Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
If a student misses a test for any reason, that is the one that is the dropped test. If they have taken all four of the tests, the final can replace the lowest of their four tests. - Original Message - From: Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.com To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 19:38:19 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent So do you require that students take all four tests before they can drop one? THat's a good solution to my previous dilemma. Beth BenoitPlymouth State UniversityPlymouth NH On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Dr. Bob Wildblood drb...@rcn.com wrote: I use the same technique as Raechel. My final is a cumulative final based on the information of the entire course. If a student is satisfied with their grade based on the 4 tests given during the semester, they can skip the final. If they want to try to improve their grade, the final will replace the lowest grade they earned during the semester. It has relieved a lot of headaches and pleas for mercy from the students in the classes I teach. - Original Message - From: Raechel Soicher raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:48:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent I just allow my students to drop a test grade. That way I don't have to decide if an excuse is legitimate or not. I give four exams, counting the final, and the end result is usually that the good students don't have to take the final exam (and can leave for home earlier, which they appreciate). It's worked very well for me. Raechel On Sep 5, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edu wrote: I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth.Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state).Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Professor l Department of PsychologyChair, Health Studies Certificate ProgramOffice hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30Kaufman 168 l Dickinson CollegePhone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf -Christopher D. GreenDepartment of PsychologyYork UniversityToronto, ON M6C 1G4Canada chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best,Jeff ReferenceCaron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others,I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies?Beth BenoitPlymouth State UniversityNew Hampshire On Mon
RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth. Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state). Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Professor l Department of Psychology Chair, Health Studies Certificate Program Office hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf - Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 Canada chri...@yorku.camailto:chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edumailto:jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.commailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edumailto:csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even if the student is doing well in the class. Something about the regulations related to financial aid awards at 2-year schools. (The four-year schools don't have this policy, so it came as quite a surprise to me when this matter came up in a faculty development activity that involved multiple people from 2-year schools.) Perhaps if you had reinforced the message that this was not entirely your decision by telling her you would attempt to get her reinstated, assuming you could persuade the registrar or whoever to accept her documentation, you might have gotten a less hostile response. (And it would have saved you some additional grief if your attempts to reinstate her hit a bureaucratic wall.) But I wouldn't guarantee that! :-) Claudia BTW Anyone else on TIPS not getting all of the messages? I received Tim's
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
I just allow my students to drop a test grade. That way I don't have to decide if an excuse is legitimate or not. I give four exams, counting the final, and the end result is usually that the good students don't have to take the final exam (and can leave for home earlier, which they appreciate). It's worked very well for me. Raechel On Sep 5, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edumailto:helw...@dickinson.edu wrote: I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth. Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state). Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Professor l Department of Psychology Chair, Health Studies Certificate Program Office hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf - Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 Canada chri...@yorku.camailto:chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edumailto:jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.commailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edumailto:csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even if the student is doing well in the class. Something about the regulations related to financial aid awards at 2-year schools. (The four-year schools don't have this policy, so it came as quite a surprise to me when this matter came up in a faculty development activity that involved multiple people from 2-year schools.) Perhaps if you had reinforced the message
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
I tried that for a couple of semesters but found that if students were satisfied with their first three tests, they SKIPPED the final fourth of the class, skipped the fourth test and then the final. How did you get around that? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University Plymouth NH On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 6:48 PM, Raechel Soicher raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu wrote: I just allow my students to drop a test grade. That way I don't have to decide if an excuse is legitimate or not. I give four exams, counting the final, and the end result is usually that the good students don't have to take the final exam (and can leave for home earlier, which they appreciate). It's worked very well for me. Raechel On Sep 5, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edu wrote: I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth. Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state). Marie *Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D.* Professor l Department of Psychology Chair, Health Studies Certificate Program Office hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html *From:* Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca chri...@yorku.ca] *Sent:* Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM *To:* Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) *Subject:* Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf - Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 Canada chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
I use the same technique as Raechel. My final is a cumulative final based on the information of the entire course. If a student is satisfied with their grade based on the 4 tests given during the semester, they can skip the final. If they want to try to improve their grade, the final will replace the lowest grade they earned during the semester. It has relieved a lot of headaches and pleas for mercy from the students in the classes I teach. - Original Message - From: Raechel Soicher raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:48:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent I just allow my students to drop a test grade. That way I don't have to decide if an excuse is legitimate or not. I give four exams, counting the final, and the end result is usually that the good students don't have to take the final exam (and can leave for home earlier, which they appreciate). It's worked very well for me. Raechel On Sep 5, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edu wrote: I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth.Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state).Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Professor l Department of PsychologyChair, Health Studies Certificate ProgramOffice hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30Kaufman 168 l Dickinson CollegePhone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf -Christopher D. GreenDepartment of PsychologyYork UniversityToronto, ON M6C 1G4Canada chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best,Jeff ReferenceCaron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others,I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies?Beth BenoitPlymouth State UniversityNew Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
