Just when I think there is nothing else they can do to get my blood pressure up my students find new ways to dazzle me. In my first week of class I had a student email me because they "urgently" needed to speak with me. I reminded them of when my office hours were.
They did not show up.
They DID email me asking to meet with me early the next week. Against my better judgement I set up a phone conference with them (as I am an adjunct and do have jobs other than waiting for said student in my office).
The student called. An hour late. And was angry I was on my way to a meeting because and I quote "NEED help and it's your job to help me.". I grit my teeth and state I can give them brief answers but do not have a lot of time, because they misse their appointment. The problem? They don't understand how to write a paper. I don't teach writing. I try to give them a quick and dirty overview. They end the conversation with "I've never had a prof I just can't call before. Why do I have to make an appointment?"
I wanted to choke. REALLY? The idea of respecting someone else's time is completely foreign to you? Are there really magical unicorn professors who make themselves available 24/7 on call to their students?
On a side note I DO make referrals to the writing center. We shall see if they go.
ReplyDeleteI don't know where you teach, but of COURSE there are proffies who have been enabling your student with 24/7 care and endless exceptions.
ReplyDeleteWe bitch about how the snowflakes act, but some of us, some of our own colleagues are making it worse not better.
Wasn't there a post here about someone who called students Sweetie Baby? That's the problem.
ReplyDeleteI have a colleague who once told me never to make special appointments with students because they rarely, if ever, show up. She was right. So I know have the "office hours only" or "stop by and see if I'm there" (and I often am) policy.
ReplyDeleteAnd I no longer answer work-related emails after I leave the office at night. That, more than anything, has freed up lots of my time for reading this blog (!) and for my general mental health. I used to be one of the coddlers, and it has been very liberating to give that up. I can still show concern for their academic well-being without being on call 24/7.
There is someone, _ONE_ person, in the close knit department I work in that makes all of us nearly on call. I had a student demand that I call them at 9 pm once. I also have a student waiting on me to post something online (though I kindly printed it for them and handed it out to them) right this moment. She demanded it be posted online this morning. I decided I was on vacation. Not on call this weekend.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I had a student with appointment on Friday who showed up 53 minutes late. Did I even get an apology? You guess.
ReplyDeleteAt the place where I used to teach, the assistant department head's best buddy was one of those colleagues who encouraged such snowflakery and was, thereby, quite popular with the students. That same administrator used the fact that I didn't as evidence that I was a lousy instructor. After all, they expected that my life was completely focused entirely on their "needs and expectations" and, because it wasn't, I wasn't committed to my teaching.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a few years to make an absolutely firm commitment that I would NEVER make an appointment to see a student at a time when I was not planning to be in my office anyway. This policy has served me well.
ReplyDeleteI only answer student emails that come through the CMS. I have a filter set up that shuffles all emails from the CMS out of my inbox directly into their own folder. I check that folder once a day, and not on weekends.
Although my first impulse would be to want to punch this woefully immature little idiot's lights out, I would remember that good teachers need to be patient, and try reasoning first. I'd say, "Surely you know you're not my only student." Chances are quite good that this fool won't have the wits to say, "Don't call me Shirley."
ReplyDeleteOh, and forget about getting a good student evaluation from this one. No doubt he thinks that because you aren't infinitely approachable, you're unapproachable, and therefore "intimidating." That may work in your favor, actually.
DeleteAt the tail end of grad school, I remember reading another recent PhD's cover letter. He talked effusively about how accessible he was to students, how he walked one particular student through an assignment over the phone at 4 A.M. once.
ReplyDeleteMy own cover letter made no mention of such exploits, due in part to the fact that the above constitutes my idea of hell. But the writer of that cover letter got a tenure-track job right out of the gate, while things turned out differently for me. The lesson? I guess this is the new normal.
Bend over and take it.
DeleteOn the "Academic Assistance" portion of my syllabus, I have put the following:
ReplyDelete"If you have questions, comments, concerns, etc., please call or stop by during my regular office hours (see first page of syllabus). If these hours are not conducive to your schedule, I will try to schedule an appointment time that is mutually beneficial. Please feel free to contact me via email or leave me a voicemail and I will help you as much as I can. However, I am not a 7/11 (i.e. open 24/7). Correspondence on my end happens on weekdays between 8am and 4pm. If you email me after 4pm or over the weekend, do not expect an immediate reply."
We're a commuter campus, so I try to be flexible. However, when I started getting emails sent at 9pm or 2am--and the student has class with me the next morning--and I started getting complaints on my evals that I didn't respond to emails fast enough, I decided to lay it out in plain English. Haven't had an eval complaint since I put that note on my syllabus, and oddly, my "availability" score went up, even though I've effectively cut my office hours from more that 10 per week down to 5.
I've got a similar notice on my syllabus promising a 24-hour email turnaround on weekdays and 48-hour turnaround on weekends, and letting students know that I most often answer email during office hours and/or in the late afternoon. I'm not sure that my "availability" scores have gone up, but they haven't gone down appreciably, either (and they've always been pretty good). But I, too, teach at a commuter campus, with a good many 1st-generation college students, including quite a few who come from cultures where teachers are accorded more respect than in the U.S. I suspect all of that cuts down on entitled behavior.
DeleteIt's not just a matter of "respecting someone else's time," though that's certainly a useful life skill. Another useful life skill is planning ahead -- e.g. looking at the directions or other specifications for a major task well in advance, and asking questions then, even if one isn't going to be able to start it until close to the deadline. And, of course, figuring out how best to cope with the situation so as to look as little like an idiot as possible when one hasn't planned/thought ahead is also a useful life skill. None of these skills are fostered by professors who are available 24/7.
ReplyDeleteFor me, my policy is as follows:
ReplyDeleteOffice hours are immediately after class and are only available to those who get my attention at the end of class. Otherwise, I go straight home.
***
I bike to class and put my bike in the classroom. It serves as an excellent visual reminder.
I don't get paid for office hours anyway, so I can get away with this.
I also don't teach back-to-back classes.