, in general, the focus of personal attention toward their education was slightly more than high-school level, but below what would likely be required for future learning at the collegiate level.  They often would expect to attend class and gain the information purely from the instructor in order to pass the class with honor-roll performance.  An exercise I started after the first semester was conducted as the final question of their final exam, and would take the form of this:

Assume you have a time traveling text message phone.  If you could send yourself a message, of less than 100 words, that you would have received the first day of this class, what would it be?

The answers would sometimes be to bet on the team that won the Super Bowl, or which stocks to buy, but these responses were not as common as I would have expected.  Remember that this is the final answer on an exam that covered the entire semester, and they are writing to themselves.  More often, and in two cases without exception, the answers would include doing the homework, reading the book, taking notes in class, and not waiting until the last minute to study for the test.  The level of maturity reflected in these responses indicated that they were on the right track to better their performance in future classes.  It was not a revelation to some, as they had already demonstrated academic excellence.  But for the students I was concerned about whether they were taking away anything from the class, it was a confirmation that they were leaving the class with a better plan for their future learning.   I would use these responses the following semester as an introduction to the class.

For the students that were not meeting class standards, it was their last chance for a few extra points to their grade.  More importantly, and my goal for this exercise, was that the next instructor was going to get a more mature learner in their class.