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

[OneMoreYear]

We are playing another game of "hey, you know when would be a great time to make "improvements" to the LMS? 4 days before classes start!"
No, no, no, no. Stop changing important features, like "how to set a quiz" when classes start Monday.  The "improvements" are rarely actual improvements, and even if they were, this is the worst time to roll this out. You know what would actually be helpful? Stop moving my video archive around! You know those hundreds of hours of "learner-centered" video content I created over the last few years? Stop hiding it from me!

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the_geneticist, what happens to grad students who decline the teaching contract? Do they have another funding source?

[the_geneticist]

We are playing another game of "hey, you know when would be a great time to make "improvements" to the LMS? 4 days before classes start!"
No, no, no, no. Stop changing important features, like "how to set a quiz" when classes start Monday.  The "improvements" are rarely actual improvements, and even if they were, this is the worst time to roll this out. You know what would actually be helpful? Stop moving my video archive around! You know those hundreds of hours of "learner-centered" video content I created over the last few years? Stop hiding it from me!

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the_geneticist, what happens to grad students who decline the teaching contract? Do they have another funding source?

Yes, it means they have another source of funding (fellowship, grant, internal award, etc.).  Rarely, it means that they are not making sufficient progress towards their degree and are not permitted to teach until they pass their qualifying exams/pay fees/etc.

[the_geneticist]

Sorry for the double-post, but it's been a few days.

I had the weirdest conversation with a Graduate TA

GTA "my [class section] only has 8 students."
Me "Yes"
GTA "What do I do?"
Me "You might get a few more, better bring more than 8 copies of the assignment."
GTA "So, I should still go?"
Me "Yes"
GTA "I still have to teach it?"
Me "Yes."

I'm glad they ASKED, but what did they think they would do instead?!?

Did I mention this GTA has taught this exact course twice already?

[ergative]

Sorry for the double-post, but it's been a few days.

I had the weirdest conversation with a Graduate TA

GTA "my [class section] only has 8 students."
Me "Yes"
GTA "What do I do?"
Me "You might get a few more, better bring more than 8 copies of the assignment."
GTA "So, I should still go?"
Me "Yes"
GTA "I still have to teach it?"
Me "Yes."

I'm glad they ASKED, but what did they think they would do instead?!?

Did I mention this GTA has taught this exact course twice already?

At my institution they sometimes close small sections and redistribute them to others if there's room. Since the cap is something like 12 or 16, this doesn't overload the existing sections, and avoids those excruciating meetings in small sections where only two people show up. Maybe the student was expecting some sort of redistribution of that sort to happen?

[the_geneticist]

Possible?  But the GTA doesn't get to make that decision.   

Based on their other questions, I think they were hoping/planning to not show up. 

[the_geneticist]

We have to take attendance in Week 1.  With several hundred students, I expect some "weird stuff" along with the usual being sick, sleeping in, etc.

The weirdest one as of now is a student who went to [Basketweaving] discussion, completed the activity, and turned it in.  The TA can't find them on the roster.
It happens, usually they just are in another section of the class.

Nope.  Stu isn't even a [Basketweaving]-related major!  Stu is taking a class that happens to meet in the same building, same, time, different room.  They are a business major who sat through an entire [Intro to Baskets] discussion and didn't realize they were in the wrong course.

TAs laugh when I say to start with "Welcome to class!  I'm here to teach [Intro to Baskets], hopefully that's why you are here too!". 
But it's honestly needed.

[Langue_doc]

We have to take attendance in Week 1.  With several hundred students, I expect some "weird stuff" along with the usual being sick, sleeping in, etc.

The weirdest one as of now is a student who went to [Basketweaving] discussion, completed the activity, and turned it in.  The TA can't find them on the roster.
It happens, usually they just are in another section of the class.

Nope.  Stu isn't even a [Basketweaving]-related major!  Stu is taking a class that happens to meet in the same building, same, time, different room.  They are a business major who sat through an entire [Intro to Baskets] discussion and didn't realize they were in the wrong course.

TAs laugh when I say to start with "Welcome to class!  I'm here to teach [Intro to Baskets], hopefully that's why you are here too!". 
But it's honestly needed.

