school is officially out. campus is quiet, Ephraim has lost about a quarter of its population, and i need to enter final grades. i actually don't mind entering grades. it's kind of a nice way to put the cap on a semester. but there's always that tug-o-war my sympathetic side plays when i know a student has a failing grade coming to them.
it's tough because i know they don't deserve anything better based on their performance in the class but i can't help but feel bad that they failed my class. i mean, honestly, i start every semester thinking that it will be the one when everyone passes. but alas, 'tis not so. i have to admit my hopes for such a semester grow dim when i have students who come to me minutes before the final critique and ask me to make an exception. or worse, they show up minutes after the final expecting to turn in their project. no, really. it happens.
a final in an art class is typically not a written final. it's usually a project, right? and more often than not there's a class critique as well. so i make sure to explain to my students how art finals are different but require the same amount of work - if not more - than their BIO 100 final and that they need to be present and on time for the critique. i try to be clear but i have to wonder sometimes...
for instance, as i'm getting set up for my 2D design final (the project is an artist's book) that starts at 9:30, one of my students comes to me and asks if she can present hers half way through the critique. why? because the photos that are supposed to be part of the book won't be finished at Wal*Mart until 10:00. are you kidding me? then as we're finishing the up the critique nearly and hour and forty-five minutes later, a different student comes in and sits down kind of behind all the other students - trying to blend in. after everything is finished and i'm putting my little post-it notes of comments on their projects, i happen to notice someone hovering around the table where all the projects are. i'm pretty preoccupied with writing down comments, recording grades and getting it all done before i need to get home to feed Ash so i keep working. as get to the last few projects i notice a book that wasn't there before and wasn't presented in the critique. you can't be serious. what do you take me for?
so that was design class. the drawing final is quite similar. everyone comes with their final drawings and we have a class critique. it usually takes one to two hours and i let the students know they have to be there for the entire time to receive credit. it went very well for those who came. then just as i'm stacking the graded drawings in a place where students can come pick them up a student comes in and asks if she can still turn in the final. um... no.
there's something both frustrating and satisfying about having to tell a student 'it's your problem' when it comes to botching the final. maybe that's mean but somehow i feel okay about it.
5 comments:
Fred was complaining about one of his grad students who never did any of her homework on time and he would be forced to give an incomplete to. I let him prattle on, 'cause I think that is and would be frustrating for any teacher. It put it into perspective for me as a former student. But, then I also reminded him that he, too, was once that grad student with "extenuating" circumstances.
In art it's a different thing. They need to be aware of the importance of deadlines because in the real world, there will be deadlines that if missed could be a huge expense to the client or the company and they could lose their job.
They need to learn to take it as seriously as they would if it was already a job.
Then again, I understand the sympathetic side you mentioned...
something about how kids these days are such-and-such, and this-and-that, and out o' line.
I remember being a TA -just a lowly TA- and still having the same feelings. Dudes, if the assignment says that it has to be typed to get credit, don't hand it to me hand written. Since when is anything hand written anymore? Luckily, when it came to complainin' time, I was out o' the city by then... Please direct your comments to the professor...uh... you in this case...uh... now I'm feeling bad for the professor... I feel for you kel.
I am the worst about this. I always fall for the sob story. If I like you and Facebook doesn't reveal your lie. I admit it. I totally played favorites. I'm sorry, but if you talk more in class, I will feel more willing to help you because you helped me get through an hour of otherwise horrible silence. I really tried to be objective, but it didn't work. Thus, a student that was totally supposed to fail according to the syllabus, somehow wound up with a B.
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