Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[ergative]

The apathy and whininess is so much higher this term that I've started looking at buying these T-shirts.

It Was In The Syllabus T-Shirt Funny Gift T-Shirt
https://www.amazon.com/Was-Syllabus-T-Shirt-Funny-Gift/dp/B07GX514SY/ref=sr_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=its+on+the+syllabus+t-shirt&qid=1602451692&sr=8-13

Funny. Do you plan to do any video chats wearing it?

The only reason I haven't bought this mug yet is because we call it a course handbook, rather than a syllabus, at my institution:

https://www.effinbirds.com/products/syllabus-mug?variant=56066899970

[FishProf]

I have a mask that says it.

Also: Dude, you didn't take the quizzes.  Don;t give t=me that BULL that they weren't available (2/3 of the class did it), or that you didn't see the announcements (they are STILL up).

YOU dropped the ball.  Pick it up and commence to a-runnin'.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Student gets a 9% on the Midterm. Wow...

[FishProf]

Dear class,
Two of you showed up to our synchronous class meeting.  TWO.  Less than 10%.

I explained how to complete the lab that everyone struggles with, but you won't hear that in time to complete the lab b/c the recording won't post until later this evening.  And there won't be an extension on the due date because you won't have been there to get one.

Seriously.  We meet ONE night a week.  If you can't commit to that, you shouldn't have taken the course.

No love,

Fishprof

[theblackbox]

Student fails an open-book, open-notes final exam that I warn class from day 1 is a test that requires diligent note taking and some time spent studying for. I remind them of this exam routinely, provide a condensed review on the last class, and post slides of said review on the LMS.

Student who failed is baffled they failed and emails demanding I "call and explain." Honestly, I'm baffled, too. :shrug:

[teach_write_research]

I met with an advisee today who's been struggling. The student did not realize they were registered in a math class this term and we are half way, oh my! I had to take a moment because my grad school anxiety nightmare was having to take a final exam for a math class I never attended. oh. my.

[apl68]

I met with an advisee today who's been struggling. The student did not realize they were registered in a math class this term and we are half way, oh my! I had to take a moment because my grad school anxiety nightmare was having to take a final exam for a math class I never attended. oh. my.

Sounds like the same anxiety dream I used to have (And still do, occasionally, some years after taking my last class of any kind).  It wasn't always a math class.  And I literally never missed a class in real life!

Amazing that this could actually happen to anybody.  Is the student's "surprise" class online?  I can sort of see how an online-only class could get lost in the shuffle.  Some of the recent stories on this thread tend to confirm my suspicion that many students really need face-to-face classes to help them stay accountable.

[polly_mer]

I met with an advisee today who's been struggling. The student did not realize they were registered in a math class this term and we are half way, oh my! I had to take a moment because my grad school anxiety nightmare was having to take a final exam for a math class I never attended. oh. my.

Sounds like the same anxiety dream I used to have (And still do, occasionally, some years after taking my last class of any kind).  It wasn't always a math class.  And I literally never missed a class in real life!

Amazing that this could actually happen to anybody.  Is the student's "surprise" class online?  I can sort of see how an online-only class could get lost in the shuffle.  Some of the recent stories on this thread tend to confirm my suspicion that many students really need face-to-face classes to help them stay accountable.

I once had to deal with a professor who 'forgot' she was teaching an online course that term after setting up the course, posting a couple weeks of material, and responding to student posts/questions for the first week.  At week five of an eight-week term, the students contacted me because they couldn't get any response from the professor.

That was just a big pain all around and this was a new TT faculty member who had experience with online teaching elsewhere.  The letter that went into her file her first year was very blunt, especially when the remainder of her online course stayed under the microscope and the course was also a fail on sufficient content for three credits.

[the_geneticist]

I met with an advisee today who's been struggling. The student did not realize they were registered in a math class this term and we are half way, oh my! I had to take a moment because my grad school anxiety nightmare was having to take a final exam for a math class I never attended. oh. my.

I still get that dream!  Only now it's with the twist that I'm teaching the class.  Or that I'm both taking it AND teaching it.  Dreams are so weird.

[mythbuster]

I had a friend in grad school who had the opposite happen. He forgot to formally register for a class. He went to every class and earned an A. It was a team taught class so the instructor in charge never checked the roster until they were entering final grades. I remember the pile of paperwork to retro-actively add him in was significant!

[marshwiggle]

I had a friend in grad school who had the opposite happen. He forgot to formally register for a class. He went to every class and earned an A. It was a team taught class so the instructor in charge never checked the roster until they were entering final grades. I remember the pile of paperwork to retro-actively add him in was significant!

There's a good reason for that. It would be a good strategy to "forget" to register for a course until finding out whether the final grade was acceptable or not, and then only "remembering" in the former case.

[apl68]

I had a friend in grad school who had the opposite happen. He forgot to formally register for a class. He went to every class and earned an A. It was a team taught class so the instructor in charge never checked the roster until they were entering final grades. I remember the pile of paperwork to retro-actively add him in was significant!

It's been too long to recall the exact details, but I did something like that as an undergrad.  A week or two into class the prof took me aside and let me know that I wasn't registered.  We got it all straightened out.  It was an undergrad philosophy class. 

I got an A.  But 30-odd years later I still can't tell you anything about Husserl except his last name.

[FishProf]

I am giving my 1st Online Practical exam (we've had a dozen quizzes so far).  Three of my students couldn't find the exam (it is 20% of their grade).  Turns out, they haven't taken the syllabus quiz and earned 100% yet, so they haven't seen or done ANYTHING in the class so far.

It is the midterm point.  How can anyone be this clueless?

[spork]

I am giving my 1st Online Practical exam (we've had a dozen quizzes so far).  Three of my students couldn't find the exam (it is 20% of their grade).  Turns out, they haven't taken the syllabus quiz and earned 100% yet, so they haven't seen or done ANYTHING in the class so far.

It is the midterm point.  How can anyone be this clueless?

Grade of F is a teachable moment.

[marshwiggle]

I am giving my 1st Online Practical exam (we've had a dozen quizzes so far).  Three of my students couldn't find the exam (it is 20% of their grade).  Turns out, they haven't taken the syllabus quiz and earned 100% yet, so they haven't seen or done ANYTHING in the class so far.

It is the midterm point.  How can anyone be this clueless?

Grade of F is a teachable moment.

Except when they don't login to check their grade.......