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

[kaysixteen]

If a current text is available on various ol retailers, how might the price compare to what the uni bookstore is charging (we are of course talking about for new works, esp given that many textbooks are revised so frequently that ones only a handful of years old may well just be too old for continued use)?

[AvidReader]

Turns out, if a publisher (in this case, Norton) decides to discontinue a title at the start of 2023 but after book orders have been submitted, the bookstore will a) not do anything and b) not contact me to say that the book wasn't obtained. They sell off old stock and nothing else. And students (and faculty) here don't see the books on the shelves; they complete an online survey of courses and just pick up the books. They learn at that time the bookstore doesn't have copies of their textbook, and don't offer any ways to get it. Luckily there's a Penguin version available, and I had to get the bookstore to order it -- only after most of my students said "the bookstore doesn't have it." Such a dumb process.

Infuriating. So sorry.

AR.

[AmLitHist]

The semester has started off very nice:  pleasant students, decent work, no Admin BS that can't be safely ignored. 

Then yesterday morning, a F2F student who didn't show up the first day, arrived 40 minutes late the second, and finally was there on time Tuesday, showed up in my office, mad as hell.  He tried to read me the riot act for "giving" him a 10/25 score on the word salad/garbage he submitted for the diagnostic writing assignment. (This is Comp II, and his paper was complete gibberish and filled with grammar and spelling errors, not to mention that it never came close to answering any of the four required points.)

"You can't do that," he yelled at me.  Um, yes, I can, and I did--and he's damn lucky I gave him that many points; I told him as much in a little nicer language, but not much. He demanded to know why his score was so low, even thought I'd made extensive markings and feedback comments on his work, so I invited him to look at my screen while I read all the comments to him.  (Maybe he can't read?  It wouldn't be unusual for our students.) He left grumbling and grousing, and I called him out as he left, when I heard him call me "a bitch" (he grudgingly apologized, given the option of doing so or walking next door with me to explain himself to the dean). 

A colleague had him last fall and said was a complete PitA who just wants attention and to have everything his way. He scraped by with his C in Comp I thanks to squeaking out 69.7% that got rounded up.

So much for a nice, quiet semester? We'll see how it goes. He might have just been testing me. Regardless, I'm not giving this guy much ground, and I'm not letting him ruin the spring for me. (I'm sure other things will come up to try to do that.)

TL/DR:  I really should have powered through and finished the dissertation and talked myself out of this notion of the noble cause of CCs empowering people (since way too many of our students couldn't care less about "expanding minds and changing lives").  SIGH.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Damn. PITA sounds about right. I would have wanted to drop kick his ass out of my office (I bet you wanted to too!). At my age now, I'm not sure I could have restrained myself. Just kidding.

[Istiblennius]

Do you all have a student conduct committee? There are some red flags here and it seems like beginning some documentation (or continuing it) might be wise. A few years back we had a very similar student who ultimately was asked to leave the University due to a running history of escalating behavior that went from snappy comments in class to the exact kind of office hours visits you described to some online kind-of harassment of instructors to at least one fairly unpleasant incident off campus. I was not directly involved but was department head at the time and much of my work at that time involved supporting the affected instructors. Each incident taken separately felt relatively trivial and had some plausible deniability around it. It would have been very hard to manage without all of the student conduct reports from our instructors and, as it turns out, other instructors around campus.

[AmLitHist]

EPW, at my age, I barely did!  LOL!  (That, plus this damned SIJD that makes me less-than-ideally mobile. My husband often jokes that I'm liable to beat somebody with my cane one of these days--and there are days he's not far wrong.)

Istiblennius, as a former chair myself, my mind went to the same place you suggest:  we have a "behavioral intervention team," and I'm in the process of writing up a report for them now--not to request an intervention, but just to get a paper trail started. Great minds work alike!  :-)

[Langue_doc]

The semester has started off very nice:  pleasant students, decent work, no Admin BS that can't be safely ignored. 

Then yesterday morning, a F2F student who didn't show up the first day, arrived 40 minutes late the second, and finally was there on time Tuesday, showed up in my office, mad as hell.  He tried to read me the riot act for "giving" him a 10/25 score on the word salad/garbage he submitted for the diagnostic writing assignment. (This is Comp II, and his paper was complete gibberish and filled with grammar and spelling errors, not to mention that it never came close to answering any of the four required points.)

"You can't do that," he yelled at me.  Um, yes, I can, and I did--and he's damn lucky I gave him that many points; I told him as much in a little nicer language, but not much. He demanded to know why his score was so low, even thought I'd made extensive markings and feedback comments on his work, so I invited him to look at my screen while I read all the comments to him.  (Maybe he can't read?  It wouldn't be unusual for our students.) He left grumbling and grousing, and I called him out as he left, when I heard him call me "a bitch" (he grudgingly apologized, given the option of doing so or walking next door with me to explain himself to the dean). 