I once had a student stay in my class for about an hour being quite disruptive the entire time. This was an intensive five-or-six week summer session remedial course for which updated rosters would be handed to professors on the first day of class. It turned out that the student had mistaken my English writing class for Stu's math class, despite my having gone over the syllabus, the assignments, grading policies, and had students complete a couple of short in-class writing assignments. Why Stu would have mistaken paragraph writing and critiquing for a math problem remains a mystery.

[Parasaurolophus]

I was in the grad office one day when a student came in to talk to another TA about his first test. Turns out he was enrolled in intro logic, but had been going to the intro philosophy lectures and discussion sessions. Poor bugger.

[Puget]

I was in the grad office one day when a student came in to talk to another TA about his first test. Turns out he was enrolled in intro logic, but had been going to the intro philosophy lectures and discussion sessions. Poor bugger.

These are all hilarious! This fall, about 2/3 of the way through the semester, two students I didn't recognize appeared in my classroom-- I figured they were prospective students, since they sometimes sit in on classes, and they did look very young. About half an hour in, one of them raises a hand and says "excuse me, what does this have to do with math?". Very puzzled I said "'it doesn't". Even more confused, he then asked "Is this the math thing?" I told him no, this was developmental psychology. They both then got up and scuttled out of the classroom. The rest of the class burst out laughing. We never did figure out who they were, or why it took them half an hour to figure out that it wasn't remotely the "math thing".

[marshwiggle]

Even more confused, he then asked "Is this the math thing?" I told him no, this was developmental psychology. They both then got up and scuttled out of the classroom. The rest of the class burst out laughing. We never did figure out who they were, or why it took them half an hour to figure out that it wasn't remotely the "math thing".

My roommate in first year did that in an exam. He sat down in the wrong area of the gym for the final exam, and freaked out at the exam, until he realized it was for the wrong course. (He was in Chem. Eng; the exam was in Forestry.)

[apl68]

I had a classmate who liked to tell the story about how she once went into a classroom and wondered what the wrong prof was doing in the room at that time.  And why were all those different students in there?  Then the prof pointed out to her that she had her class times mixed up, and suggested that she go back to her room and get some rest.  She had been having such a hectic semester that her classes and scheduled times were just kind of blurring together.  It's amazing what can happen with enough stress and disorganization.

[the_geneticist]

Y'all, I contacted the student and they actually wrote back.

Yeah, I think last week I attended a wrong discussion section for the wrong course. I did not realize until after I wrote my name down for the attendance.

Best Regards,
[Wrong Room Stu]

And they completed the activity and worksheet too. 
They scored 10/10 and can write polite emails. Maybe I should keep them!

[apl68]

Imagine what a student like that could accomplish in the right class!

[arcturus]

Dear student - asking me to re-open a closed assignment so that you can earn the 1 point that you missed is not making you look good in my eyes. Also, stating that missing this point has dropped your grade from 100% to 75% is really not helping. Yes, mathematically, at this point in the semester, you now have earned only 75% of the available points. That is, 75% of the 0.4% of your total class grade that has been scored thus far. The fact that you "only just realized" that you can re-take the quizzes multiple times - when there have been numerous class announcements stating that you can re-take the quizzes multiple times - is icing on the not-comprehending-the-class-policies cake.

We are only in week 2. It is far too early in the semester for grade-grubbing.

[the_geneticist]

Dear student - asking me to re-open a closed assignment so that you can earn the 1 point that you missed is not making you look good in my eyes. Also, stating that missing this point has dropped your grade from 100% to 75% is really not helping. Yes, mathematically, at this point in the semester, you now have earned only 75% of the available points. That is, 75% of the 0.4% of your total class grade that has been scored thus far. The fact that you "only just realized" that you can re-take the quizzes multiple times - when there have been numerous class announcements stating that you can re-take the quizzes multiple times - is icing on the not-comprehending-the-class-policies cake.

We are only in week 2. It is far too early in the semester for grade-grubbing.

Ugh, and this is one reason why I have my grades displayed as points earned, not percentage.

It's never too early (or too late!) for grade grubbing!