She is genial and mixes well with the younger people. I believe I have even heard a young woman refer to her as "Mom," and it brought a delightful smile from her. I think of her now that way as well, even though she is decidedly my junior. She often comes by my desk at the start of class to say hello, always quietly, but always with a certain pleasant elegance and decorum.
Her first project in my class was a group affair, and overall it was a fine piece of work. But as she does not speak much in class, and as she has yet to seek my counsel (or even a cup of my tea) during office hours, I fear I have been remiss in learning much about her readiness for the challenge of this particular course.
I am embarrassed to admit that it was but over this recent Spring Break week that I first saw a completely solo project of hers. And it is abysmal. It shows not a bit of what I hope I've stressed in our classroom meetings. It is riddled with errors; it is sub 100 level work in a 300 level class. It is not without some real world experience, in fact it might be too richly filled with her personal feelings about a rather worldly problem within our culture. (Although I do not begrudge students their keenness to relate their experience as they unlock problems in my class, the written essays are clearly and often described as "academic work, and devoid of the first person.")
But that is perhaps beside the point. The point is, and I am sure that any of you who have the benefit of a certain number of years in a college classroom - and of course, I have let it be known that I may have more of those notched on my gun butt than my youthful visage belies! - know that we occasionally find ourselves with students who simply are unprepared to meet the expectations of a certain class.
How "Mom" got into my 300 level class, with a stunning list of prerequisite hurdles, I do not know. I will not willy nilly attempt to figure that out, nor shall I worry about her path to me. But I must worry about this class, my responsibility to her, my other students, and the standards of this particular course of study.
I plan to return her project first thing today, and to have a conversation with her about where the project fails to meet the requirements. I will do this without panic or agenda. I cannot remove the feeling that I am taking this on far too late in the semester. Shame on me for not having diagnosed matters before now. I see now that my class has simple meandered a bit too long in its first half, and a student like "Mom," who deserves better than that, was able to meander along with me, not actually being held accountable for her abilities, her writing, and her preparation for this class.
It is a hard lesson for me to swallow, and I wish for nothing more than a to-do-over so I might remedy what sickness my sloppy planning has wrought. But I hope that "Mom" will forgive my lateness in joining her fight, and I hope that the two of us might wage it together, and successfully.
With my kindness,
Yaro
Yaro, it is me, Will.
ReplyDeleteI have made the same mistake. Too few grades early in the term can give everyone (even the proffie) a false sense that they're passing.
Better to front load a few assignments early so everyone can shake out.
I am sure you will remedy this though, and I'm sure "Mom" is lucky to have you on her side.
You wrote: "I cannot remove the feeling that I am taking this on far too late in the semester. Shame on me for not having diagnosed matters before now."
ReplyDeleteThis is probably not what you want to hear (I'm sorry) but it gives me faith that even folks who are far more knowledgeable than myself in the Land of Pedagogy make this mistake sometimes. My biggest problem is my complete and utter hatred of grading, which sometimes results in my delaying the grading until later in the semester than I should.
What kind of assignment do you think would have helped you identify "Mom" earlier on? One of my problems is that some of my classes are in a vaguely defined 'area studies' concentration. I don't set the pre-requisites, and I get people with a HUGE variety of academic backgrounds. So...how do I create an assignment (or two or three) that helps me separate the wheat from the chaff?
On the other hand...the good thing about front-loading is that it potentially lets you avoid back-loading...and the crush of crap at the end of term.
[Past early assignments have included short writing assignments comparing two readings, or linking a reading to a short film.]
At least one writing assignment before week 4 (in the semester system) usually smokes out the "Moms" and allows me to intervene in time to either salvage the situation, or allow the student to withdraw with no consequences.
ReplyDeleteWell... even with a lot of grades, some still don't get it. I have a very unprepared (grad) student in a class who needs to go BACK to English 101 (and, yes, the student is a native English speaker). The student's writing is not very good, but the ability to follow syllabus directions and complete simple assignments is worse.
ReplyDeleteI've suggested that she drop; at this point, there is probably no way she can pass. Mathematically, possible; practically, impossible.
