Anyone else hated being called on in class?

[friesianrider]

I have a Spanish class that I've missed like 7 times because the professor calls on us all the time. I hate it! I always spend more time worrying about having the correct answer and not embarassing myself than I do to actually paying attention to the class.

The sad part is, I don't really particularly care what I look like when I go to class (usually go in sweats - my SO is hours away so who cares lol), or what people think of me in a general sense, but I SOOO fear being called on and just having no friggin' clue what the prof is saying in Spanish...and the rest of the class thinking "God what a fucking moron. How can she not know THAT!?"

Am I totally pathetic for fearing this so much?

[hfojvt]

1. I used to hate talking in class

I never had a prof or a teacher past the fourth grade actually call on people, but they often asked questions to the whole class, and that silence always bugged me. So I usually would be the first to take a stab at it. I had one prof who used to offer money, like 25 cents. If there was still no answer, he would goto fifty cents. I made a little bit of money in that class. My favorite was when he was working on some equations, and it looked like he was heading towards the law of cosine. I was going to ask if he could derive that from what he had. Then he did about three more steps which lead to law of cosine, and said 'I've got a dollar for the person who can tell me what that is.' I said 'law of cosine' when he started to say 'that'.
But another time a TA was working on equations and dropped a two between steps. Why was I the only one who apparently saw it. I was checking to make sure he actually dropped the two, and then hoping it would not matter. I hated to say anything because I knew, from past experience that the whole class would turn around and look at me, and then I would fumble around trying to explain where his mistake was. But then he got stuck, and class was already two minutes over, so I picked up my books and coat and walked up to the front and pointed at the board 'right there, you dropped a two'. That TA was living in the same dorm as me, and later told me he was mad that I didn't say something earlier, but to me that would have been so awkward.

[huskerlaw]

2. Used to.

Then I went to law school, where being called on for a full hour is a daily possibility. I got over the fear...it became an annoyance.

Just know that nobody in the class actually WANTS to be called on randomly. Everyone fears looking stupid. Chances are everyone WILL look stupid at one point or another. Think of your classmates as fellow prisoners of war...you're all in it together. They're not likely to think you're a moron because they know full well it could be them tomorrow.

[Scoots]

5. Absolutely. Especially with one of those professors who can't stand to

be corrected. I once got yelled at (truly 'yelled') for asking why the first reading assignment was due the second week of class. About an hour after yelling at me for not being thorough and checking my facts before wasting his time, he finally admitted that he had read the dates for the wrong calender year.

It was nice to have everyone in the class back me up on that one.

[Straight Shooter]

3. You're letting your professor intimidate you?

You can whip fweeper trolls into line with one remark on DU and yet this professor has you missing class 7 times?

I'm not hearing this, I've got my fingers in my ears and singing la-la-la-la-la-la.

[friesianrider]

14. LOL...

I know, I know...it's dumb. I got a mind thing about it when I was in the 3rd grade and a math teacher made me go to the front of the board and do a math problem I had no idea how to do. I was so embarassed...and ever since I've been fearful of stuff like this.

It's ironic because I have no problems public speaking or anything like that...

[amerikat]

4. no se'

I had spanish too.

[DanCa]

6. I got scars on my knuckles from the nuns rulers

we called our math teacher sister mary trigger happy. I hated St. Percorpius. (SP early morning leighway.)

[jpgray]

7. When you're prepared, or are popular in the class it's great fun

Otherwise, not so much.

[Borgnine]

8. God yes.

I have a fear of public speaking. Which is irrational, because it comes and goes. My friends are always telling me I should into stand-up comedy or acting, but I just can't. It stems back from not being athletic in junior high and getting mocked in gym class by my teacher and peers (I was a skinny little geek).

So now that I'm in college, I always tense up in classes where the professor randomly calls on people and asks them questions. I end up making hand impressions in my pencils because I grip them so hard. I'll usually sit in the back of the class behind larger people as to avoid detection.

I hate it. It really does take away from the experience of learning.

