Favorite student emails

[hungry_ghost]

I liked this one from a "transitioned" class. Here is the message in its entirity.

hi professor,

i realize that for the quiz there were a couple of questions that the system marked wrong but the answers were right.

I cannot stop laughing. I don't know why, but I cannot stop. Thank you.

[bacardiandlime]

A student of mine who just picked up her exam script (from exams a couple months back) has emailed with a screenshot of the handwritten score on the front, desperate to know if that 65 was actually a 68 (no, it was not).

[marshwiggle]

A student of mine who just picked up her exam script (from exams a couple months back) has emailed with a screenshot of the handwritten score on the front, desperate to know if that 65 was actually a 68 (no, it was not).

Using a very broad definition of "desperate".

[the_geneticist]

A student of mine who just picked up her exam script (from exams a couple months back) has emailed with a screenshot of the handwritten score on the front, desperate to know if that 65 was actually a 68 (no, it was not).

Using a very broad definition of "desperate".

Would it change their grade in the course?

[bacardiandlime]

Not really, especially now (they are basically waving all the frosh through and grades don't count).

[ergative]

Real favorite:

I just had a very apologetic email from a student (who's been emailing with lots of questions over the past week) sharing with me his revelation that the assignment due today actually wasn't at all difficult once he looked at the recorded tutorials I posted two weeks ago. Key quote: "Honestly, I really appreciate your effort and I love your teaching style. It's a shame that I did not pay attention to the files. "

Aww. Self-knowledge and independent learning: what more can we ask of our students!

[Puget]

Real favorite as well: I had a student email to ask if she can turn in her paper early, which is a first! She wants to use it as a writing sample for a research internship application. I told her she doesn't have to turn it in early for the class, we can just look through her draft together for feedback before she submits it for her application.

[hungry_ghost]

Not exactly an email but I can't think where else to put this.

Normally I don't release grades on the cms until I hand back papers in class. I do this so that students will look at my comments and how I've marked the rubric. I write a comment on every essay.

Now all papers are graded online, so I have been releasing grades as soon as all the papers are graded. I wanted to know who was reading my comments, so I added a comment on every single paper: 'If you see this, write to me and say "I SAW YOUR COMMENTS!" and I will give you extra credit!' I pasted this comment in two places, on their papers AND on the rubric, in big bold red letters.
Of 17 students, 11 wrote to me! (I guess this counts as "favorite student emails" for this thread?).
Apparently 6 didn't look at the comments, including one who made a bad grade for not following basic instructions--ironically, my comments included fairly detailed explanation about how she could raise her grade next time.

I'm not sure if I should be happy that nearly 2/3 of the students read my comments, or pissed that I wasted time writing comments for students who didn't read them.

The big end-of-semester project involves submitting a first draft and then a subsequent final submission in which they need to respond to my comments (and also to peer critique comments). Responding to comments is an essential part of the assignment, which is very process-oriented.

Under normal circumstances, when I hand the drafts back in class, I give students time in class to read and ask questions about my comments. I know they read my comments since I watch them do it. Now that we're online, I expect that several students won't bother to read my comments. I am ever so tempted to add a note on each paper requiring some sort of response as evidence that they read my comments, and docking points for those who don't. Thinking about how to implement this properly. I welcome suggestions!

[mamselle]

Horse. Water. Drink.

M.

[the_geneticist]

Not exactly an email but I can't think where else to put this.

Normally I don't release grades on the cms until I hand back papers in class. I do this so that students will look at my comments and how I've marked the rubric. I write a comment on every essay.

Now all papers are graded online, so I have been releasing grades as soon as all the papers are graded. I wanted to know who was reading my comments, so I added a comment on every single paper: 'If you see this, write to me and say "I SAW YOUR COMMENTS!" and I will give you extra credit!' I pasted this comment in two places, on their papers AND on the rubric, in big bold red letters.
Of 17 students, 11 wrote to me! (I guess this counts as "favorite student emails" for this thread?).
Apparently 6 didn't look at the comments, including one who made a bad grade for not following basic instructions--ironically, my comments included fairly detailed explanation about how she could raise her grade next time.

I'm not sure if I should be happy that nearly 2/3 of the students read my comments, or pissed that I wasted time writing comments for students who didn't read them.

