It is the end of the semester, it is also Christmas time and I had crazy dreams of being able to spend time with my family. I was contacted by the Dean who wanted to tell me that a student from my class has come to them because they have been having "problems". We discuss the student and I feel a "No Shit Sherlock" glare forming on my face. This is the same student I came to them with concerns for their mental health several weeks ago as their work had become less coherent, and lets say. . .ranty.
I take a deep breath, I am SO glad they finally came in for help, blah blah blah. Of COURSE I am willing to work with them! How far back does their documentation of their troubles go? Since the beginning of class? So it took them 14 weeks to determine there was a problem and decided to do something about it five days before the end of the term? Well no problamo boss man, I will do my best to help them get their assignments in.
What are some guidelines others have found helpful when trying to help a student who obviously has some problems that need to be addressed but MAY be sever enough that they realistically cannot successfully complete a course at this time?
One helpful tool for this is the Incomplete grade. Another is excusing a student from assignments for medical reasons, instead of accepting late work, which I never do, even for good reasons: I just mark them "excused" and count the remainder of the grade as 100%. Another is explicitly stating that I will do that in my course syllabus. Another is remembering that my doctorate isn't in medicine or psychology, so I am not qualified to diagnose or treat any ailment, physical or mental. Another is recognizing that once campus closes for winter break, I am not obligated to do work for the university, or for any of its students, until campus re-opens and the beginning of the next semester.
ReplyDeleteFroderick is right, and I urge you to take care of this situation is swiftly and professionally as possible...these things can drag on and on...
ReplyDeleteP.S. A lack of planning on your student's part shouldn't constitute an emergency on your part. Of course, this hasn't prevented me from being yelled at and called "selfish" by an incompetent department chair, for saying that I'd be unable to do work during winter break. But then, it served me right for answering e-mail while on vacation.
ReplyDeleteI, too, would treat this as a situation calling for an Incomplete. My institution actually provides a contract, to be filled out by the prof and student together, listing what still needs to be done, and when it will be done by (there's an official deadline in the middle of the next semester by which incompletes must be resolved or they turn into Fs, but faculty members can set earlier deadlines. I suspect that Deans can also, alas, waive the deadline, but fortunately I haven't experienced that). If your institution doesn't have such regulations and paperwork, then perhaps creating them should be the Dean's vacation project.
ReplyDeleteI'd also define "working with" the student as setting deadlines (not falling during winter break) for him/her to meet and grading the resulting work, nothing more (and I also like Froderick's idea of "excusing" him/her from exercises, such as tests and quizzes, that would require considerable work on your part to replace). If the student needs tutoring to pass the class, then he/she needs to get it elsewhere, and/or simply retake the class when it is next offered. There's a big difference between an opportunity to make up missed work and a private tutorial, and you do *not* owe him/her a private tutorial.