A colleague had him last fall and said was a complete PitA who just wants attention and to have everything his way. He scraped by with his C in Comp I thanks to squeaking out 69.7% that got rounded up.

So much for a nice, quiet semester? We'll see how it goes. He might have just been testing me. Regardless, I'm not giving this guy much ground, and I'm not letting him ruin the spring for me. (I'm sure other things will come up to try to do that.)

TL/DR:  I really should have powered through and finished the dissertation and talked myself out of this notion of the noble cause of CCs empowering people (since way too many of our students couldn't care less about "expanding minds and changing lives").  SIGH.

Document, document, document. I would email the student and also cc the chair, summarizing the events and language that transpired at the meeting. I would also advise the student that he is expected to conduct himself in a professional manner when interacting with anyone on campus. In your email you might also express your concern about his attendance and not understanding the requirements of the assignment, so there are no surprises for you down the line.

ETA: ALH, we must have posted simultaneously--I see that you've already started the paper trail.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Totally agree with documenting and pushing it further up the food chain. But, you already know that. It's better to alert people now, rather than later. Though, that didn't help in the case with that 6 year old who shot his teacher. :(

[the_geneticist]

What part of "you have to go to your registered discussion section" makes it sound like you can just show up randomly to any discussion?

I'm not even referring to "Stu went to 10:00 discussion in Room A, but should have gone to 10:00 discussion in Room B next door.

Or even "Stu is registered for Monday at 9:00 and showed up for Monday at 1:00 because mornings are hard".

They aren't supposed to do those since it's not fair to the TA (and can mean too many folks in the room due to fire codes).

I mean, "Stu randomly went to a room that looked like a discussion class and is upset they earned a 0."

If you go to a discussion for the wrong course, yes we will mark you absent. Discussions in [baskets 101] and [clay pots 102] are not interchangeable!

[FishProf]

Same story, different semester. 
1) Syllabus Quiz, need 100% to see the rest of the course material.
2) Online course.  Go at your own pace (but each assignment unlocks the next.
3) 16 week semester, we are starting week 3.
4) 10 of 32 students haven't done #1.  Only 3 of those 10 have tried.
5) Of the 22 who completed #1, only 10 have done any other work.

Today I sent this announcmenet.

"Good Morning Class,
This is the start of the third week (of 16).  Youi are behind schedule IF
1) You have not taken the syllabus quiz and scored 100% on it; OR
2) You have less than a 7.5% overall score (On Pace to Pass.  OP2P = (2/16)*0.6))

TOMORROW is the 31st.  Last day to Drop the course.  ALSO the last day to take the syllabus Quiz AND get 100%.

You MUST do One of those, or the semester is gonna get bad for you.

Best,
Fishprof.

[apl68]

Is this supposed to be a weed-out course?  It sounds like the students may be weeding themselves out.

[FishProf]

Is this supposed to be a weed-out course?  It sounds like the students may be weeding themselves out.

No, non-majors online asynchronous gen ed.

This happens EVERY semester.  Roughly 1/3 never do the syllabus quiz, or do it and stop.  And they don't drop, so I end up entering failing grades.

I just had to submit a "NEVER" as the last day of attendance for 3 students in this course last semester.

[Langue_doc]

Is this supposed to be a weed-out course?  It sounds like the students may be weeding themselves out.

No, non-majors online asynchronous gen ed.

This happens EVERY semester.  Roughly 1/3 never do the syllabus quiz, or do it and stop.  And they don't drop, so I end up entering failing grades.

I just had to submit a "NEVER" as the last day of attendance for 3 students in this course last semester.

Doesn't your institution require instructors to submit a verification of attendance report around the end of the second or third week of class? Here, students who haven't attended any class by the specified date are automatically withdrawn from the course. I think this is a state requirement--attendance is somehow related to financial aid.

[arcturus]

Is this supposed to be a weed-out course?  It sounds like the students may be weeding themselves out.

No, non-majors online asynchronous gen ed.

This happens EVERY semester.  Roughly 1/3 never do the syllabus quiz, or do it and stop.  And they don't drop, so I end up entering failing grades.

I just had to submit a "NEVER" as the last day of attendance for 3 students in this course last semester.

Doesn't your institution require instructors to submit a verification of attendance report around the end of the second or third week of class? Here, students who haven't attended any class by the specified date are automatically withdrawn from the course. I think this is a state requirement--attendance is somehow related to financial aid.

We report (non-) attendance at week 6 (out of 15). However, non-attending students are not automatically withdrawn here, so they stay on the books until the end of the semester. We are required to report date of last attendance if a student "unofficially withdraws" and a separate option in the grade book is for never attended. I usually have one or two of the latter in my large GenEd courses and several of the former.

[FishProf]

Doesn't your institution require instructors to submit a verification of attendance report around the end of the second or third week of class? Here, students who haven't attended any class by the specified date are automatically withdrawn from the course. I think this is a state requirement--attendance is somehow related to financial aid.

no