Not Optional

[Redbeard]

It's a very touchy-feely department, so I have to be very careful how I phrase things. As an adjunct, I don't have a lot of freedom.

Gotcha. Good luck with all that, then.

[Sapphire Silk]

When I'm told this, I really want to reply, "Well, enjoy your F, then."

There's a history professor on my campus who is my hero. At the end of one semester, I was over in his department to use a scan tron machine shared by several departments when I noticed a trash can sitting in a hall way. On a sign taped to the wall above the trash can were the words, "Late Papers Here" with an arrow pointing into the trash can.

I was new faculty at the time, with a wishy washy Department Chair. The history prof's example inspired me. I no longer accept late work. I was sick and tired of chasing after students to turn it in, and not being able to evaluate their performance because I didn't have it.

I've had a couple of students fail to turn in papers on time. I've refused to grade them late every time, and you know what? The students who don't turn in their written assignments are the same ones who are flunking the exams and doing horribly in clinic. So I feel no pity or guilt over my stance on this.

Dark Ages 2: The Return of Ignorance

Few things teachers could do in school would make me angrier than busy work. Work they made up just so we would be doing something due to a lack of planning on thier part. But I didnt mind actual assignments unless it was some stupid english assignment in which I was supposed to figure out what the author 'really meant'. Since the work was in english and I spoke english Im pretty sure it was obvious what the author did or didnt mean with spending a week trying to figure out what he/she was really saying about the green grass.

One man's busy work is another man's crucial work. Learning how to analyze the subtle meanings of things like poetry and other forms of literature is the building block of critical thinking.

Snookums ran to mommy and daddy crying about how unfair her teacher was, that she wouldn't help her with extra credit. Parents threatened to so sue if she didn't pass her. District caved and allowed her to take a new test 5 hrs before graduation.

I've heard stories like this before. I bend over backwards to err on the side of the student, but when they just plain don't do the work there is not much I can do. And it sets a TERRIBLE example for other students to make exceptions like this.

A few years ago, a student of mine came into my office with a question. She wanted to know if I had meant what I said about the policies laid out in my syllabus, policies I had discussed with the entire class on Day One.

I told her yes, I had meant it. I knew the other shoe was about to drop.

She then asked why, then, was she being allowed to fail the class by a fraction of a percentage point (if your score was 69.4, it rounded down, not up to a 70, which was passing), when three other students had failed to get passing scores on a Mandatory paper (which was Pass/Fail) even though they'd been given multiple redo's on the paper but were being allowed to pass the course?

It was a fair question. She had a point, no doubt on it. The students in question were being allowed yet another redo after the Christmas break, and being given Incompletes rather than an F for the course.

The student then showed me the Facebook page of one of the students who hadn't done a satisfactory job on her paper (I'm talking middle school work here, folks), where this student is calling me a bitch and every other name under the sun.

We had a big meeting about the issue: me, and four other faculty who team taught the course with me (I was Team Leader for the course). I was very angry; I'd pressed to have the paper made a point graded item instead of pass/fail, and been turned down because "pass fail is the way we've always done it." Yeah, and now look where we are.

We finally opted to allow the students to do oral projects because they just couldn't write (over my objections). Two passed, the one on Facebook who'd called me a bitch still didn't. She appealed her F and won an extension and two months into the following semester finally completed the requirement (graded by someone else just to push her through).

I was pissed. Her peers were pissed. The double standard was clear.

That's when I got real hard ass about grading. All assignments (except clinic) are point based. You turn it in on time or it is not graded. You get what points you get based off the rubric for the assignment. No "do overs." I don't fudge grades to make averages or bell curves look better. It is what it is.

And at the end of the semester, I no longer pull out my hair because hardly anyone flunks by 0.1 percentage points. They either flunk massively, or the pass by a comfortable margin.

It's a very touchy-feely department, so I have to be very careful how I phrase things. As an adjunct, I don't have a lot of freedom.

I hear ya there. That's a big problem in higher education. Department chairs interested in retention rates aren't very sympathetic towards adjuncts whose students are not meeting the standard.

I swear, we seem to be infantilizing people for longer periods. Even post-secondary teachers seem to be expected to be "nice" and "upbeat" no matter what the circumstances are. I'm back in college after a layoff and I actually had one teacher say something to the effect of "So if you guys aren't doing well that's my fault."
<snip>
My chemistry teacher has tossed students out of lab for not having their pre-lab work done or not having their lab coat or not having necessary safety equipment (like goggles) when it's needed. Not surprisingly, some of the students really hate her.

The Master of my old Tae Kwon Do school once told me, "In Korea the teaching philosophy is Master Say, Student Do." He then went on to explain that what this meant was not that the student had to subject himself to blind obedience, but rather that the Master was as responsible for a student's learning as the student was. If both were putting in the required effort, learning should take place and if it didn't the fault was with the master as the superior.

I actually like that line of thinking. It makes me take ownership of my teaching style, which I think makes me a better teacher.

