The best answer to an exam question

I do have to share this one, wonderful comment I got as an answer to a short answer question on the exam. It was from my favorite student, Mr. J. Mr. J has given me a barrel of trouble over the entire semester. This is his first college class ever, after 15 years out of school (facts that I only found out towards the end of the semester) and he has been full of great comments. Let's just say the guy is not my number #1 fan.

To sum up some of Mr. J's comments over the course of the semester:

"I'm supposed to be learn everything I need to know by just coming to your class. I shouldn't need to put in any other time outside of class."

(In response to my suggestion that he might want to start reading the assigned chapters and doing the suggested problems)

"I didn't know I was supposed to be a mind reader"

(In response to an exam question where he was asked to name the 5 major differences between two scientific processes, and he named just one. He thought he deserved full credit for the question.)

And finally.. the humdinger of them all. Written on his final exam. In answer to the exact same question that he previously answered wrong and responded with his "mind reader" comment. (Note- this was a very important topic, so I did use the SAME question again on the cumulative final. It was also stressed in the study guide for the final. How much more help can I give them???)

And here is Mr. J's answer to the question to name 5 major differences between subject X and Y.....

"Due to your critique of my previous answer to this question, I have chosen to completely forget anything I knew about these two subjects. Thank you for your helpful instructions."

My comment to that answer? A large red X and a big fat ZERO!  

Gotta love some of these students....

(though the last laugh is mine... cause he needed an 80 on the final to pass the class, and unfortunately even with the curve, he only managed a 71. So looks like Mr. J will be someone else's problem next semester. Should I warn them?)

Read My Mind

Do you know I expect students to read my mind?

Hm-mmm.

Or at least that was what I was informed of yesterday by a student.

He had an issue with his last exam.   I should say he had multiple issues with the exam (mainly stemming from the fact that he got a 62% on it), but I will spare you the details.  Instead I will focus on the fact that apparently I expect my students to read my mind.  Heaven forbid that the information asked about was not only in the book but was also in my lecture powerpoint and was extensively covered in class.

However, this particular student, when asked a short answer question to provide all the major differences between Topic A and Topic B, thought that providing just one difference should have been enough to get him full credit on the question.   He didn't understand why he got less than partial credit on the question and he argued and argued with me.   He kept coming back to the same statement, "I didn't know I was expected to read your mind."

How does fully and completely answering the question require any mind-reading?   I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that it simply requires actually reading the material, paying attention in class, and studying.

But apparently that is too much to ask, and I should just give everyone full credit if they throw the words DNA, RNA or protein into their answer.

Too many e-mails?

So how many e-mails are too many from one single student?

I have one student who e-mails me (give or take) 3 times a day.  Always has a question on the readings, has questions on assignments, has questions on homework, etc, etc, etc.  I have reached the point where I  just plain don't feel like answering her back.  I ultimately do, but I've lost the need to e-mail her back ASAP.  I doubt many other professors  constantly and continually respond to their students, at all hours of the day and night, weeknights and weekends.   

Maybe that was my mistake.  By starting out with a good response time, I doomed myself.  Now she expects an answer right away, hence the constant deluge of e-mails.   

So I am weening myself off.

Well, weening from just responding.  Don't think I could ween myself off checking my e-mail.  But thats a topic for another post.

I don't appreciate the tone

Is it just me, or are students a lot less respectful than they used to be?  

I don't remember ever talking back to my teachers or professors.  But it seems like every class now, I have someone coming up to me with some smart aleck remark or comment.  Is it just that I wasn't that sort of student so I didn't notice other students doing it?  Or has the attitude of students actually changed?

They seem to want As just for showing up, never mind they haven't put an ounce of effort in to the class.  They want to hand in assignments days or even weeks late, with no explanation, and expect a passing grade on it.  And if they don't get their way, they argue.   And boy oh boy, can they argue.

Maybe they should just all get degrees in debating... and leave the science alone.

 

Unbelievable student requests

"Can you just scan in the missing pages & send them to me?"

That is a quote from an e-mail I received from a student this weekend.  Apparently their lab manual is missing 4 or 5 pages, so they want me to scan in the pages and e-mail it to them.

Ummm.. how about no.

I told them I was not near a scanner and wouldn't be for some time, so they might want to try to contact a fellow student in the class.  Maybe I shouldn't have even e-mailed them back.

I would NEVER have had the gall to ask a professor to do that for me.  Why does it seem that students these days just expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter?

The Annoying Ones

I have one student (who in a previous post I've named Sam so we're just going to keep on with that) who absolutely drives me nuts.   

He just knows how to push every single one of my buttons and whenever he talks to me, I find the need to constantly  remind myself to remain calm, and that nothing good will come of strangling him.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that would get me fired.

Last week in addition to the lobster boy question, he came up to me after class and started the conversation with "I have a pet peeve with tonight's class."

Here is our conversation in as much detail as I can remember: 

(S = Sam the student, Temp = me)

S: I have a pet peeve with tonight's class.

Temp: Oh?  And what would that be Sam?

S: You never called on me when I had my hand raised to ask a question.

Temp: Hmm, I think I called on you and you asked quite a few questions tonight Sam.

