In the ongoing saga of student complaints about instructor authority/competence to correct assignments, a new contender ... Not-me-you Nate.Apparently, now due respect goes right out the window. If the student fails to follow directions, it is because the instructor failed. [No kidding!]
First, Nate informed me that he went to a local basketweaving professional -- seriously? -- who reviewed his paper which had been rejected for failing to meet the basic requirements of the assignment and now has a clearer understanding of said requirements.
Nate then challenged my rubric (take that - rubric champions!). Because I had indicated that >55% points awarded per measurable standard meant "not completed" he argued that since he had completed a paper, he obviously should have been awarded at least 55% credit.
[Apparently if Nate orders the Never Ending Pasta Bowl™ at Olive Garden but they bring him the Tour of Italy™, he pays because of the effort expended!]
But then ... a twist.
Nate continues:
"To issue a zero is totally unacceptable, not only does it represent failure on my part, but also on your part as my instructor" (my emphasis, and incredulity).
Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit, if YOU cannot bother to read the instructions and submit a paper about ancient painted basketweaving focused on the painting, when you were clearly, repeatedly, imploringly instructed to focus on the weaving, that is MY failure as an instructor?
Nate, I kneel before you, humbly supplicated. However can I repair the damage I have done to you?
Wait ... never mind ... your paper STILL is rejected!
(Did I mention that NMY Nate works in a profession critical to public safety and welfare?)
My advice to you is to grade appropriately.
ReplyDeleteI pretend to be stupid here sometimes, so if people think I'm kidding, I have that coming, but...
ReplyDeleteCould you repeat this part?: Because I had indicated that >55% points awarded per measurable standard meant "not completed" he argued that since he had completed a paper, he obviously should have been awarded at least 55% credit.
Because I read it a few times and I don't understand the alleged loophole.
I'm going to agree with Frod here. If someone hands me a paper, and it is more than just random letters on a page, it gets a minimum F grade (51 points). Even if it's garbage, it's 2 pages instead of 8 pages, it overuses quotes. (plagiarism= different story).
ReplyDeleteIf they write something somewhat related but don't follow the assignment or rubric, they should get a 50 or 55 F. Not a zero. An F. There is an enormous difference there, and that difference would not be giving you a hard time on the Monday night when Conan is premiering on TBS.
I think they mean "<55 points awarded". I.e. say the rubric says "gives specific examples of basketweaving technique A: 90-100 great examples; 70-90 some examples; 55-70 inappropriate examples; <55 no examples" and then ssimilar for other parts of the rubric.
ReplyDeleteNow the student is arguing that <55 always means nothing was done, and they didn't do nothing, so they should get at least 55.
Thanks. That was stupid of me, but now I'm following the story. I give rubrics for dummies. The points are all accounted for in small, specific bundles. So it is possible to give very very low grades. I've given 12s on lab reports and had no room for such a request.
ReplyDeletePutting aside that the student is a jerk, he seems to have found wiggle room in the rubric which needs to be addressed next time. If you believe that a worthless paper that doesn't follow written rules and doesn't address the topic = a zero, just state that explicitly so you don't have to debate it in the future.
ReplyDeleteIf you believe your rubric is specific enough now that giving a zero can be defended without a bunch of misery for you, stick to your guns.
There are lots of situations where just showing up or turning something in doesn't automatically warrant credit. When I took the drivers exam, I had to achieve a certain level of skill in driving or I didn't pass. I didn't get credit for just showing up behind the wheel of the car. If I send a check to the electric company, but don't sign it, I don't get credit for sending something in. Now, just so you know, I passed the driving test and always pay my electric bills. (I'm an excellent driver.)
Similar to the Syllabus debate, CYA. Sorry you have to deal with such a schmuck.
Dayum ... I'm not a lawyer (and apparently "Law & Order law school wasn't sufficient preparation), but we've gotten to the point where it must be expressly stated:
ReplyDelete"You have been instructed to write on X topic. Failure to do so will result in your paper not being accepted. Completing a paper on any topic other than X is not sufficient."
Given CYA, I actually do require students include a statement on their title page saying they have read and understand the university academic integrity policy AND the assignment instructions.
I also am not a mathematician, but isn't 0 less than 55%?
One other addendum, I have been using this particular rubric for 5+ years. This student is the very first to insinuate that handing in ANY paper deserves at least 55%.
ReplyDeleteGuess I have to now add the expressly stated "Nate category:"
"0 points if content does not adhere to terms of the assignment"
Given the previous discussion, I have added a sentence to a box on the bottom of the second page which conveyed, in part, that following the instructions -- including seeking clarification for anything unclear -- rests with the student. The box now ends with (in red text): Failure to follow these directions can result in the assignment receiving no credit!
