Not Optional

[Eisa]

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.

My uni did it for everyone, although some of the freshman/sophomore classes were more lenient with late work. Some of my psych professors did it especially because if you were in a lot of psych classes in one semester, you could end up with like 5 projects due the same week. That's a lot of pressure!

[EricKei]

That's a lot of pressure!

Hrm...Maybe it was a department-wide psychological study of some kind. Which makes you and the other students the guinea pigs...

[pltkcelestial18]

I'm currently in my second to last semester of college (I graduate in May with a bachelor's in Math Education) and I'm going to school to be an 8-12 math teacher, although I'm thinking of just testing to do 4-8 instead. This semester has involved a lot being in the classroom, although not as much as next semester which is my student teaching semester.

Something I've noticed though with the 10th graders and 8th graders I'm working with this year is that they seem really lazy. The school district I'm doing my student teaching and stuff in is the same one I graduated from and the same one my brother is currently in and it has just gone down hill since I've graduated 8 yrs ago. It seems like now a days, teachers just do whatever they can to pass the kids and don't hold the kids accountable and when they do, they get in trouble, not the kids. It's crazy how many students I've seen this semester alone turn in late papers or just nothing at all. I've helped both of the teachers I'm working with this year grade a few papers and just the few that I've graded, half the students didn't even attempt some of the work. I asked the 8th grade teacher about this and she said it happens all the time. I've done observations with this same teacher last year for my first ed class and both then and now I've noticed how few homework assignments she gives out. In all honesty, I think if she could she'd give out more homework but she says they never do it because they either don't have anyone at home to help them or they're "too busy"

I feel like the education system has gone downhill and not because of teachers specifically but because of school administrations and because of the government.

[Anakah]

Why can't you tell them they can enjoy their F then? It's the truth. And what a bunch of spoiled brats. Do the assignment and shut up. I'd never have the balls to go up to a teacher and to that. I worry about the next generation... Ugh.

[EricKei]

One thing did occur to me that might have had an influence on my dislike of needless explication: I went to a Parochial (Catholic) school in HS. One of the major issues there was that your thoughts on the matter had to agree at least somewhat with the Church's official Doctrine/thought...Thus, I have more than once seen someone bust out a well-thought-out, properly sourced and detailed explication of a work, only to be given a big fat Zero for the paper as he was told that HIS OPINION WAS WRONG because it disagreed with the above! O_O Naturally, they never told us what the "official" position was until afterwards; you had to kind of learn to guess it over time.

[simplyanother]

Makes me wonder what my instructors think of me, heh (though, I own all of grades, good or bad. I don't think I've earned any unfairly).

I'm not doing so well this time around, but it's more life happening and me not being able to deal with it all. Yes, there are people who can juggle 67 things at once and still make the deans list, I am apparently not one of them, at least not right now.

[Miss Fatale]

Makes me wonder what my instructors think of me, heh (though, I own all of grades, good or bad. I don't think I've earned any unfairly).

Teaching is a funny thing. I genuinely want all of my students to do well. I'd love it if they all got A's! I hate having to assign failing grades, and I do get disappointed when it seems that students aren't living up to their potential.

That said, I don't know what's going on in someone's life. If a C or a D is the best they can do, for whatever reason, well, it is what it is. I offer all the help I can, and I gladly answer questions, but after a certain point, there's nothing else to be done.

It's just frustrating to have students say, "I don't want to do X" or "You should give me a higher grade" or "Even though you said work can only be 3 days late, you should still accept my paper."

If someone said, "I don't want to do X assignment for Y reason, what about an alternate assignment of ABC" -- that's great! Or "You took off points for X, but I don't think you should have because of this, this, and this reason" -- that's great, too. So on and so forth.

I want to help, I want students to succeed. I can't do that when I'm met with an attitude of "I don't want to."

[Jay 2K Winger]

Teaching is a funny thing. I genuinely want all of my students to do well. I'd love it if they all got A's! I hate having to assign failing grades, and I do get disappointed when it seems that students aren't living up to their potential.

That said, I don't know what's going on in someone's life. If a C or a D is the best they can do, for whatever reason, well, it is what it is. I offer all the help I can, and I gladly answer questions, but after a certain point, there's nothing else to be done.

It's just frustrating to have students say, "I don't want to do X" or "You should give me a higher grade" or "Even though you said work can only be 3 days late, you should still accept my paper."

If someone said, "I don't want to do X assignment for Y reason, what about an alternate assignment of ABC" -- that's great! Or "You took off points for X, but I don't think you should have because of this, this, and this reason" -- that's great, too. So on and so forth.

I want to help, I want students to succeed. I can't do that when I'm met with an attitude of "I don't want to."

All of this. These are the kinds of students I like to think that teachers want. Students who come up with valid excuses-- and alternatives-- when their grades aren't up to snuff.

Assignments may not be optional, but they may be negotiable, if you approach the teacher the right way.

The best teachers are the ones who give students these options, and do as much as they can with the students who put forth the effort. If a student doesn't care about their grade (right up until the "F" bomb drops), why should the teacher?

[Voldine]

I have to say, the only time I have ever complained about a grade I received in recent years was just two weeks ago when I was not even marked for two questions that I answered correctly on a quiz.

Admittedly it was a mix of faults there. The other students complained that the last two questions were on different drugs than we had been told would be on the quiz, so there were two write-in questions to replace them. The drugs HAD been mentioned in a prior lecture, and I answered the questions correctly, but flubbed one of the write-ins.

I waited until the end of class and asked if the two 'skipped' questions could be checked for accuracy, and the instructor gave me full marks after a few seconds of looking them over because I had retained from a previous lecture.

[wolfie]

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.

Of course, someone who was REALLY prepared would have a penlight, spare batteries, a spare bulb (if it wasn't an LED penlight), and possibly even a spare (not necessarily the same quality as their primary, but good enough to get the job done for the day) penlight.