The Venting Thread

[mamselle]

I'd tell her she has more power over her grade going in than you do....

M.

[EdnaMode]

Perhaps this should be in first world problems, but the local Amazon delivery drivers need to stop leaving packages in my freakin' driveway! There's a nice clear sidewalk to my covered front porch. I know it's snowing, but there's less than half an inch of new snow since we cleaned the drive and walkways this AM when I went to work. Yes, I filed yet another complaint and also filled out the "how was my delivery" form. AND this time, not only is it on security camera video that the package was left in the drive (had the video the last time too) but the guy was on his phone telling whoever he was talking to "Nah, not doing anything important. Wassup?" as he tossed the package down.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

We have a leak in the roof. The roofing company can't come out until NEXT Friday. And it's supposed to rain all next week.

[clean]

Student email to dean (reported from chair)

"Dr. Clean has been by far the most degrading, condescending Professor that I've had in college. My classmates and I have made GroupMe chats in an effort figure out how to complete his assignments due to his vague instructions, but he constantly rejects them. We are all intimidated to ask him questions because he practically screams at us through e-mail. "

Im unable to find the meaning in these phrases, so if you can help... "I have made GroupMe chats in an effort figure out how to complete his assignments due to his vague instructions, but he constantly rejects them"   What does this mean in 'Merican?  they have a Group me... ok.... What exactly have I constantly rejected??  I wasnt invited to this event or asked any questions!

AND
" because he practically screams at us through e-mail."   
I dont scream in person, so I dont know how I could scream through email.  Any thoughts at how this might happen?  (No one has emailed questions to answer through email.  Only announcements have been emailed.  )


(and for the record, this is an Intermediate class, so we are still in the review stage of the prerequisite class... there is nothing new here, so I dont know what they are unable to do.  They have had this material before... and even Passed it! 

Thoughts?

[arcturus]

Dear Clean

Are you me? I just learned about the GroupMe chats that my students are all enrolled in, where they share the answers to my assignments with everyone else in the class. My rate-my-professor comments also say that I am the worst professor at my university and that I am degrading and disrespectful. During an academic misconduct meeting this week (clear cut copy-paste plagiarism case), the student accused me of being biased and trying to cause trouble for them.

My take-away: I provide a rigorous class that challenges students to think. I am also firm about deadlines and class policies (including reporting plagiarism and cheating). This makes my class haaard. And it makes me appear (apparently) as unsympathetic since I hold them to standards.

Keep doing what you're doing!

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I agree with you arcturus. Some students just are not emotionally mature enough to be in a college course. It's easier for them to blame the professor and say that the prof is 'mean' instead of realizing the time commitment that is needed to succeed in a course.

My other vent. I am burned OUT. We're not even at the midpoint yet and I feel like I've been through the wringer. I have two students who are driving me crazy. One thinks that our Algebra-based Physics course should be at NIST and NASA standards and that I need to take air resistance into account for projectile motion. Um, no, I don't. Oh, and our lab equipment is just crap! Sorry, we're not a research institution bud. We have what we have. The other student is very, VERY emotionally immature and whines about there being too many tests and other stupid shit. They both also butt heads with each other which can be amusing, but they both tire me the hell out (in addition to all of the other crap going on in the world). I don't know if the quiet room thread is enough for me. I need a vacation in another universe.

[mamselle]

Assign Mr. Smarty-Pants to tutor Mr. Whiney?

Sounds like a match made in heaven...or elsewhere...

Do you have a vacation week coming up soon (it's seasonal and regional, I know).

In all cases, I could indeed open the quiet thread.

Doing that now.

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Assign Mr. Smarty-Pants to tutor Mr. Whiney?

Sounds like a match made in heaven...or elsewhere...

Do you have a vacation week coming up soon (it's seasonal and regional, I know).

In all cases, I could indeed open the quiet thread.

Doing that now.

M.

Oh, you have no idea. They are polar opposites. Just a big ole personality clash. Spring Break is coming up fast.

[AmLitHist]

Clean, Arturus, and EPW, move over--it must be something in the water, or just that time of year.

A Comp II student ripped me a new one via email last night:  I am meeeeaaannn!

• I should have "given" her more than 50% on her paper [which had nothing to do with answering the question, using outside sources, or creating a formal argument--all clearly required in the instructions] because she worked hard on it. I happily remind her that faculty don't "give" anybody any grades; I even sent her the completed grading rubric, which amounted to a grade of 46.2%. Feeling generous, I cheerfully offered to revert to that rubric score, if she'd like.
• I "hide behind the screen" and "don't help anybody" in her class--you know, the online class she signed up for, that specified in the description that there would be no synchronous instruction. And I pointed out that her bitchy email was her first contact to me, and that, no, it's truly not a faculty member's responsibility to do scheduled check-ins with every student to see if they need help. Ever seeking to be helpful, I included a link to our school's academic integrity policy.
• She also said that I'm only here for the fat paycheck without doing any work for it. Well, it is the paycheck (and crappy insurance) keeping me here for a few more years, Sweetie, but neither are as "fat" as you think they are, and since a week ago Thursday, I've logged my time, and I've put in 63.5 hours grading crap like your paper and answering stupid emails like yours. (I didn't say that last part that way, but even with nicer language, she should get the drift.)

I share your burn-out, EPW.  I guess the bright side is, even though it irks me to have to take the time to deal with this kind of BS, I'm not invested enough to get too worked up about it like I used to. I am enjoying working with most of my students--many are pretty good, and a fair number of the ones who are struggling are at least pleasant and ask for help and really seem to be trying (even if they don't have a prayer in hell of passing). 

Did I mention:  the nasty e-mailer is taking Comp II for the fourth time. Gee, I wonder why?  Lucky me--she's graced me with her presence and her evaluation of all my faults!  Pfft.