(thinking to self, will you just shut up and go home!  For goodness sake 

its 10:30pm and I want to go home!!!!)

S: I had my hand raised a ton of times and you called on other people.

Temp:  Well, I apologize if I missed seeing your hand raised, I never intentionally avoid calling on you.  

(thinking- even if sometimes I want to avoid your hand, I never do!)

S:  You should call on me when my hand is raised.

Temp:  Unfortunately Sam, you are not the only student in the class who has questions, and if someone else's hand is raised, I might call on them before returning to call on you.  You did ask a number of questions tonight, and sometimes other students need the opportunity to ask questions too.   Now, was there any specific question you wanted to ask me?

(thinking- You egotistical person, I -must- call on you?  No, don't think so.)

S:  No, they all got answered.

Temp:  You mean, other people asked your question so you know the answer?

S:  Yes.

Temp:  So what is the problem?

(thinking- why the hell are you wasting my time, I'm tired and want to go home!)

S:  You still need to call on me whenever my hand is raised.

Temp:  (sigh)  See you next week Sam.

(thinking- can you just drop my class Mr. Annoying?)

And, just to hit home the type of student this individual is these are some other incidents that all happened in the same class period last week!

- He left class in the middle to go to the restroom (i'm assuming) which the whole class knows its okay to do.  However, when he returned I was halfway down the white board from where I was when he left.  He returned to his seat, and then 5 minutes later raised his hand to ask me a question about the notes that were written WHILE HE WAS OUT OF THE ROOM!   I would have had no problem with him coming up after class to ask me a question about something he missed while he was out... but to take up time in the middle of class?   This guy just thinks its all about him.

- He interrogated me about why I decided to let them work on what is normally their quiz as a group and made it into an in-class assignment.  Once in between every exam, I take what would normally be their quiz and let them work on it together, using their books and notes.   It basically guarantees them a full 10 points on it and they seem to learn that material too, so why not?  However, dear 'ol Sam, took it as a result of how badly he thought they all did on the last exam and said to me, "So, you know now that the exam was too hard so you're giving us extra points to make up for it."   Umm--- an fyi Sam--- the average on the exam was a C and just because you got a D, doesn't mean most people thought the exam was too hard.   And if you remember Sammy boy, I did the same thing one time before the last exam.  Nothing new here.

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So dear readers, how do you deal with those students that just grate your nerves?  Please share with me the methods you have used, because I think I'm in danger of losing my cool with him.

"Is that the same thing as a lobster boy?"

That is an actual quote from my class last week.   

The context?  We were talking about apoptosis (aka- programmed cell death) and how it is an  essential part of normal development.  The example I provided was how a developing chicken foot undergoes extensive apoptosis whilst a duck's does not, hence the remnant of webbing in the duck's foot and not in the chickens.

So my favorite student (that was sarcasm there... this individual is actually the one who drives me nuts and can push every single one of my buttons - story on that to come tomorrow) raises his hand, and that was the question he asked.

"Is that the same thing as a lobster boy?"

I had no idea how to respond and I'm sure my face showed that.   I hadn't the foggiest idea what he was referring to.   So I ask him if he can explain what he means and he goes on to say, 

"You know, the people in carnival freak shows that have lobster claws for hands."

Looking back on it now, I guess I can see where he is coming from, and how the question related to the topic at hand.  But at the time I was just so perplexed all I could respond with was...

"Sam*, I don't know anything about any lobster boys."

*= real name has been removed for sake of privacy.  Not that I seriously believe "Sam" actually reads my bog, but one never knows.

I don't get it....

So I gave my lab students an option last week.  I had been hearing grumblings about how unreasonable I am with not accepting late assignments.  So I decided to be the nice guy (for once.. no really, I think I'm overly nice and accommodating, my husband says I'm a softy when it comes to my students) and announced in lab that I would accept one late assignment from them all.  

However, there were two stipulations: 

1) it had to be e-mailed to me by midnight Sunday, March 8th (5 days after announcing this)

2) the grade would be based out of 80% rather than a 100%.   For most of them, this would mean  potentially getting an 80 on an assignment they previously had a 0 on.

The students were all very enthused and profusely thanked me.

Fast forward to Monday, March 9th.  I check my e-mail.  And have 1 assignment in there.  From a student who has gotten perfect scores on every assignment, yet had to miss one class due to a death in the family, and thus needed to make up a homework.

1.  In case you missed that, here it is again.  1.

Out of 31 students.  Each of which had at least one assignment missing and would have to take a 0 for that grade unless they used this opportunity to make it up.

I think I was in disbelief.  Do students these days really not care?  Or is it just this bunch?  I have to believe there are better students out there, otherwise I just don't think I can continue on the academic track.  Am I just setting myself up for only dealing with a lower quality student by adjuncting at a community college?   (That sounds so egotistical and I apologize.)  And if so, does that mean my experience of adjuncting there is not really serving the purpose I intended it to, to give me a realistic view of what its like to teach.

ps- I also got another e-mail this morning from a student complete with their make-up assignment.  (sigh)  What part of "by midnight on Sunday, March 8th" did they not understand?