However, I do see what you mean by infantilizing students. I would see my online professors do this when I did my MSN at the Burning Bird University, and I see other professors do this at the online school I'm teaching at now. I can see being a good coach and cheerleader, but the student also has to produce results.

I get the bit about lab coats, though. For my class, students have to wear lab coats to nursing lab or Simulation. No coat, and you are counted absent for the day. Ditto if you don't bring your lab kit.

[BrenDAnn]

My father drilled it into my head from a young age that we all have to do things we don't want to do. That's just how life is. Did it take me most of my school years to actually get that through my head and do the work I was assigned? Yes. Do I carry that lesson with me for the rest of my life now? Yes. Someday, those students might grow up. Maybe. If you're lucky.

[wynjara]

I always hated Thanksgiving break, from at least middle school on, because we always had a huge project or three that we had to work on so it felt like whatever the exact opposite of a vacation was. We never tried to talk professors out of it, but I do admit we begged to cancel late (5:30pm or later) Wednesday night classes before the long weekend. Most of us had long drives ahead.

[ArcticChicken]

"So if you guys aren't doing well that's my fault."

To be fair, if everyone isn't doing well, then it's probably something to do with the teacher. Although not always, I'm thinking of an Earth Science class in HS where every single person failed a test. Except me. I got a 90 something. (Still failed the class, though, never did the homework. Undiagnosed depression is fun!!)

[Teefies2]

When I taught Contracts at a local community college, I bent over backwards to make sure my students got every point coming to them. I laid out the syllabus the first day of class, stressed several times that the tests were the only things that counted towards your grade, and offered extra help when anyone needed it. I also spent the class before each test basically going over the questions and answers (okay I admit, there was always one question on the test that we had not discussed, but was to be found in the reading).

I worked full-time as well as teaching this class, and my job required hours past 5pm - a 10 hour day was not unusual - but I still found the time to prepare for my class as well as grade tests, answer phone calls, etc., oh and an actual life! Once the first two tests had been graded (on a curve, I might add), I even offered extra credit assignments for those who didn't do well on the test(s).

After one semester ended, I got a call from the department head that Student X was appealing her failing grade and what was I gonna do about it? I showed him that she had failed every single test, did not make an appeal for help and did not complete the extra credit assignments that were available. I didn't, however, point out that she only came to class 1 of the 3 days each week we met - I was holding that in reserve ;-) Department head said, well it's on her, then isn't it? I never heard another word from her or the department head.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

My father drilled it into my head from a young age that we all have to do things we don't want to do. That's just how life is. Did it take me most of my school years to actually get that through my head and do the work I was assigned? Yes. Do I carry that lesson with me for the rest of my life now? Yes. Someday, those students might grow up. Maybe. If you're lucky.

Sounds like what I (maybe their dad too) told my stepkids when they were growing up. My stepson isn't doing so well with it, and he's 25...at least he lives with his mother now and not us. My stepdaughter struggles a bit but I think she's trying, and at least she's married and out on her own.

[Ironclad Alibi]

My father drilled it into my head from a young age that we all have to do things we don't want to do. That's just how life is.

A co-worker on the first job I had out of college had been assigned a project that he had lobbied against, much perferring another way of doing the job. He was questioned as to why he worked so hard on the project when it wasn't the one he wanted. His explanation was, "I was hired to do the job, not to like it." That was a lesson I have kept in mind ever since.

[ShadowBall]

Well sure, homework is optional if you don't mind failing when you don't turn stuff in. It just sucks because maybe a decade or so ago, if a kid did shit-tastic in class, it was his fault and he'd get screamed at. Now, if a kid does bad in any grade level - from kindergarten up to university - Mommy and Daddy charge in like bulls to scream bloody murder at the teacher.

You can only do so much to teach and to motivate, but there will always be at least one student who is just totally worthless and who will not do a fucking thing. Sadly, these days students and parents alike know if they bitch loud and long enough, they can get their own way. It really sucks.

I've been assigned shit I didn't like or want to do either, but I bit my tongue and just did it as best I could because hey, it's homework. Rarely is it fun. That's why it's called work. I'd make a bad teacher because if some lazy little snot came up to me and whined about not wanting to do homework but not liking a failing grade, I'd tell them to go hide under Mommy's dress again and be home-schooled.

This is also why I liked my one professor in undergrad - he was a really funny guy, but he also took no shit from his students. He's thrown people out for mouthing off to him, he forced us to listen to Yanni when no one would participate in the class critique, and he never accepted late work ever. Of course everyone said, "Oh don't be in his class. He's an asshole" because he (gasp) expected his students to turn shit in on time! Oh, the horrors!

[Kristev]

I loved college. I just couldn't cut it in science or mathematics (my major weakness.) I knew early on I was responsible for my own grades. It's just that I can't do any math beyond the basics. College doesn't like that.

[Metody]

I get the bit about lab coats, though. For my class, students have to wear lab coats to nursing lab or Simulation. No coat, and you are counted absent for the day. Ditto if you don't bring your lab kit.