[Juvenal]

I was adjuncting one course once or twice a year since retirement--until the plague came.  Then I skipped a year when everything was on-line (old-dog-ism), and came back last fall for an F2F masked lecture session.  I then found that ill-health irruptions (gallstones in Oct/hematuria in Nov) told me: "Time to wholly retire."  Indeed, I bailed in early Nov, the hospital more important than the classroom.  The course was successfully taken over--no train wreck.

Now, there is a new mandatory program for DEI that MUST be done for all FT and any adjunct with an assignment.  Well!  We had such a program just before I took retirement, and I have nicely printed certificates of accomplishment, but there's no grandfathering-in (different platform now).  Sorry, admin!  Don't need a booster here.

So, it came to me just recently, that for a complete retiree, "Every day is Saturday."  Something in that.  And, frankly, I have become more and more certain that, at seventy-seven, it is time to hang up my jock.

[the_geneticist]

Student email to dean (reported from chair)

"Dr. Clean has been by far the most degrading, condescending Professor that I've had in college. My classmates and I have made GroupMe chats in an effort figure out how to complete his assignments due to his vague instructions, but he constantly rejects them. We are all intimidated to ask him questions because he practically screams at us through e-mail. "

Im unable to find the meaning in these phrases, so if you can help... "I have made GroupMe chats in an effort figure out how to complete his assignments due to his vague instructions, but he constantly rejects them"   What does this mean in 'Merican?  they have a Group me... ok.... What exactly have I constantly rejected??  I wasnt invited to this event or asked any questions!

AND
" because he practically screams at us through e-mail."   
I dont scream in person, so I dont know how I could scream through email.  Any thoughts at how this might happen?  (No one has emailed questions to answer through email.  Only announcements have been emailed.  )


(and for the record, this is an Intermediate class, so we are still in the review stage of the prerequisite class... there is nothing new here, so I dont know what they are unable to do.  They have had this material before... and even Passed it! 

Thoughts?

So, the student basically admits to using GroupMe chat for "unauthorized collaboration" at best "copy and paste plagiarism" at worst and is wondering why they aren't doing well?  And the "constant rejection" is student-speak for "my assignments are scored lower than I want".
The student is also claiming to speak for the class when it's more likely that only this student is failing.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Clean, Arturus, and EPW, move over--it must be something in the water, or just that time of year.

A Comp II student ripped me a new one via email last night:  I am meeeeaaannn!

• I should have "given" her more than 50% on her paper [which had nothing to do with answering the question, using outside sources, or creating a formal argument--all clearly required in the instructions] because she worked hard on it. I happily remind her that faculty don't "give" anybody any grades; I even sent her the completed grading rubric, which amounted to a grade of 46.2%. Feeling generous, I cheerfully offered to revert to that rubric score, if she'd like.
• I "hide behind the screen" and "don't help anybody" in her class--you know, the online class she signed up for, that specified in the description that there would be no synchronous instruction. And I pointed out that her bitchy email was her first contact to me, and that, no, it's truly not a faculty member's responsibility to do scheduled check-ins with every student to see if they need help. Ever seeking to be helpful, I included a link to our school's academic integrity policy.
• She also said that I'm only here for the fat paycheck without doing any work for it. Well, it is the paycheck (and crappy insurance) keeping me here for a few more years, Sweetie, but neither are as "fat" as you think they are, and since a week ago Thursday, I've logged my time, and I've put in 63.5 hours grading crap like your paper and answering stupid emails like yours. (I didn't say that last part that way, but even with nicer language, she should get the drift.)

I share your burn-out, EPW.  I guess the bright side is, even though it irks me to have to take the time to deal with this kind of BS, I'm not invested enough to get too worked up about it like I used to. I am enjoying working with most of my students--many are pretty good, and a fair number of the ones who are struggling are at least pleasant and ask for help and really seem to be trying (even if they don't have a prayer in hell of passing). 

Did I mention:  the nasty e-mailer is taking Comp II for the fourth time. Gee, I wonder why?  Lucky me--she's graced me with her presence and her evaluation of all my faults!  Pfft.

Daaayyum! Some students really need to take a step back and think about what they're saying, especially if it's so scathing, before they say it. Sorry you got that email.

[AmLitHist]

Thanks, EPW, and good thoughts to you too. Like I said, that email (and a similar one from another student overnight) have been more of an aggravation than an all-out indignation to me lately; I just don't care enough about this kind of student to get angry or hurt anymore.  I do care about most of my students, though, more than I think I've realized; I'm more conscious of actively trying to look out for them and help them than I probably did pre-pandemic.

My own kid, on the other hand. . . . I'll just say she'd have to have been a whole lot nicer in recent weeks to even come close to being nominated for the Serpent's Tooth Award. I get that she has mental health problems, and I always give her a wide berth and try to walk away out of her line of verbal fire, but yesterday I got a couple of good a*%-chewings over absolutely nothing, out of the blue. Normally I'd be keyed-up for a bit, then forget about it, but the objectively false and outlandish (and hurtful) accusations and beyond-the-pale name-calling and criticisms got to me (probably not least because of the burnout, the grind of the pandemic, those student emails, chronic pain from the SIJD, the unresolved foot injury and pain...). I've been a mess all yesterday evening and this morning.

My vent here isn't to gain sympathy--I'm really just pissed off at myself for not being to say "f&$% it" and move on.

[FishProf]

Boy did I pick the wrong week to really dive into my sabbatical research!  School vacation.   Smolt is home.  MrsFishProf is home.  I can't get anything going.  I have been struggling with time management and task management, but this week is shaping up to be a disaster.

[clean]

I thought that the goal was to have 90% of sabbatical research finished BEFORE it started so that these issues would not have a chance to interrupt it?