I may be dense, but why would ANYONE think that a worthless attempt at ANY school assignment or project would automatically get 50-55 points? Surely you've seen zero work before, right? Why would it get rewarded with even half of a full A?
ReplyDeleteNutty.
The example I always use: If you're working for a newspaper, and they assign you to cover the court cases of the day, but you felt like going to the baseball game and writing that up (with no preparation/support for that), then you not only have a hole in the paper in the Metro section, but you probably didn't write a great Sports article either, so no one is happy.
ReplyDeleteAnd, in April's example, the court reporter won't get 50-55% of his/her salary for the basketball game story.
ReplyDelete@Natty
ReplyDeleteYou are soooo right. Unfortunately, at least where I teach, there are a whole slew of high school students who DO get credit for just being there and turning anything in. High school teachers are so tickled that the student made the effort, they'll give them unearned credit.
I had a student once complain after not passing a class that she turned everything in, so she should have AT LEAST gotten a "D." Give me a break.
@Aware and Scared
Your addendums sound great. It's very sad that we have to do this kind of thing, but whatever it takes to minimize the assholiness so we can reach the students who truly care is worth the extra line or two.
This is why I don't use rubrics anymore. The students read them so literally, and I get hemmed in by them. If X isn't explicitly covered on the rubric, then apparently X can't be used when assessing the student.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I tried using a 400-point semester that translated directly into a 4.0 grade at the end of the term.
ReplyDeleteToo many students hand in a steaming pile of horse manure and DEMAND half-credit because of wussy proffies setting a precedent for half-credit for handing in ANYTHING. ("It's still an F" my ass, you cowards.)
I once had students do a paper that covered 10 basic ideas, each of which would be worth up to 10 points each. One dufus skipped 3 of the parts completely and did half-assed work on the others. He earned a total of 57 points and whined about his grade. HE SKIPPED 1/3 OF THE ASSIGNMENT! That's a D if he did everything else perfectly on a 100-point scale (where C=75 points).
So, I switched the scale to half-credit = C. I was happy, but the dumbass, innumerate students couldn't figure out they were actually scoring HIGHER because of the shift in my grading criteria. (example: "What do you mean 8 out of 10 isn't a B? It's an 80!" Psst, sweetie: it's closer to a B+ if you're so obsessed with the letter.) I also still got tons of whining from the ZERO earners. But I knew that their occasional screw-ups didn't earn them an F for the term; the only students to earn an F were CONSTANT SCREW-UPS.
In the end, I still got blamed for their inability to do college-level work. And of course, even the B students were bitter. The A students usually thanked me for a good class. Too bad there were so few of them.
P.S. I will admit to a bias against an F = 50-55.
ReplyDeleteAs a newish TA, I worked for a Deadwood Silverback who scaled and curved and inflated grades until he got a high pass rate. Students had to write 3 (usually crappy) papers for the term, he gave us neither a rubric nor grading criteria, and then we 3 TAs had to somehow figure out how to grade the 450-ish essays in such a way that there was some sort of standard set.
MANY of my students refused to write the last 2 essays because they screwed up the first (or found the papers boring or worthless or whatever lie they told themselves to not do them).
At the end of the term, I had students who had done 1-2 essays wrong and were allowed to re-do them WITHOUT A SECOND DUE DATE (insert rule-following student bitterness here) or just not doing any at all. I was able to ensure that those who met the original due date earned at least a C and the others earned no higher than a C, where C=75. Students who submitted nothing? Zero, right? Nope. They got Fs, where F=55. They were given points for NO WORK. I vowed NEVER to do that to another student so long as I taught. No work = no credit. And IMHO not following basic instructions is essentially no work.
Well, this stuff about the points all comes down to math. It would probably be better in a lot of cases to have a point system with five equally-sized categories: 0-20 = F, 21-40 = D, 41-60 = C, 61-80 = B, 81-100 = A. Why? Because in reality there is often not that big of a difference between doing nothing and getting a D. With this system, doing nothing would not have the extreme drag-down on the grade that it now has, being almost 2/3 of a full assignment below D.
ReplyDeleteI have often told students who are struggling right before the due date: Turn in something, anything, so I can give you SOME points. A zero _thrashes_ your grade much more than a "normal" F.
Unfortunately, the university has standardized the grading scale, so I can't try my idea.
I found this sentence really offensive.
ReplyDelete"Because I had indicated that >55% points awarded per measurable standard meant "not completed" he argued that since he had completed a paper, he obviously should have been awarded at least 55% credit."
At first I thought I wasn't reading it correctly. The way this sentence reads, it seems as though a grade greater than 55% means "not completed". Then I realized even proffies can fail to edit what they've written. Were you seriously too lazy to type out the phrase "under 55%"? Had you even said "<55%" or "x<55%" I could have just avoided this minor headache.