The big end-of-semester project involves submitting a first draft and then a subsequent final submission in which they need to respond to my comments (and also to peer critique comments). Responding to comments is an essential part of the assignment, which is very process-oriented.

Under normal circumstances, when I hand the drafts back in class, I give students time in class to read and ask questions about my comments. I know they read my comments since I watch them do it. Now that we're online, I expect that several students won't bother to read my comments. I am ever so tempted to add a note on each paper requiring some sort of response as evidence that they read my comments, and docking points for those who don't. Thinking about how to implement this properly. I welcome suggestions!

I might call this a victory!  It's certainly a "learning opportunity" for the students, both the ones that took the time to read your comments and the ones who didn't.
I think I might borrow your idea of putting an extra credit opportunity in the rubric. . .

[Anon1787]

Horse. Water. Drink.

M.

Neigh seems to be an all too common response.

[AvidReader]

Under normal circumstances, when I hand the drafts back in class, I give students time in class to read and ask questions about my comments. I know they read my comments since I watch them do it. Now that we're online, I expect that several students won't bother to read my comments. I am ever so tempted to add a note on each paper requiring some sort of response as evidence that they read my comments, and docking points for those who don't. Thinking about how to implement this properly. I welcome suggestions!

I have a revision assignment in every comp. course I teach, and I require students to write cover paragraphs identifying the changes they have made to their papers based on my feedback. I grade each draft and revision as separate papers, so this paragraph is worth 10% of the revision grade. They can also use the paragraph to explain why they didn't make a recommended change, or why the change might look different from my initial suggestion. You might not want to do this specifically, but there are lots of ways to build in points (or extra credit) for responses to your feedback.

AR.

[hungry_ghost]

Under normal circumstances, when I hand the drafts back in class, I give students time in class to read and ask questions about my comments. I know they read my comments since I watch them do it. Now that we're online, I expect that several students won't bother to read my comments. I am ever so tempted to add a note on each paper requiring some sort of response as evidence that they read my comments, and docking points for those who don't. Thinking about how to implement this properly. I welcome suggestions!

I have a revision assignment in every comp. course I teach, and I require students to write cover paragraphs identifying the changes they have made to their papers based on my feedback. I grade each draft and revision as separate papers, so this paragraph is worth 10% of the revision grade. They can also use the paragraph to explain why they didn't make a recommended change, or why the change might look different from my initial suggestion. You might not want to do this specifically, but there are lots of ways to build in points (or extra credit) for responses to your feedback.

AR.

Thanks, this is helpful. My assignment is somewhat similar, and I think you understand what I'm aiming for.
My students are already required to include a paragraph in their response letter that addresses how they modified their work in response to to feedback, but I don't specify that they must mention my feedback. They also get peer critiques of their work and many visit the campus writing center, so they get a lot of feedback. Also, some of my comments are "optional suggestions" (this is appropriate for this particular assignment). I just need to know that they read them. I think I'm just going to add (in red, bold, very conspicuous letters)  a note on the first submission rubric along the lines of
Please affirm that you read my comments by adding a brief postscript to your letter saying something like "PS: I read your comments." The postscript is a REQUIRED part of the assignment, even if you mention my comments in the body of your letter.
One student will read my comments and engage with them in his revision but forget to do this (and I already know who he is--the same one who would forget his head if it weren't stuck to his neck) but for most students this will be a fair solution.

[0susanna]

When our campus closed back in March and classes transitioned to online, I reminded students to TAKE THEIR BOOKS home with them. Now, it's true that these are English lit classes and most of the texts are out of copyright and can be found online, so it's not the end of the world if they didn't take their books, just more work for them. Here's where the "favorite" emails come in:

Final essays are due this week. The assignment for this essay includes a model citation for a text in their anthology. Three students have emailed me with essentially the same story: "I forgot my book, so I'm using a version of [text] I found on the internet. Please send me the page numbers for this text from the anthology so I can cite it." One even asked me for the page number for a specific quote (that one was a bit apologetic for not having taken the book home).

"Dear Stu Dent," I finally broke down, "cite the source you are actually using. This is just common sense."

I almost wrote "I am not your secretary," but deleted that part before sending. I know they are just trying to do things right, but really--!

[biop_grad]

Subject: The Class Discussions

Hello Professor,
I am not getting credit for the [topic due tonight] sections of the classroom discussions even though I am leaving the comments as directed and watching the videos.