I'm Derelict in my Duties

Kind of derelict. Everywhere else I am trying to hold on, and one thing passed off the plate today. Grading = complete. I appreciated the advice and sympathy on the last post. Here's what I did: Since the paper did not complete the assignment (8-10 original research paper, and he wrote 3.5 pages), I told him he was ineligible to revise for a better grade. Only students who took the time to complete the assignment in full would be allowed that privilege. I also gave him a ten page summary text from the APA chock full o'studies about (mostly) lesbian parenting. I also let him know that for an assignment that required him to discuss how one of several topics could imprison people (gender, class, race, sexuality, etc), that for him to write about how gay people should not be parents was rather ironic, since perhaps that's one place that gay people felt acutely discriminated against. I don't think he got it.

And then since I am a softy, I told him he could write an appeal to revise his paper. And it would be due the next class meeting. It should be typed and well thought out with absolutely no grammar mistakes and should have some serious reflection behind it. Later that afternoon I got an email with one long run-on sentence asking me to reconsider my decision. I reiterated my "appeal" criteria. (He wasn't the only student that had this penalty.) Guess what? He skipped class on Friday. No appeal. No revise. Other students took it seriously and I got some great dramatic pieces about their "withered states" and end of term stress. For the most part, I heart my students and their earnest undergraduate drama.

Since grading is no longer a part of my life, I will update more soon. Especially since I am heading out the door right now for my first date with the internal probe on this cycle.

Here we go, here we go, here we go...