Favorite student emails

[FishProf]

Another alternative:  Give the final exam, and key the questions as to which lecture exam content they come from, then the makeup is just the % on that portion of the final.  Save yourself the trouble.

[FishProf]

Sorry for the double post.   I woke up this morning to an ice storm and this email:

"Hi let me tell you something I DONT NEED YOU PUTTING THINGS IN CAP BECAUSE THIS IS YELLING okay I don't know you we have never met your just a professor not my mother I'm 20 years old I find it very disrespectful for yelling at me I'm a grown ADULT not a child. Yes I'm talking to you just like you spoke to me. Plus you're DISCRIMINATING A STUDENT THAT HAS A DISABILTY. Talk to to me with patients OR I'm going to speak with the hire ups. Either change your attitude with me speak to me nicely and calmly or I'm going to call University state speak to the DEAN . I am going to speak with [Disabilities Person]] on top of that.  This is upsetting and rude and UNPROFESSIONAL that you're a professor and you speak to students like this specially who is ASKING FOR HELP AND THAT HAS A DISABILITY. "

Words I put in all caps? NOT, AFTER, INFORMATION (the CMS heading), ANY, NO WORK.

I'm such a monster.

[ergative]

Wow! That is VERY SPECIAL.

[FishProf]

Wow! That is VERY SPECIAL.

sToP yElLiNg aT mE!


Serious note - I am considering replying to this by escalating it to my Chair and Dean.  Call the bluff, neutralize the threat.

[marshwiggle]

Wow! That is VERY SPECIAL.

sToP yElLiNg aT mE!


Serious note - I am considering replying to this by escalating it to my Chair and Dean.  Call the bluff, neutralize the threat.

And unless you know someone in healthcare, finding patients to accompany you when you talk to the student could be difficult.

[EdnaMode]

Wow! That is VERY SPECIAL.

sToP yElLiNg aT mE!


Serious note - I am considering replying to this by escalating it to my Chair and Dean.  Call the bluff, neutralize the threat.

Wow, indeed! I would send that up the chain to my Chair and Dean too. Do you have an Office of Student Conduct? We have one and are encouraged to include them in the conversation when we have situations like this, when it looks like a student is possibly out of control. That way if things get out of hand in the future, if the email rant is not a one-off, we've documented their behavior as potentially problematic.

[downer]

Student misses test. Student emails about travels problems. Student turns up to do the test, and is doing it as I write.

That's all fine. I'm chill. I'd be more chill if the student would share some of that marajuana he smells of so strongly.

[Caracal]

Words I put in all caps? NOT, AFTER, INFORMATION (the CMS heading), ANY, NO WORK.

I'm such a monster.

Am I understanding correctly that the student was asking for something and you were telling them to refer to the language on the assignment or syllabus or something? In some circumstances, I suppose, I might view that as obnoxious, not yelling, but finger waggy. It would depend on the context, however.

Not that it really matters, though. The student's response is unhinged. I was trying to think if there was some way a reasonable student who didn't like your tone could have responded, but I actually think it's one of those things where the decision to complain in the first place is just bad judgment. I can think of a few times where I've gotten an email or a call that I thought was rude in the way it was framed. (Actually the only example I can remember is from someone in the dean's office in the first covid semester calling because my grades were 15 minutes late. and I didn't appreciate their tone.) But, you can't really critique someone's tone without seeming like you are the one overreacting, and it's likely to end up sounding like the student does-as if you think everyone ought to be genuflecting to you.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Student misses test. Student emails about travels problems. Student turns up to do the test, and is doing it as I write.

That's all fine. I'm chill. I'd be more chill if the student would share some of that marajuana he smells of so strongly.

Ha!

I have students who, after class #1 with me, come in to my class #2 and smell so strongly of pot that I get a contact high.

[Caracal]

Student misses test. Student emails about travels problems. Student turns up to do the test, and is doing it as I write.

That's all fine. I'm chill. I'd be more chill if the student would share some of that marajuana he smells of so strongly.

Ha!

I have students who, after class #1 with me, come in to my class #2 and smell so strongly of pot that I get a contact high.

I guess this is just one of those things that's probably going to happen more as majijuana becomes more decriminalized or legal and more socially acceptable?  I never really smell cigarette smoke on students, but I'm sure that would have been very normal 25 years ago.

[jerseyjay]

Words I put in all caps? NOT, AFTER, INFORMATION (the CMS heading), ANY, NO WORK.

I'm such a monster.

Am I understanding correctly that the student was asking for something and you were telling them to refer to the language on the assignment or syllabus or something? In some circumstances, I suppose, I might view that as obnoxious, not yelling, but finger waggy. It would depend on the context, however.

Not that it really matters, though. The student's response is unhinged. I was trying to think if there was some way a reasonable student who didn't like your tone could have responded, but I actually think it's one of those things where the decision to complain in the first place is just bad judgment. I can think of a few times where I've gotten an email or a call that I thought was rude in the way it was framed. (Actually the only example I can remember is from someone in the dean's office in the first covid semester calling because my grades were 15 minutes late. and I didn't appreciate their tone.) But, you can't really critique someone's tone without seeming like you are the one overreacting, and it's likely to end up sounding like the student does-as if you think everyone ought to be genuflecting to you.

