CM readers,
I need your advice ! What can one reply to the student who is scoring the lowest in class, never reads assigned material, and never participates in class - and when asked to participate, says"I did not read the material".
From: Dildert Dino
Prof. Mundo,
After reading your review about my midterm I am seriously considering dropping this class. My poor performance may end up with a very bad grade, which might affect my GPA in a negative way. Although I am really interested in Advanced Basketweaving and it is also one of the career options for me after graduation. One of the question I wanted to ask you was if I try my best in the remaining class participation, project and final exam, what is possibility I can still get an A- and above? Thanks.
Dino
From: Monda
To:D. Dino
Dino,
If you are interested in AB, I wonder why you are so uninterested in actually working in the course, and reading the cases. Your problem is not your low marks in mid-term quiz, but the fact that you have never been serious for this class. Unfortunately, my class is NOT an easy A. You know where you are, and must make your own decisions. I do not try to forecast the future. Midterm quiz is only 20%. There is still a project, participation and reading for all remaining classes, and a big final remaining. So, all possibilities are there.
Best wishes,
Prof Monda
Prof. Mundo,
I appreciate your effort to motivate everyone to participate in the class and encourage us to learn as much as possible. I agree that I could have worked harder in the class. However, I am not sure that reading the cases, answering cold call questions correctly, being active in the classroom and scoring high in mid term are the only indicators for showing interest in advanced basketweaving. Each individual might learn things in different ways. It might not be fair for us getting lower grade than other students taking other courses with different grading standard for a same amount of effort. This is just a piece of my own thought for this course so far, no excuse for my poor performance. BTW, could you consider to offer us another chance to make things up by submitting an extra credit essay?
Regards
Dino
Reply to his last message with a plain statement of the facts. Calculate what his maximum grade would be by just plugging 100% scores into your spreadsheet. Then tell him that that's the max possible grade, and is not in any way guaranteed. 5 minutes of your time.
ReplyDelete"Yes, you may learn in ways different from others. However, to get a good grade you have to prove you have learned the material by participating, doing well on the exams, etc. As an expert of N years in the field of AB, I can tell you that doing the reading is imperative to understanding the material."
ReplyDelete"I am quite sure that reading the cases, answering cold call questions correctly, being active in the classroom and scoring high in mid term are not the only signs of interest in the class, but they are signs of the mastery necessary to receive a passing grade."
ReplyDeleteYour student is differently abled. You're applying standards to a rare and sensitive snowflake, and it's tweaking him out.
ReplyDeleteTell Dino that if he wants an A- "and" above, that he needs to study a little Chi-town history and figure out how you do that registering dead people thing. Then one of his entries to your institution's matriculation book can get the A-. After he finishes an A- worth of work, he'll have to put together an A and submit it as one of the dead people. If your school offers grades of A+, he can register a second dead person and do a second dead person's worth of work, and that dead person's portfolio has to be spectacular.
ReplyDelete(Now I'm going to sacrifice an algebra book to the grammar gods before they spite me for building a sarcastic comment on a student's grammatical error when my own grammar is...)
What I would - want - to say is "How, exactly, do you think students should 'demonstrate interest' and what alternative learning strategies do you propose? Are you using these alternatives in other classes?"
ReplyDeleteWhat I would do is what introvert.prof suggests: calculate maximum possible grade.
Lastly...that second email he sent required several readings on my part in order to figure out what the heck he was saying...obviously it's because I'm too entrenched in standard methods of assessment!
I wasn't fast enough with the fire. Two "that"s in the first sentence.
ReplyDelete"Dino,
ReplyDeletemy comments from the previous e-mail remain valid. As a matter of fact, you can calculate the grade yourself: You may use the formula 0.3(x)+0.5(y)+0.2(z) to calculate different grade scenarios. I'll be glad to assist you with questions about these calculations during office hours.
What is this 'extra credit' you referred to?
Sincerely,
Dr. M"
Dino, How do you know that you are interested in AB if you have never done any AB? In order to work in this field, you must read things. You must also be able to do simple math like figuring out your possible grade.
ReplyDeletePlease drop so I don't have to listen to you anymore.
Dear Dino:
ReplyDeleteExtra credit? I don't give one student an opportunity unavailable to the rest of the class. Read the syllabus. It tells you how each deliverable is weighted.
Whether you learn differently than others doesn't really matter. What does matter is that you learn. What evidence do I have that you've learned the first thing about basketweaving, never mind its advanced nuances?
Outcomes matter. Effort is a way to get a good outcome. I can't measure effort. I can (and do) measure outcomes.
Given your performance thus far, I'd suggest you drop the course before the course drops you.
Wow !! Thanks everyone. I still cannot control my laughter as I read what Wombat suggests..
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't engage about the class any longer. I would respond with a few sentences outlining the studies that show how people learn and the increased chances of information retention based on engagement, comprehension, and enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteHis argument here seems to be that he doesn't see how reading or participating would help. So show him the numbers. 2 minutes of google will provide the evidence and Dino is ducked.
Will you listen to the state of this fool's brain? I'd let him drop and waste no further time with him.
ReplyDeleteDo all of you actually teach Basket Weaving? That's a load of crap, way worse than American Studies or English.
ReplyDeleteNo, Tim, we don't.
ReplyDeleteOur baskets are Brilliant! Rumplestiltskin would be awed.
ReplyDeleteAs a Basket-Weaving major, I take offense to that, Tim. Basket Weaving is both an art and a science. It takes both great technical knowledge and insightful creativity. It takes patience, hard work, and determination to weave that perfect basket we all long for. For me, Basket Weaving has become a way of life. I do Basket Weaving; I dream Basket Weaving; I LIVE Basket Weaving. Sometimes I even think-about-it in-the-shower Basket Weaving.
ReplyDeleteYou, on the other hand, probably never even weaved a basket in your life.
Actually, there's some really cool scholarship on cultural traditions of basketweaving, and some contemporary artists/artisans doing amazing things with the form: http://www.africanart.org/inaugural/10/grass_roots_african_origins_of_an_american_art .
ReplyDeleteBut I'm afraid when we mention it here, we mean "academic-discipline-I-don't-want-to-specify-for-privacy's-sake."