Callie Clare: Life after Midterms

Callie Clare is a professor and advisor at Siena Heights University whose No. 1 goal is to see her students succeed.

Though this isn’t always the easiest job, she said it becomes slightly more difficult when the second part of the semester comes around and fatigue sets in, and sickness begins to spread.

Midterms are either a reminder of how well students are doing, or a wake up for the students who might need to step it up to finish strong.

“I notice two different trends, some students start off the school year excited and they’re getting their work done, but around week six there’s like an imaginary wall some students hit. For other students it’s the complete opposite. There are students who start off slower, not turning in assignments, then see their midterm grades and pick it up immediately after,” said Clare.

As she mentioned, the lack of effort typically begins around week six, but this semester the drop off was as early as week four or five. She said students become less engaged, and it tends to be harder to get the class involved, especially with earlier morning classes.

Clare is aware of this, and makes teaching style changes to keep her students on their toes.

“Yes, putting classes in groups. It is annoying that my classes don’t do the reading, so I try to force the reading by having breakout groups that discuss what they have read or at least what they were supposed to have read. You’ll also notice I start showing videos during class as well to spark class discussions,” explained Callie.

Clare is persistent with her students, and she said she genuinely wants to help her students perform to the best of their ability.