I haven’t graded the final, fully. I gave the students a study guide. I grant you, the study guide was 3 pages long, but it did list the tables and the review questions that the test was going to be drawn from. Some folks wanted me to grade it right away–I don’t know how folks can be so clueless about what you need to do well and yet be so proficient about figureing out their grades. Today I got these e-mails. From one:
I was just wondering if there was any way you could let me know my grade, before we get them over the summer? Also, is there any possibility that we could receive points for coming to class or anything else? Everytime we had an exam I felt like I froze up, and therefore did not perform well. I feel that the exams do not represent me very well, and I feel I have learned a lot more than those exams show I have. Let me know if you can.
Thanks, Ima Whiner
Now, the registrar’s office schedules when the exams are, and I called the registrar’s office to find out that exams are scheduled for the room where you give the class and what time. The times are set in advance by the registrar, and the schedule is set before the semester starts. On the syllabus, I put the final down on the regular class time, but I was informed by the registrar that they set the exam times, not the instructors. The schedule information is on the campus website. And I informed the class that the official registrar’s schedule was in effect. So, from a student who hasn’t been to class since the last test (where I gave out the study guide and told them when the exams were)
I heard that students took the final already, the syllabus states that the final is on the Xth (2m) did I miss the final due to schedule mix up? Or is it 2m? Mr. O’Blivious
No, you missed the final due to not checking the registrar’s website, and not coming to class for four weeks. I’m not really sure what I should do. I didn’t worry about it because I thought he’d dropped the class. Frankly, having missed four weeks worth of material, he can’t pass the final anyway. I don’t think it’s fair to the rest of the students that Mr. O’Blivious also gets four extra days to study, not that it matters, really.
I sense a ginormous SEP field surrounding Mr. O’Blivious, rendering him invisible to everyone but his mother. And maybe his academic adviser. And what the hell is 2m?
FAIL.
Comment by Angry Professor — Wednesday, 7, May, 2008 @ 20:04 |
I assume 2m is tomorrow. For the first email I’d suggest politely responding with a comment recognizing that while some people do freeze up on tests, that is an issue that needs to be brought up at the beginning of the semester, not after the final exam. After all, that CAN be a legitimate problem, but by the time you’re in college you ought to have learned that it’s not something you can bring up after the fact. I suspect she’s just trying to play you. I was confused by the second email, was the exam date changed in the last 6 weeks or can he just not read?
Comment by Meagan — Wednesday, 7, May, 2008 @ 21:16 |
Did you hear that sound? That was my head hitting my monitor. I can’t believe these people get into any college. And find their way to class even once. And manage to turn on a computer at all.
Comment by Steph — Wednesday, 7, May, 2008 @ 22:43 |
Yes, I just reviewed my course evaluations. The ones I liked the best complained that I wanted them to “know stuff”–it’s a SCIENCE class, so, yes. Another student complained that I was just “In it for the money”. I’d observed that this three hour class was costing each student (or someone) $3,000/credit hour, so it behooved me to give them good value for money.
But of course, there’s SO much money in teaching. Sheesh.
Comment by williamthecoroner — Wednesday, 7, May, 2008 @ 22:49 |
Obviously you have not kept up with the new student mentality… They get everything for doing nothing! Anything else impinges on their psyche and could be detrimental to their self worth, so you can’t ‘make’ them do anything…
When I was in college 2 misses and you were dropped unless you had a doc’s excuse or a proven family emergency. And if you missed the final, you flunked… period. end. of. story…
Comment by Old NFO — Thursday, 8, May, 2008 @ 12:10 |