To get y'all updated on my June adventures, I thought that I would start with the student issues that I faced. It goes without saying that these issues all emerged in the 72 hours after I posted the final grades from HomeTown.
*****
Student #1, who took Good Book Intro with me, left many questions on the final exam unanswered. S/he also answered a question that asked about The Fourth Biography of the Best Man Ever with a drawing of a dog. In a park. On a sunny day.
Needless to say, Student #1 did not do well on the exam. In fact, Student #1 failed the exam miserably. And yet, I received an email from hir inquiring why hir final grade was so low, especially when s/he had tried so hard.
In my very polite and very patient email, I explained that while hir course work had certainly improved over the course of the semester, hir performance on the final exam (worth a quarter of the final grade) had negatively impacted hir grade.
I did not ask, "Do you or do you not remember that this is the course in which you drew pictures in response to questions on the final exam?"
*****
Student #2 had attendance issues all semester. In fact, s/he attended barely half of the classes (and was barely awake when s/he was actually in class). And s/he even missed the final exam (which I graciously allowed hir to make up).
But it's impossible to do well in my courses if you miss so much class. And I was not surprised that Student #2 failed Good Book Intro.
Student #2, however, was very surprised, especially when s/he felt that s/he had tried so hard. And very audacious: if I would design an extra-credit assignment for hir, s/he would very much like to complete it because s/he needed to pass my course in order to transfer to a new school in the fall.
In my slightly less polite and slightly less patient email, I explained that no extra-credit assignment would make up for the lost learning from the many missed classes.
I also contacted the Advising Center to iniquire if schools would actually turn students away because of insufficient credits.
I did not inform Student #2 that I knew that s/he had lied about needing my course to transfer to another school.
*****
Student #3, who took my course on the Best Man Ever, and had received the final exam questions three whole weeks before the exam, but decided to go fishing on the weekends instead of studying (and was unashamedly open about this), unsurprisingly failed the course.
But even I was surprised that Student #3 managed to earn only a measly 9% on the final exam. Nevertheless, when I saw that hir final grade was 49% (a pass is 50%), I mercy-passed hir.
Student #3 wrote to me requesting that I design an extra-credit assignment because s/he felt that hir grade did not really reflect how much s/he had learned, nor did it reflect how hard s/he had tried. S/he also requested that I allow hir to improve hir grade to a 65% because without this grade, s/he would not be allowed to play on an athletic team next year.
In my barely polite and slightly impatient email, I informed Student #3 that s/he had, in fact failed the course (and that I had mercy-passed hir); that the time for improving hir grade ended with the semester; and that I would not allow hir to do an extra-credit assignment.
I did not inform hir that I felt that hir time would be better spent studying than fishing and playing on athletic teams.
*****
After responding to these students (and a number of others), I haven't heard a peep from any of them.
But I'm still puzzled: what led them to believe that a college professor would allow them to complete extra-credit assignments after the end of the semester?
And why, oh why, did they all think that they should receive a better grade just for "trying hard"? (I had repeatedly stated over the course of the semester that an "A" was not for "attendance," but for excellent work that exceeded the bare requirements of the assignments.)
But, the important thing is that I have completed my contractual obligations to SLAC.
And now I turn my sights towards my students at First-Choice U.
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