Someone just introduced herself to me to say she missed three weeks of classes because instead of Chem I, she's been sitting in Molecular Biology II because she wrote down the wrong room number.
She was very calm and composed as she walked up to the MBII professor to ask "What is going to be on Wed. quiz? The syllabus says chapters 1 and 2, but we haven't done anything out of the book yet."
I'm serious - I look forward to her. Obvious ridiculousness aside:
1) she found the syllabus online
2) she read the syllabus
3) she read the assigned reading (or she wouldn't have known it didn't mesh with what was going on in class)
4) she didn't piss in her pants because she was 5 semesters behind the rest of her class
5) she didn't piss her pants when she realized there is a quiz Wed and she has to take it and she hasn't been in the class
She might be a spaz, but she can read. That probably sets her ahead of the rest of the class, who I suspect are zombies that scattered from Stella's class into mine, the way roaches find your apartment after your neighbor fumigates.
She seems to be taking responsibility for her own error, which is what sets her apart from her peers.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't expect that to translating into a passing grade, however.
How did this student not get caught by the prof? Was s/he not taking attendance?
Attendance.
ReplyDeleteI never take it. I hate the implication that I'm a truant officer, assigned to watch the kiddies and make sure they don't stray. I rare include in-class credit, unless I need to motivate students to perform a difficult exercise on their own.
My feeling is that unless we start treating them like adults, they won't act like adults. You want to skip? Fine with me. It's your funeral.
(That said, I AM teaching less than 30 students, so I can keep an eye on someone who starts missing class to do call in the Retention Force Black Helicopters. )
Yes, she sounds like she actually has it pretty together for someone who doesn't have it together. And I really like the taking-responsibility part. I'll be interested to hear how this little tale turns out.
ReplyDeleteWe're nearing our add/drop deadline, and I've had a veritable blizzard of snowflakes registering at the last minute (as replacements for people who were shocked to discover that my online writing class involves a lot of writing -- and reading), discovering that they've missed a lot of work (and that I expect them to do at least some of it within 48 hours and the rest within a week), dropping, and starting the cycle all over again. I'll be very glad when the deadline passes.
She doesn't have it together. This behavior really is inexcusable. When I was a freshperson, I once initially wound up in the wrong classroom, too. It took me all of five minutes to figure this out, and to make my way to the correct classroom: taking three weeks to do this is just plain stupid. Can you imagine what this fool might do in a position of real responsibility, such as running a chemical plant that manufactures methyl isocyanate, or an offshore oil rig, or a nuclear reactor? I'd come down on her like a ton of bricks, if I were you. That the other students in the class are worse matters not at all: I'd come down on them like two tons of bricks.
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