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

[Stockmann]

Two of my classes have exams this week. So far I'm up to 3 emails of students who think they have COVID, and one who "ate bad sushi". All looking for make ups for the exam. No make-ups per the policy- that's why I drop one exam score. The one claiming bad sushi has offered to wear a diaper if needed if I don't allow a delay. She missed the first exam entirely so she doesn't have a score to drop. While I find her story fishy (pun intended), I'll let her take it tomorrow morning just in case it's for real.

I think I need to rethink the exam make-up policy in some way. Students regard a dropped exam as a freebie, rather than as a safety net. Maybe have the comprehensive final count for the missed exam?  Other ideas?

My policy since we returned F2F is, for courses graded on quizes and exams, that missed quizes are replaced by the midterm or by the final, whichever is after, missed midterms are replaced by the cumulative final, and missed finals are replaced by a weighted average of the midterm and the later quizes. If a quiz is missed and the exam replacing it was also missed, it gets a zero, and so on. So they can miss an exam or even multiple quizes, for any reason, without tanking their grade, even as every major topic gets assessed. That's the theory, anyway - I got plenty of grade-grubbers claiming they thought the final replaced everything else (the syllabus clearly explained about grades not transferring from the final to the quizes). So I've added one more line saying that under no circumstances will the course be graded solely on the final.

[Anon1787]

Exam question specifically states not to address issue X (which would not require familiarity with the assigned readings and related lecture), but ~25% of students address issue X anyway (and earned no credit). Class is mostly sophomores. Pandemic effect or not? That is the question.

[fosca]

Exam question specifically states not to address issue X (which would not require familiarity with the assigned readings and related lecture), but ~25% of students address issue X anyway (and earned no credit). Class is mostly sophomores. Pandemic effect or not? That is the question.

I'm finding that more and more students seem to be reading just enough of the instructions for them to think they know what they need to do, and not reading (or remembering) everything.  And then they get indignant when I point out their error and claim that they "didn't know", even though it's right there in the instructions.  This isn't new, but there sure seems to be a lot more of it.

[MarathonRunner]

Exam question specifically states not to address issue X (which would not require familiarity with the assigned readings and related lecture), but ~25% of students address issue X anyway (and earned no credit). Class is mostly sophomores. Pandemic effect or not? That is the question.

Under the stress of exams, I can easily see some students missing the "not." Or for students who have been taught to look for keywords they see X and they don't see the "not."

Even at the master's level, last year some students either didn't bother to read instructions or didn't understand them, as they based their capstone papers around X instead of Y, despite Y being in all the instructions, the syllabus, the rubric, and discussed in a required and an optional session.

[OneMoreYear]

Exam question specifically states not to address issue X (which would not require familiarity with the assigned readings and related lecture), but ~25% of students address issue X anyway (and earned no credit). Class is mostly sophomores. Pandemic effect or not? That is the question.

75% did it right? Good for your students!
I have learned to put the word NOT in ALL CAPS and bolded, particularly for an essay exam where that question may be a significant part of the grade. In one of my exams in which I have a similar issue, I also explain: Answers that discuss the issue from X perspective will earn a score of 0 on this item; students are to answer this question with information related to the lecture/assigned readings for this course. But, this is because students have complained previously that they were "so confused" and didn't understand "not." Your mileage may vary with your students and administration.

[apl68]

Stu: But I can't learn by reading. You need to show me.

I'm at a loss for words. If Stu can't read, what on earth is Stu doing in college?

Good God! Yep, sounds like my place. Our institution takes everyone. If you have the money, then you're accepted. I wonder if some of our students are illiterate.

I get the feeling Stu can read just fine, he just chooses not to. And I refuse to spoon feed. And apparently, that makes me mean 😪  But if Stu wants to be an engineer, he'll have to read, and *gasp* do math, and perhaps both at the same time.

Wait - stu who refuses to read thinks they want to be an engineer?!?
Seriously, we make children switch from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" at about age 6 or 7.

Yes indeed. Stu is a first year engineering student. He is also in a class with a colleague who told me Stu asked if he could turn in work he "forgot to do" back in week two so he could improve his grade. The answer was no, of course. And knowing my colleague, it was probably said in a "are you *bleeping* kidding me?" tone. It's not easy to earn A's in a lot of these first year courses, but honestly, it's rather hard to fail them, but students do all the time.

Stu sounds entitled.

Reminds me of one of mine when I first taught.

Stu: I know everything. If I just tell you, will that get me an A?
Me:  You do need to show me you read the book and write the paper.
Stu: I have ADD! I can't read a bookkkkkkkkkk!
Me:  So there is a lot of material in the book. Let's figure out how you can access it and then show me you learned it.
Stu: BUT I ALREADY KNOW EVERYTHINGGGGGGGGG IN ITTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He switched from Business to Motorcycle Repair, IIRC.

Too bad he doesn't like to read.  He'd probably go for parts of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

[the_geneticist]

What part of "due no later than the start of your registered class" makes it sound like you can try to start the assignment after your class has started?
Especially you've had this type of assignment every week?  And you can always finish it early!

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I have a student who STILL thinks that we have lab twice a week. We do not.