As a practical matter, complaining about tone is usually counterproductive. And it is also possible one is misreading the tone to begin with.

I recall that in late Soviet times there was a phenomenon in which people criticized the government through echoing back the official rhetoric in an excessive way so that a) they could not be punished since it was official rhetoric and b) it is clear nonetheless that they were taking the piss of the officials. I have at times employed a similar methodology when administrators make sill demands wrapped in bureaucratic arrogance.

On the other hand, if somebody below me in the hierarchy (students, support staff, etc.) take a tone that I think I find annoying, I usually let it slide because people in power demanding respect is both pathetic and petty. 

[FishProf]

Words I put in all caps? NOT, AFTER, INFORMATION (the CMS heading), ANY, NO WORK.

I'm such a monster.

Am I understanding correctly that the student was asking for something and you were telling them to refer to the language on the assignment or syllabus or something? In some circumstances, I suppose, I might view that as obnoxious, not yelling, but finger waggy. It would depend on the context, however.

Sort of.  They wanted to know 1) Why their grade was an F, when they got an 80% on "the quiz" (that's the syllabus quiz*), and 2) what I was going to do to accommodate them for their litany of issues (many, if not all, no doubt legitimate) while they worked with the disability office to get their accommodation letter.

Question one is answered by reading the syllabus, the quiz posting, the announcements, or watching the video that covers the syllabus.  ANY one would do (sorry, that was shouty).  Also, that should've been done 3 weeks ago.

If that qualifies as obnoxious or finger waggy, then I'm at a loss how to communicate class requirements.

*get 100% in order to see the rest of the class materials.  Take as many times as needed.  Open-note. 

[Caracal]

Words I put in all caps? NOT, AFTER, INFORMATION (the CMS heading), ANY, NO WORK.

I'm such a monster.

Am I understanding correctly that the student was asking for something and you were telling them to refer to the language on the assignment or syllabus or something? In some circumstances, I suppose, I might view that as obnoxious, not yelling, but finger waggy. It would depend on the context, however.

Sort of.  They wanted to know 1) Why their grade was an F, when they got an 80% on "the quiz" (that's the syllabus quiz*), and 2) what I was going to do to accommodate them for their litany of issues (many, if not all, no doubt legitimate) while they worked with the disability office to get their accommodation letter.

Question one is answered by reading the syllabus, the quiz posting, the announcements, or watching the video that covers the syllabus.  ANY one would do (sorry, that was shouty).  Also, that should've been done 3 weeks ago.

If that qualifies as obnoxious or finger waggy, then I'm at a loss how to communicate class requirements.

*get 100% in order to see the rest of the class materials.  Take as many times as needed.  Open-note.

Ugh, there's nothing worse than the "why am I getting a bad grade" question. I wasn't assuming you were being finger waggy, just trying to understand why the student might view it that way. As it is...that makes no sense. If it was me, I would certainly forward that to my chair-just so that they know there's an angry student out there that they may hear from. Probably I'd also send that to the dean's office and frame it as concern about the student, which is fair, but also gets you out ahead of the threats. Ugh.

[FishProf]

Words I put in all caps? NOT, AFTER, INFORMATION (the CMS heading), ANY, NO WORK.

I'm such a monster.

Am I understanding correctly that the student was asking for something and you were telling them to refer to the language on the assignment or syllabus or something? In some circumstances, I suppose, I might view that as obnoxious, not yelling, but finger waggy. It would depend on the context, however.

Sort of.  They wanted to know 1) Why their grade was an F, when they got an 80% on "the quiz" (that's the syllabus quiz*), and 2) what I was going to do to accommodate them for their litany of issues (many, if not all, no doubt legitimate) while they worked with the disability office to get their accommodation letter.

Question one is answered by reading the syllabus, the quiz posting, the announcements, or watching the video that covers the syllabus.  ANY one would do (sorry, that was shouty).  Also, that should've been done 3 weeks ago.

If that qualifies as obnoxious or finger waggy, then I'm at a loss how to communicate class requirements.

*get 100% in order to see the rest of the class materials.  Take as many times as needed.  Open-note.

Ugh, there's nothing worse than the "why am I getting a bad grade" question. I wasn't assuming you were being finger waggy, just trying to understand why the student might view it that way. As it is...that makes no sense. If it was me, I would certainly forward that to my chair-just so that they know there's an angry student out there that they may hear from. Probably I'd also send that to the dean's office and frame it as concern about the student, which is fair, but also gets you out ahead of the threats. Ugh.

Sorry if I sounded defensive.

I've kicked it upstairs to the Deans, my chair and the disabilities folks.  I won't bore you all with the details, but my response to the student did include this:

"You are making a very serious accusation and doing so in a way that I consider a threat.   Therefore, I accept your solution.  There is no need for you to notify my Chair, and the Dean(s); I have already done so in this email.

As to your accusation that I am discriminating against a student who has a disability, it should be clear that I cannot provide you with appropriate accommodations until you provide me with the letter from [Disabilities Office] that documents the accommodation and specifies what I am supposed to provide."

[Katrina Gulliver]

Do let us know how (if) the student responded, Fishprof