things i’ve learned from my students: weeks thirteen to sixteenthere

yes, i’ve missed a few weeks. tis that time of year i guess.

*students are ridiculous when it comes to grades. had three students from my comp two class gang up on me after i handed out grades – was trying to give them an idea where they stood going into their revision and final exam. according to these students:

• english classes should not have exams.
• the idea that someone can fail an english course is a myth. grades below a B do not exist.
• there shouldn’t be one big paper – it should be spilt up into several smaller papers. (please note, this part is mandated by the college)
• that this is my first semester teaching and i shouldn’t be so hard on students
• i shouldn’t grade on grammar, spelling and mechanics – it is not right to punish students for poor grammar on a first draft. i reminded the students that the paper they turned in was not to be a first draft – to which one of them replied, “you never told us that.”

i wrote these three students the break down of their grades, and told them that i stand by my structure. i pointed them to the various places that stated the paper they turned in needed to be at least a third, if not fourth or beyond, draft. i also broke down the misconceptions that english courses are “easy” and don’t have exams. i pointed out that this is in fact my first semester teaching at kish, but that this is far from my first semester of teaching. i did so in a professional and calm manner. one student apologized. one responded and tried to break me further. i have yet to hear from the third. of these students that are so concerned of their grades, two did not show up this week for their conferences, for the in class activities or for the review for the final.

*some students think that they can miss half the semester, not turn in major aspects of their work, and still pass.

*the idea of “if you help only one student, it is still worth it” saying is true. my study skills class had their final today. my one student that is remaining did an amazing job, despite having the week from hell. i truly feel like she got something out of this course, and that perhaps it will help her in the future. she also informed me that there were some grumblings from a couple of the other students about how they assumed this was supposed to be an easy A and they were ticked that I made them work. dear students – one chapter a week, and writing a reflection that is a min of 250 words on said chapter, is not a lot of work – even with a two credit course. [sigh] good luck with your future.

*i’m a little sad for this semester to be over. there are some students i don’t wanna see go. but at the same point, i couldn’t be more excited to be done. i am looking forward to a fresh start next semester. and before that, i’m really looking forward to break.

to do list:

• grade comp one essays
• grade comp two essays
• proctor three finals
• grade three finals
• post final grades for those three classes

sooooo close.

i think i made it through

last week was ridiculous.

i had the fourth round of comp I papers to grade (17 essays between 4 and 5 pages in length).

i had a round of workshop for my comp II (18 essays between 8 and 14 pages).

we’re talking about 250 pages to read in one week. to read and then GRADE. i am exhausted. utterly exhausted. (and this isn’t even considering the prep for the other two courses.)

this is why you haven’t heard much from me lately.

things i’ve learned from my students: week twelve

i’ve caught two students cheating – one on each of the last two essays.

for both, i wrote out a one page type responses, printed off the websites that they plagiarized from, HIGHLIGHTED on each the sentences that matched.

the first responded with “i am confused as to why you think i plagiarized.” when we sat down after the next class to talk about it, i showed him how he plagiarized. he said, “but i cited.” no, you didn’t. he said, “but i implied it.” [sigh]

student two sent me an email stating she didn’t understand how she plagiarized, and how it wasn’t fair that the first time she used facts in her paper she’s getting punished for it. i wrote her an email, again explaining why it was plagiarism, and i’m sorry, but we went over in class several times how to properly cite, paraphrase, summarize and quote resource material. [sigh]

if i never have to have this conversation again, i will be a happy woman.

if i never have to have this conversation again, i will be a surprised woman.

things i’ve learned from my students: week eleven

you can go all semester and be certain you have a student pegged…and then they will surprise you…and then they will prove you may have been right all along.

i have this student who has been dragging their feet all semester long. never says anything in class, never takes notes, never participates in any of the in class exercises. and then they turned in their first essay – and it was good. i was shocked. i figure, ok maybe this student is just not being challenged. fine. dandy.

then came essay #2. cause and effect. the cause: writing. the effect: anger. i read through an entire essay that was about how this person hates writing with a passion, thinks that the assignments that instructors assign are pointless and on and on.

i did my best to restrain writing a response that would have gone something like this: unless you plan on digging holes for a living, you will need to learn how to write effectively, including correct grammar and mechanics. to insult your instructor on paper is ridiculous, and you are lucky i don’t fail you right now.

instead i showed how the paper did not meet the requirements of a cause effect essay – there was no proof of the correlation. in fact, i pointed out the points that i felt to be the true source of anger – procrastination (which is the fault of putting off the paper until the last minute, not the assignment or the instructor who assigned it), poor time management (ticked that instead of going out with friends, they had to work on their essay), and on and on i went. i was nice, though i certainly didn’t want to be.

[sigh]

this will be my life until i retire. i’m sure i will get at least one of these a semester.

what i hope – this student will return to what they did on the first essay and leave it at that. hopefully they will see that i was not amused and that i did not react in the way they probably hoped. they will not get a rise out me. sorry, but no.

things i’ve learned from my students: week ten

this week’s installation actually comes from another prof – a guy i went to grad school with.

In an online forum, a student writes, “Cease the Day!”

“You keep using that word,” says the prof, “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

things i’ve learned from my students: week nine

apparently, it is cheaper to attend community college full time and get all the discounts that go along with being a student (insurance, etc), then it is to not be a student and pay full price. guess i wasn’t aware that there were THAT many discounts out there. but they do it. this is why i have had students who have not shown up to class in, well, since the beginning of the semester! and why suddenly i’m getting emails (cuz they must know that updated rosters were handed out in which instructors are supposed to academically withdraw anyone not pursuing the course) from students saying that this and that is the reason why they haven’t been coming, but they want to turn it all around! please don’t drop them because they need their full time status. nothing about wanting to learn. nothing about becoming a better student. they don’t want to lose their full time status.

part of me thinks – just keep them on and give them the F they deserve. part of me is pissed that they are wasting my time and the time of the other profs. not to mention they are screwing other students out of that seat in the class.

new quote

i am not accident prone. i am just an overly enthusiastic person with a slight depth perception problem.

(sandra bullock was on george lopez’s show and uttered that line – i saw it last night. describes me to a tee.)

new blog

http://tminus101.wordpress.com/

i will be participating in the 101 in 1001 starting this xmas. if you want to follow my progress it will be on the above blog. gotta get started on that list…

things i’ve learned from my students: week eight

• some students really just don’t care – i had students in every class not show up for their midterm. for some of the classes, it is not a big deal – only worth 10%, not like they will fail. other classes, it was more like 20%. i just don’t get it.
• some students care so much they will fight as to whether they were really absent that day and lost that one little point. (these are the students i cheer for. but not in a slutty  way –  i don’t just give it away.)

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

This is amazing.