This is a good policy. My school had the same one. You either learned to make sure you had all your gear, or you didn't pass.

I just started my new job, along with three other new-to-this-hospital people, and you can be darned sure it wasn't me who showed up to the first day without a stethoscope, penlight or watch.

[Eisa]

I do remember my AP Biology teacher being kind of an asshole. The class was impossible. He said it was to "prepare us for college," but his tests were all about tiny nuances of questions that weren't in the book OR in the lecture...when exactly were we supposed to learn it? I was terrified of college until I went and discovered my honors classes were easier than his class. If it wasn't for the fact that homework etc. counted more, 95% of the people there would have flunked.

Most of my college professors would accept late essays--but take off 5% of your grade, or even a letter grade, if it was late. So even if you were ten minutes late, bam, you're automatically down x amount of points. Sucked, but it was better than an F.

There were assignments I didn't do in school, or half-assed, but I knew what the consequence would be. If you don't wanna do it, you don't get the grade, it's that simple. If you're ok with that, fine, but don't whine about it to the professor, they don't give a shit.

[Miss Fatale]

There were assignments I didn't do in school, or half-assed, but I knew what the consequence would be. If you don't wanna do it, you don't get the grade, it's that simple. If you're ok with that, fine, but don't whine about it to the professor, they don't give a shit.

That's what it comes down to for me. If you don't want to do your work, that's fine. If you have to turn in work late, that's fine. Stuff happens, sometimes other things take a higher priority.

If a student comes to me before hand, we can usually work something out. Saying "I don't want to" is not working something out.

But then don't complain about the consequences, if you don't turn it in, etc. Ah well, this website shows us that people love to complain about the consequences.

[EricKei]

But I didnt mind actual assignments unless it was some stupid english assignment in which I was supposed to figure out what the author 'really meant'.

I have an English degree, myself, as well as a confession -- I utterly *detest* in-depth "analysis" of a work to try and figure out "what the author meant". IMHO, only one person really knows the answer to that question: the author. That being said, I did it anyway, and I am reasonably competent at it. It came with the territory.

Maybe it's just me, but I have found that the (relative) quality of the story itself makes a big difference -- If I'm being made to slog through one of the more onerous "Classics-With-A-Capital-C" like Catcher in the Rye, I'm not going to go that deep when it comes to analysis, simply because I hated reading it to begin with (then, again, one of my ONLY "100%" term papers, ever, was on Pygmalion/"My Fair Lady", which I hated. Maybe I was motivated to tear it a new one ^_^).

If the story isn't a good read, then why, I ask, should I care about its meaning?
If the story is a solid read, then exploring its depths could be fun -- or it could ruin the story; who knows?

If I am reading something like the Narnia books "just for fun", I know quite well that there is a religious undercurrent; I just don't care. The books are enjoyable, light reading works that stand on their own, though they are certainly open to further interpretation (and not on this board, that's why we have Fratching); but they do not need it in order to be properly enjoyed. Ditto the Alice in Wonderland, Oz, LoTR (tho not exactly light reading), Pern, or Hitchhiker's Guide books. I enjoy all of them on a surface level, and I can delve deeper when I want to. It's just that I don't always want to, and I don't believe that I should be made to when I just wanna curl up with a good book. Likewise, do I need to explicate the hell out of a good poem (e.g. "Kubla Khan" (sp?) by Coleridge) if I already enjoy the "sound and feel" of it? Do I need to know that the word "death", as used in poetry, usually refers to "a little death", and not cessation of life? Most of the time, no. I am willing to look for it -- I just prefer to see if a work can stand on its own merits before seeing if a deeper assay is worth my time.

Of course, this could also be a remnant of my attitude towards reading in general -- I LOVE to read things on my own. I hate being forced to read something....But I do it anyway ^_^

It's a very touchy-feely department, so I have to be very careful how I phrase things. As an adjunct, I don't have a lot of freedom.

Could you, perhaps, get away with this...?

*look up* "Ah. That's nice." *go back to whatever you were doing before*

Most of my college professors would accept late essays--but take off 5% of your grade, or even a letter grade, if it was late. So even if you were ten minutes late, bam, you're automatically down x amount of points. Sucked, but it was better than an F.

If I ever end up as a teacher, I think this is what I would do, at least for High Schoolers or Frosh/Softies. Once you hit Junior level in college, or something higher, the students need to have the time and skills needed to drop such a thing and revert to "on time or it goes in the round file", *especially* in a Major-specific course where you knew everything about the papers (length, subject, format, due date) from Day One.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I have an English degree, myself, as well as a confession -- I utterly *detest* in-depth "analysis" of a work to try and figure out "what the author meant".

The only issue I ever had with the "meaning in a story" was in a high school English class. We had to write a short story. Which I did, and got a lesser grade than I thought I deserved. I asked the teacher about it and she said she couldn't figure out the meaning behind the story. I made up something that seem to satisfy her. The problem was, when she gave us the assignment, she didn't say anything about it having a meaning. It was a few years later when I found the quote below.

''If you want to send a message, use Western Union.''