Will she drop? Apparently not; this is just bizarre. But... I have all communications saved in case of a grade appeal.
I've made this mistake, too. Having a long add/drop period definitely ups the danger, as does having larger classes/more sections, which means one can only assign and grade so many of the kind of fairly complex assignments which reveal the most serious difficulties. Designing an assignment which can be lightly/quickly graded early in the semester (so as to avoid a disastrous domino effect in the grading queue; I've learned over the years what I can actually keep up with given c. 90-100 students, and it's frighteningly little) but still reveals such problems can be a challenge. Various sorts of pre-formal-proposal proposals (individual in-class oral descriptions of plans in traditional classes; informal written ones in hybrid and online ones) are my favorite approach, but they're definitely not foolproof (as the formal proposals I'm reading right now reveal all too clearly).
ReplyDeleteI have made Yaro's mistake, but not for a while. I find it very useful to get a good measurement early on, but I do teach a lot of freshmen courses.
ReplyDeleteYaro's class is a 300 level, and I can understand not being too worried about readiness when they're that far already. If "Mom" is doing sub-100 level work and has the prereqs for his 300 class, something went wrong earlier than THIS semester.
Don't beat yourself up, Yaro. This happens to us all at times. As ELS says above, I have expectations of students in a 3-400 level class, and I might be guilty of doing the same thing Yaro is caught by.
ReplyDeleteSurely "Mom" got passed along somewhere before she ever had the good fortune to come under Yaro's tutelage. (Did that SOUND like Yaro, just a bit. I swear I think more about my sentence structure and syntax after reading him. That 5th paragraph especially contains a wonderful creation!)
In our beginner-level courses, we always do a 'writing sample' to weed out the moms and get them the help they oh-so-desperately need early on, but Yaro, it's a 300-level course. You should cut yourself some slack! Mom will likely take the class again until she finds someone who doesn't grade at all...
ReplyDelete@ Dr D
ReplyDeleteThis is what I don't get. They don't do the work, but we have to keep a paper trail of our efforts to inform them that they are not doing the work.
Babysitting...
Makes me want to change jobs and become a babysitter to wait out this depression, and make more money.
@crazyprof: This just make me mad(der). In fact, I will be meeting with the individual in a day or so to show the math on how it is (now) impossible to get anything above a C- (that assumes a 100 on the final, too)! She is math-challenged, too.
ReplyDelete"F". I need to attend to my other students.
@Dr. D., that's pretty sad when they can't write or do math! What's left for them?
ReplyDeleteWellllll... there are cash registers that may have pictures on them. But seriously...
ReplyDeleteYaro's original point was the issue of the older student, as is mine. I believe that education is good for everyone (no matter what their age), but some need to start back at ENG/MATH 101 and some need to be realistic on what they can or cannot do.
Well, sometimes the student who is pleasant and seems well-equipped, psychologically and emotionally, to handle the curriculum is actually the least equipped. Possibly "Mom" has coasted by on her charming countenance and easygoing ways. Or her willingness to be called "Mom" by people who are not her own children. The idea of that kind of makes me nauseous; I've known too many emotionally needy women who aren't content to be needed by their own children, so it always sends up a warning flag in my mind. But I'm sure there are many lovely and charming women who are simply supportive and kind and that's how they end up being called "Mom" by people other than their own kids.
ReplyDeleteSince "Mom" has a good attitude, she sounds as if she'd be willing to revise, get some extra help from the writing lab, etc. Sometimes the slow starters turn out to be the best students, because they know they need to work hard and don't have any expectation of coasting through.
Where I am there is no "expiration date" on general education courses so "Mom" could have had Yaro's prerequisites a decade (or more) previous.
ReplyDeleteIf that's the case maybe his institution should look at requiring, or at least strongly recommending, prerequisites be "recent."
I love the Yaro. But I demand he puts up a real photo.
ReplyDeleteAt my school, we have what I call the IDT (Inaccurate Diagnostic Test). Students take it and it is supposed to place them in the proper class.
ReplyDeleteThe IDT always places people in my basket-weaving class who should be taking the introduction to grass-picking class.