[RedCloud]

9. Tú eres una gallina totalmente patética.

I have no sympathy for you. You are in an interactive class where you are trying to learn a language. A living language. So be alive and get off that pathetic Eagles sideline and get in the game. Volunteer when you know something. You'll feel better. And remember this: Language is a form of intercourse. The more you have this intercourse, the better you will feel.

You think you have it bad? I was a young, shy university student. But some of my young female instructors pushed me to the limits:

Psychology:

"Red Cloud, since you are the only male in this section (I was 17 at the time), you will report next week orally to this class on human sexual responses!"

(the class had about 23 female students)


Comparative Linguistics:

"Red Cloud, for your project you will report to the class on Turkish insult rituals with examples you translated into English. (I thought. "How bad can this be? At least I am not talking about the myth of simultaneous orgasms...") (It was a lot worse: If you don't clear the pass, I will deflower your ass...)

I was actually just a white cloud back then, but those events coupled with my obligatory Primatology paper on Monkey Sex turned me completely red forever!!

[friesianrider]

10. Oh, um, okay.

Er, thanks for the um...whatever that was.

[tigereye]

11. he he

laughing at Red Cloud

[tigereye]

12. only if I didn't know the answers

sadly, I was one of those know it alls who always had my hand up...

[friesianrider]

13. That's the funny thing...

If anyone raises their hand (like me) when they DO know the answer (and I do raise my hand a good bit)...he won't call on you. Ever. He will ONLY randomly pick people who look like they are confused or are unsure of the answer. This would be okay I guess if he actually TAUGHT anything in the class (he's about 78 years old so teaches absolutely nothing). He just assigns people stuff to read and spends the entire class asking questions and quizzing random students on the material. That's the entire class.

The exams are super-easy but it just sucks because I'm paying a gazillion dollars a credit so I can teach *myself* Spanish using the book and have to go to this ridiculous class three times a week. I could have learned this much through a Spanish for Dummies DVD and saved myself getting up ay 6:30 am for an 8 am class that sucks. *hmph*

[tjwash]

15. I was always getting woke up from my naps.

That was the truly annoying part...

[arwalden]

16. It's A Vicious Cycle...The Less Someone Attends Class...

... the less they are likely to learn anything. The less they learn, the more likely they are to not know the answer (or understand the question)... and the less interest they have in the class... so the less likely they are to attend... and it starts all over again.

[maveric]

17. As a stutterer I HATED speaking in class.

I wont begin to tell you the embarrassing moments I've had in school.

[bicentennial_baby]

18. How do you expect to learn a language if you're not there

and not participating when you are there?

Language learning is an active and interactive process...if I missed 7 French classes, I'd drop out, because you miss so much in that amount of classroom time.

Part of language learning is also leaving your shyness at the door, because there's absolutely no way around the oral aspect of it, sorry.

[friesianrider]

21. I'm not shy at all.

Really. I've been involved in sports, have no problems speaking in public, been in plays, etc.

I just don't like being put "on the spot." The issue isn't with speaking or practicing the language, it is being asked fairly complicated questions in Spanish (most that I've never heard before) and being expected to answer correctly.

[DS1]

19. Depends on the Professor, and the class

In politics or philosophy I loved it, in a language class notsomuch

[friesianrider]

22. That's me too.

I usually don't have a problem in a poli sci or phil class, it's just this class and math that I hate being put on the spot.

[HughBeaumont]

20. I hated going to school, period.

Sat in the back row ALL the time. I just wanted to get through the class and leave. The modern American school is the most boring fucking tedious waste of busywork-laden time ever. In 93% of the classes that I've ever been in, it was either humiliating, wrist-slittingly dull or aggravatingly needless. Maybe it's because I rarely got a teacher that, I don't know, made their subject FUN and INTERESTING??? I mean, how the HELL can Biology be boring? But leave it to every teacher I've had after 7th grade to make even THAT subject a slog in quicksand. I can't even tell you how many times teachers seemed to take great pleasure in humiliating me or anyone else who couldn't get their fucking answer right.

There has GOT to be a faster and more productive way to learn things. A college degree isn't even worth the paper it's printed on anymore, probably because every Joe Sportsbar and Molly Sorority out there has one. Pretty soon you'll need an MBA to be a file clerk.