Sorting it out

I just did some number crunching for the 102 students, hoping it would shed some light on what I should do about the two problem students I mentioned yesterday. I did talk to one of my advisers (the other I didn't see today)--and I also bounced the case of the Syllabus Misreader off the students in Native American Lit. I only did so because, as I was heading to that class, I saw that Syllabus Misreader had left her final paper on my office door. Mind you, she never sent the e-mail I told her to send--and apparently she didn't check her e-mail, either, as she also never responded to the message that I sent her. In any event, I was stewing about it as I walked into class, and one of the students commented on my apparent dismay. So I told them what was happening. It was interesting to get their perspective. At first, the two who joined in on the conversation were inclined to grant mercy: "Well, she did do the work," one pointed out, "But then, I'm also biased." Naturally a student would be inclined to suggest clemency. However, as I provided further details, my student from last semester asked, "Well, has she been on top of things the rest of the semester?" Not so much. At that point, both the students flipped their recommendation with no hesitation. They recommended no mercy--because this wasn't a one-time offense but evidence of a pattern. Good point.

The case was made even more clear for me when I looked at what the student had submitted. Included with the versions of her paper was the original assignment sheet--with the due date clearly stated. Further, I'd forgotten that she'd had some excuse about the first version, didn't have it the day it was due--and I already granted her mercy in that instance. So not again. I'm not sure whether to allow her to withdraw or simply to give her the F, but at the moment I'm inclined toward the latter. That inclination is partly because I think she may need a very sharp slap as a wake-up call--but it's also because I'm pissed off that she's trying to get away with bending the rules not once but twice. As my other students pointed out, it's a pattern. I'd been inclined to grant some mercy because when she's on, she's fine, but not only is her work erratic, she does not evidence much responsibility--so my sympathy is fading rapidly. Even if I let her withdraw, she'll need to take the class again, and either way, she'll be very upset--but apparently that's what she needs.

As for the Accidental Plagiarist, I'm inclined to split the difference. I'm going to maintain the zero for the first versions of that second , and I'll give him half credit for the final version; he did, after all, do the work (following the logic of my Native American Lit student)--and he did finally get it. So his grade will all come down to his final paper. If he does well on that, he may pass. If he doesn't, he won't. Even if he does pass, his grade will be extremely low--so low that if he wants to transfer to another school, he'll have to take the class again. All in all, that wouldn't be a bad idea. So I feel pretty good about that decision.

Other than the momentary hiccup over Syllabus Misreader, today was fine. The two students who remain in Nature in Lit had (surprise!) done all the reading and had missing work to turn in. (Of course, now I have to evaluate it, but I'm going to do the most sketchy possible job.) The young woman followed me back to my office so we could go over her in-progress final paper. She's doing the good work of struggling to clarify her ideas. They're good ideas, but the hard part is demonstrating the connections, ensuring that the points are conveyed fully and well. At one point she said, "This is just really hard!" Yes, it is. Hard for me, too. But that's the work.

I got a decent whack at the adjunct scheduling, too. I had made a few minor errors in what I'd done on Tuesday, but not to the extent I feared. The departmental secretary got a bit annoyed with me at one point; I wasn't sure how to interpret the preference forms, but she assured me that what I saw simply indicated that the instructor wants anything, any time--"Just give me a course, please, I beg you! I'll take anything!" But as I parcel out the courses, I'm starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel in terms of what most people want (or are qualified to teach)--and what I have left isn't easy to distribute. I'll give Bruce a progress report on Monday and ask how he wants me to proceed, whether maybe he and I need to do the rest together. Now's when it gets interesting, and there's a certain amount of horse-trading that can be done, but he knows the ins and outs of that better than I. And Jesus, is it easy to get lost in the underbrush.

Mostly, I am filled with gratitude that the week ends with the Native American Lit class. I really do love them; they are picking up on all the right stuff in the novel--and we could easily have spent another week or two on it. One student realized with a shock that she was missing pages at the end of the story; she knew she was missing something, but she thought maybe only a portion of a page. Nope: she is missing more than 20 pages. Yikes. She borrowed my copy so she can finish the book, her journal-log, and her paper. This is the young woman who admitted to a bias in suggesting mercy for my 102 student; she asked for a bit of mercy for them, too: could they turn in revisions on Tuesday, along with their final papers? I almost said "No," because it means more work for me to do at the last minute. But then I thought, Oh, there are only three of them. What the hell.

In any event, what with the wodges of make-up work I got from the Nature in Lit students today, plus the papers for all three classes, plus those revisions, plus adjunct scheduling, I'm going to have a relatively frantic week next week. So much for that "this will be easy" coast to the end. It won't be as ferocious a push as I've had to face in the past, but more than I'd hoped. I could, of course, take work home this weekend and get a jump start on it, but nah, I don't think so. I'd rather deal with an increased level of flurry next week and have the weekend to (at least metaphorically) lounge about in my PJs. If I change my mind, I can always come to campus and get security to let me into the building....

But I doubt I will.