"But...but...you HAVE to help me!"

[LingualMonkey]

No, I really don't.

You see, on the first day of class, I told you (and everyone else) that if you show up, do the work, and try your honest best, I would work with you. I would arrive early or stay late at your convenience. I would meet you somewhere and discuss your writing with you despite the fact that I commute 50 minutes each way to this school. I also told you that if you decided to blow this class off, which you did, I would not be available for you. I have 120 students, two children, a long commute, and a wife who refuses to cook.

"But...but...I'm transferring to the University of Illinois at Chicago!"

Good for you. You're doing it without this credit.

"But...but...I had a car accident!"

Yes, you did. Between weeks 8 and 9 of an 11-week quarter. This explains your attendance to 6 of the first 16 classes exactly how?

"But...but...you're not being helpful."

You're right. It's because you've given me no reason to care about your education because you evidently don't care about your education, either.

"But...but...I need this class to graduate."

Yes, you do. If you end up in my class, the same rules will apply, and since I teach about half of the English composition sections here, you've got a 50-50 chance of being in my class again. Roll those dice, Sugar.

"But...but...I can complain about this."

You sure can. And I have the attendance records to prove my side of the argument as well as four grade reports that indicate that you have done absolutely none of the homework or in-class assignments and have not participated in this class a bit. Since homework, in-class work, and participation account for 40% of your grade, the best you could do--and this is if you turned in PERFECT rough drafts and final drafts of the two papers, impossible now because one is late by several weeks (from before your accident)--the best you could do is a D-. Since you're looking at some serious point reductions for at least the first paper, your absolute best grade possible right now is 50% for the quarter, and that spells "F."

"But...but..."

We're done here.

Not word-for-word, obviously, but this student had a serious entitlement complex going on. She failed. She's retaking the class with another instructor. So far, once again, her attendance is at 25% for the quarter. She really doesn't want this credit to transfer.

[JoitheArtist]

One of my roommates freshman year at college was one of those types. Nice girl, but sheeesh! She turned things in late, never went to class,and would then complain about her grades!!! Me and the other roommate were like,

And this was a private school, $25K a year. Why would you blow $100K just to fail your way through school? Do people not have enough self-respect to put a modicum of effort towards their own education anymore? Siiiiiiiiigh...

BTW, on behalf of good students everywhere, thank you for being a good teacher.

[KhirasHY]

You sound like a teacher that I would love to have in any school.

One of my favorite English professors in history would tell every class that, if we failed to produce a satisfactory paper, we would be revising it until he felt it met his criteria. Several people left the class immediately, while I simply smiled and treated that statement as a direct challenge. We still keep in touch, and I'm quite proud of his admission that I am one of the few students who has ever given him a paper that made him utter the word "Wow."

Of course, more than half of that class also failed, since he was considered the nightmare of the English department. From what I hear, he's blacklisted by every sports team; they refuse to let their star players end up in his classes, since he demands a level of literary compentancy that most of them can't achieve...

Edit: Incidentally, is this particular student a High Schooler, or a College-level student? She strikes me as High School material, but your approach seems to be more of a College perspective. I'm just curious, since I am of the (ego driven) opinion that most High School teachers go wrong fairly often with their students by not taking a hard line approach and preparing them for the fact that a College professor won't hold their hand through their education. If you're a High School teacher, then I applaud you for actually making your students work with their brains for a change...

[JoitheArtist]

One of my favorite English professors in history would tell every class that, if we failed to produce a satisfactory paper, we would be revising it until he felt it met his criteria. Several people left the class immediately, while I simply smiled and treated that statement as a direct challenge. We still keep in touch, and I'm quite proud of his admission that I am one of the few students who has ever given him a paper that made him utter the word "Wow."

I had a teacher like that in junior college (did some college classes during senior year of high school). He and I got along GREAT: we were both literary people in a town of people who didn't read much. He loved my papers (i got a perfect 100 on the paper I wrote about the lyrics of Shine On You Crazy Diamond), and when the main branch of the college sponsored a writing contest, he insisted I enter. I did. I won, with the first short story I ever wrote. He was so proud! I have now written 3 full-length novels--the first one that gets published, I'm dedicating to him. He died of cancer about 3 years ago, but I'll never forget him.

[KhirasHY]

I had a teacher like that in junior college (did some college classes during senior year of high school). He and I got along GREAT: we were both literary people in a town of people who didn't read much. He loved my papers (i got a perfect 100 on the paper I wrote about the lyrics of Shine On You Crazy Diamond), and when the main branch of the college sponsored a writing contest, he insisted I enter. I did. I won, with the first short story I ever wrote. He was so proud! I have now written 3 full-length novels--the first one that gets published, I'm dedicating to him. He died of cancer about 3 years ago, but I'll never forget him.