Hint: This is the same student who doesn't come to lab because of conflicts and is failing both lab and lecture.

[dr_evil]

While grading, I had this gem multiple times: the question asks how A and B are different from each other, but over half the students told me how they are the same. There wasn't even a "not" in the question for them to miss.

The major head banging (and not the fun type) was caused by one of the "you're so haaaarrrrd and don't care if we fail and don't help us" emails. I responded by reminding the student they had never come to office hours or stayed behind after collecting lab data to ask questions.

I'm so ready for this term to be done.

[Caracal]

Two of my classes have exams this week. So far I'm up to 3 emails of students who think they have COVID, and one who "ate bad sushi". All looking for make ups for the exam. No make-ups per the policy- that's why I drop one exam score. The one claiming bad sushi has offered to wear a diaper if needed if I don't allow a delay. She missed the first exam entirely so she doesn't have a score to drop. While I find her story fishy (pun intended), I'll let her take it tomorrow morning just in case it's for real.

I think I need to rethink the exam make-up policy in some way. Students regard a dropped exam as a freebie, rather than as a safety net. Maybe have the comprehensive final count for the missed exam?  Other ideas?

My policy since we returned F2F is, for courses graded on quizes and exams, that missed quizes are replaced by the midterm or by the final, whichever is after, missed midterms are replaced by the cumulative final, and missed finals are replaced by a weighted average of the midterm and the later quizes. If a quiz is missed and the exam replacing it was also missed, it gets a zero, and so on. So they can miss an exam or even multiple quizes, for any reason, without tanking their grade, even as every major topic gets assessed. That's the theory, anyway - I got plenty of grade-grubbers claiming they thought the final replaced everything else (the syllabus clearly explained about grades not transferring from the final to the quizes). So I've added one more line saying that under no circumstances will the course be graded solely on the final.

I don't have a cumulative final exam-the final is worth the same amount as the other two exams. If they miss one of the first two exams, students just take a make up exam during the finals period in addition to the third exam. You could still have a dropped exam if you wanted, but this way there's no penalty for a student who misses an exam.

[Puget]

Two of my classes have exams this week. So far I'm up to 3 emails of students who think they have COVID, and one who "ate bad sushi". All looking for make ups for the exam. No make-ups per the policy- that's why I drop one exam score. The one claiming bad sushi has offered to wear a diaper if needed if I don't allow a delay. She missed the first exam entirely so she doesn't have a score to drop. While I find her story fishy (pun intended), I'll let her take it tomorrow morning just in case it's for real.

I think I need to rethink the exam make-up policy in some way. Students regard a dropped exam as a freebie, rather than as a safety net. Maybe have the comprehensive final count for the missed exam?  Other ideas?

My policy since we returned F2F is, for courses graded on quizes and exams, that missed quizes are replaced by the midterm or by the final, whichever is after, missed midterms are replaced by the cumulative final, and missed finals are replaced by a weighted average of the midterm and the later quizes. If a quiz is missed and the exam replacing it was also missed, it gets a zero, and so on. So they can miss an exam or even multiple quizes, for any reason, without tanking their grade, even as every major topic gets assessed. That's the theory, anyway - I got plenty of grade-grubbers claiming they thought the final replaced everything else (the syllabus clearly explained about grades not transferring from the final to the quizes). So I've added one more line saying that under no circumstances will the course be graded solely on the final.

I don't have a cumulative final exam-the final is worth the same amount as the other two exams. If they miss one of the first two exams, students just take a make up exam during the finals period in addition to the third exam. You could still have a dropped exam if you wanted, but this way there's no penalty for a student who misses an exam.

This is what I do as well, except I let any student who wants to replace an earlier exam grade do so (I call it a "second chance exam"). I've found it helps relieve a lot of student anxiety, and radically reduces the amount of whining and special pleading I have to endure, so win-win. It does make for a bit of extra grading during finals, but typically only 10-15% of the class take me up on the offer so it isn't too bad.

[artalot]

Dear Prof. artalot,
Can I have an extension on the essay? My allergies are really acting up.

I've heard it all. I don't even know what to say to that.

[the_geneticist]

I am seeing excuses I've never seen before:

I had to do laundry.
I am allergic to [everyday item].
My Mom had to help me take a COVID test. [from student who lives ON CAMPUS]
I have pain.  [yep, that was it]

I'm going to have to remember the mantra "teach the students you have, not the students you wish for", but it's getting really hard.

[dr_evil]

I am seeing excuses I've never seen before:

I had to do laundry.
I am allergic to [everyday item].
My Mom had to help me take a COVID test. [from student who lives ON CAMPUS]
I have pain.  [yep, that was it]

I'm going to have to remember the mantra "teach the students you have, not the students you wish for", but it's getting really hard.

And I was just joking when I said I was allergic to nitrogen and work.

[onehappyunicorn]

Had a student today tell me that they won't be able to complete an assignment because they are taking a trip for a week. It wouldn't be an issue if they did not somehow think they should be excused from completing the work. It's a sketchbook assignment, I told them to take their sketchbook with them and work on it if they wanted credit. Student seemed shocked that I would suggest they should complete work while on vacation.