And I thought, "This is sad, when a person doing a simple act like trying to return a lost item to its owner makes the national news."
...
In other news, I got really angry with my students yesterday and all but yelled at them. For some time now, they've been annoying me by asking questions that are answered on the syllabus, or not having their readings done and claiming that they didn't know about it, or trying to get extra points out of me. Yesterday, though, I hit my limit pretty quickly. They turned in their first papers, and I noticed that several of them hadn't formatted them correctly, despite the clearly-laid out formatting guidelines in their syllabus, along with the threat of a 10-point deduction for not following said guidelines. So I mentioned that deduction (which, admittedly I shouldn't have done), and they all went crazy wanting to come get their papers and staple them, or re-format them and hand them in later that day, or ... And it didn't take long for me to start telling them, "Look, I'm sorry, I don't want to take points away from you, but that's the policy, and no you can't change your papers now that they're turned in, and I did tell you about the formatting before, at the beginning of the semester, and it's in your syllabus and I shouldn't have to tell you anyway, and guess what? -- life is tough, and it's time you get used to it!" I just felt sick and tired of taking so much responsibility for them and helping them out so much -- especially when they have a syllabus that has all this information on it to begin with.
Oh yes, and I got an email yesterday from one student, explaining why his paper is late (he is having a hard time juggling two jobs and school) and asking me to still let him turn it in and get a grade on it. A big part of me wants to just say no, it's not fair to all my other students, and you knew about this deadline from the beginning of the semester, so I absolutely will not take. (I also have a "no late work" policy, which is clearly printed on -- you guessed it -- the syllabus.) But part of me also wants to be merciful and take it for a reduced grade or something ... it's worth a total of 20% of his grade, which means the highest grade he could possibly get if I don't take it is 80%, and most likely he would end up with a C of some kind. *sigh* I might have to call Katie and see if she has any advice on this one.
...
The last quote was from The Thin Man, a movie I just love!
Plain? It's as ugly as a parson's widow! (62 points)
3 comments:
Part of me wants to say "Stick it to 'em."
And another part of me wants to say "Be nice to the poor guy who is trying his best."
Here is my sage advice for you. (I've never taught a class, so my sageness doesn't come from age-old experience, but from actual spices in last night's dinner...)
I'd say, keep the policy in your syllabus. That lays down the law and encourages students to not plan for mercy from you.
But when the occasional student comes begging for mercy with a justifiable reason, then you can give mercy.
See, you wrote the syllabus. That means you have power to change it. So keep the policy of no late work in place, but then allow yourself to show mercy to those who are deserving of it.
Its not unlike eternal laws against sin. We are commanded not to sin. It's in the syllabus (scriptures, etc.). But when we repent, God shows us mercy.
Anyway, good luck with that. I bet it is tough.
I agree with Fezzik. Er, Paul.
As a side note, I imagine that the reason the first story was in the news was not due so much to the fact that the guy returned it as to the fact that it turned out to be worth so much. But it's still rather silly.
You deserve better students, it seems that they are very irresponsible, I will help you, so you can have better students next semester (at least one).
I think you should accept the homework from the person.
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