Mention it here when one gets published What genre?

Personally, I approach all writing with the David Eddings approach: "Write until you have a word count of about a million. Then burn it." I don't think I ever wrote so much as a letter without revising it five or six times, and while I get a bit lazy on forum posts (tee hee ), I tend to be a bit OCD when it comes to real writing. This explains my interest in the classroom, since it absolutely infuriates me when I run into someone who, after the age of 10, still has problems with the "their, there, and they're" problem. Same goes for "to, two, and too" since mistakes like that tend to make me want to run towards the nearest living thing and kill it.

[Evil Queen]

I want cool teachers like that!

Hopefully I'll have that when I go to college for Business.

[PhotoChick]

I had a "friend" my freshman year. She was getting loans/grants to go to school. At the beginning of the semester we were in the same math class but I dropped it because I couldn't understand the teacher (bad teaching style for me). I guess she just stopped going to class. At the end of the semester, she came to me. She failed and she needed proof that she had been to class after X date so they wouldnt revoke her loans/grants.

[BookstoreEscapee]

There was a guy in my college freshman class who had a .2XX GPA. Yes, that decimal is in the right place. He was not in my sophomore class.

[Hyndis]

There was a guy in my college freshman class who had a .2XX GPA. Yes, that decimal is in the right place. He was not in my sophomore class.

He took five classes and got four F's and one D?

[RootedPhoenix]

He took five classes and got four F's and one D?

So that's how he did it. Yikes.

[Kalga]

Of course, more than half of that class also failed, since he was considered the nightmare of the English department. From what I hear, he's blacklisted by every sports team; they refuse to let their star players end up in his classes, since he demands a level of literary compentancy that most of them can't achieve...

First off. OP. Teach at my school.

Secondly: This teacher sounds awesome.

"You can't fail him! We'll lose the game without him!"

"He should have thought about that before he skipped learning how to read."




I actually got into a big argument with someone over this.



"How do you know so much?"
"I read books."

~~~

"Oh, now you think you're all superior to me because you read!?"
"When was the last time you finished a book of your own volition?"
"...?"
"When was the last time you read a book without someone telling you to?"
"...Um...Never?"
"Then yes. I think I'm just a tad over your intellectual level."

He then tried to argue how he read an audio book one time. (He's perfectly capible of reading actual books, and he did not try to say he listened to one. He tried to say he read one. READ. AN. AUDIOBOOK.)

Please, It's gotten to the point I have to talk to myself for intelligent conversation.

[Skeksin]

Well I believe that most of us here on the boards have a reasonable level of intelligence, so we are out here, somewhere.
And you are communicating with us. Granted you aren't actually talking but any Voice over IP program can fix that if you are really going through that much withdrawal.

[Tigress]

I actually got into a big argument with someone over this.



"How do you know so much?"
"I read books."

~~~

"Oh, now you think you're all superior to me because you read!?"
"When was the last time you finished a book of your own volition?"
"...?"
"When was the last time you read a book without someone telling you to?"
"...Um...Never?"
"Then yes. I think I'm just a tad over your intellectual level."

I got this all the time during middle and high school. I'm always reading something for fun. Most of my classmates in the little hick town I lived in teased me over it, saying that I was only reading that Really Long Book because it made me "look smart". Or there was no way that I could have finished the reading assignment a week before it was due. Never mind that I read at a college level by the time I got to middle school.

At a couple of jobs I had, I faced a repeat of this song and dance. Look, dumbass, I don't tease you for watching soaps or Jackass on your lunch break. Don't tease me because I'm reading Pratchett (and laughing my head off) on mine.

[BookstoreEscapee]

He took five classes and got four F's and one D?

Sounds about right. I don't know what classes he was taking (or not, as the case may be). He was the roommate of a guy I was sorta friends with.

[Cat]

Sounds like my awesome Chem teacher....I despised her the first half of Chem 1, it was a extremely difficult class, and she was a task master. Even so, I went to all the extra help she offered and met after class....'round mid-terms, I found out what she was doing. Weeding out the weak..not the ones who found difficulty with the material, but the ones who didn't show for class or extra help. After mid-terms, they were gone, and the class was extremely fun....still hard, but she let her guard down and had fun with the students she knew were there for the education.

Got in a fight with a roomie, she was insulting one of my meteorology profs for not making the class easier for non-sci majors. I pointed out to her that if he did so, he'd cheapen the class for the people who wanted to be there for more than the sci credit to graduate.