So do you require that students take all four tests before they can drop one? THat's a good solution to my previous dilemma. Beth Benoit Plymouth State University Plymouth NH On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Dr. Bob Wildblood drb...@rcn.com wrote: I use the same technique as Raechel. My final is a cumulative final based on the information of the entire course. If a student is satisfied with their grade based on the 4 tests given during the semester, they can skip the final. If they want to try to improve their grade, the final will replace the lowest grade they earned during the semester. It has relieved a lot of headaches and pleas for mercy from the students in the classes I teach. - Original Message - From: Raechel Soicher raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:48:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent I just allow my students to drop a test grade. That way I don't have to decide if an excuse is legitimate or not. I give four exams, counting the final, and the end result is usually that the good students don't have to take the final exam (and can leave for home earlier, which they appreciate). It's worked very well for me. Raechel On Sep 5, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edu wrote: I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth. Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state). Marie *Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D.* Professor l Department of Psychology Chair, Health Studies Certificate Program Office hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html *From:* Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca chri...@yorku.ca] *Sent:* Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM *To:* Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) *Subject:* Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf - Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 Canada chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
On 9/5/2014 6:51 PM, Beth Benoit wrote: I tried that for a couple of semesters but found that if students were satisfied with their first three tests, they SKIPPED the final fourth of the class, skipped the fourth test and then the final. How did you get around that? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University Plymouth NH Typically I do 4 regular exams and the 5th final exam is a make-up/comprehensive exam. The score on that exam substitutes for a missed exam or may be used as a substitute for an earlier exam. Ken --- Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. steel...@appstate.edu Professor Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA --- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=38234 or send a blank email to leave-38234-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Dear Tipsters, What has happened to the traditional cumulative final where students have an opportunity to demonstrate (1) learning of things that they had not understood and, most importantly, (2) to show that they can integrate material and see connections that may not have been apparent earlier? By the way, this kind of exam would be in essay and short-answer format. Sincerely, Stuart __ “Recti Cultus Pectora Roborant” Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Bishop’s University, 2600 rue College, Sherbrooke (Borough of Lennoxville), QC J1M 1Z7, Canada. (819)822-9600X2402 “Floreat Labore” __ From: Beth Benoit [mailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, September 05, 2014 7:38 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent So do you require that students take all four tests before they can drop one? THat's a good solution to my previous dilemma. Beth Benoit Plymouth State University Plymouth NH On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Dr. Bob Wildblood drb...@rcn.commailto:drb...@rcn.com wrote: I use the same technique as Raechel. My final is a cumulative final based on the information of the entire course. If a student is satisfied with their grade based on the 4 tests given during the semester, they can skip the final. If they want to try to improve their grade, the final will replace the lowest grade they earned during the semester. It has relieved a lot of headaches and pleas for mercy from the students in the classes I teach. - Original Message - From: Raechel Soicher raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edumailto:raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:48:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent I just allow my students to drop a test grade. That way I don't have to decide if an excuse is legitimate or not. I give four exams, counting the final, and the end result is usually that the good students don't have to take the final exam (and can leave for home earlier, which they appreciate). It's worked very well for me. Raechel On Sep 5, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edumailto:helw...@dickinson.edu wrote: I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth. Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state). Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Professor l Department of Psychology Chair, Health Studies Certificate Program Office hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562tel:717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971tel:717.245.1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf - Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 Canada chri...@yorku.camailto:chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edumailto:jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
I do it the same way Ken does. Carol On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 7:35 PM, Ken Steele steel...@appstate.edu wrote: On 9/5/2014 6:51 PM, Beth Benoit wrote: I tried that for a couple of semesters but found that if students were satisfied with their first three tests, they SKIPPED the final fourth of the class, skipped the fourth test and then the final. How did you get around that? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University Plymouth NH Typically I do 4 regular exams and the 5th final exam is a make-up/comprehensive exam. The score on that exam substitutes for a missed exam or may be used as a substitute for an earlier exam. Ken --- Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. steel...@appstate.edu Professor Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 USA --- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: devoldercar...@gmail.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=177920. a45340211ac7929163a021623341n=Tl=tipso=38234 or send a blank email to leave-38234-177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216233 4...@fsulist.frostburg.edu -- Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 563-333-6482 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=38236 or send a blank email to leave-38236-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
No, if they are happy with their first three they don't have to take my final. I require class attendance via in-class activity points so that motivates them to still come to class. Never had students stop coming. Raechel N. Soicher, M.A. Assistant Professor, Psychology Santa Fe College 3000 NW 83rd Street Gainesville, FL 32606 Office: A-238 Tele #: (352) 381-7089 Email: raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edumailto:raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu ~ You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room. ~ Dr. Seuss On Sep 5, 2014, at 7:40 PM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.commailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: So do you require that students take all four tests before they can drop one? THat's a good solution to my previous dilemma. Beth Benoit Plymouth State University Plymouth NH On Fri, Sep 5, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Dr. Bob Wildblood drb...@rcn.commailto:drb...@rcn.com wrote: I use the same technique as Raechel. My final is a cumulative final based on the information of the entire course. If a student is satisfied with their grade based on the 4 tests given during the semester, they can skip the final. If they want to try to improve their grade, the final will replace the lowest grade they earned during the semester. It has relieved a lot of headaches and pleas for mercy from the students in the classes I teach. - Original Message - From: Raechel Soicher raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edumailto:raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) tips@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Sent: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 18:48:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent I just allow my students to drop a test grade. That way I don't have to decide if an excuse is legitimate or not. I give four exams, counting the final, and the end result is usually that the good students don't have to take the final exam (and can leave for home earlier, which they appreciate). It's worked very well for me. Raechel On Sep 5, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Helweg-Larsen, Marie helw...@dickinson.edumailto:helw...@dickinson.edu wrote: I teach at a small liberal arts college and although I’m sure students have lied to me in the past I do not experience these situations very often. If students have a legitimate reason to not take an exam (usually illness) I simple arrange for them to take it within a week. So my students would not gain anything by making a more elaborate (untrue) excuse. I find it easier to assume that the student is telling the truth. Of course it is against our community disciplinary code to lie to a professor and on a small campus it is easy to be found out (I might see them in town or on campus at night when they were supposed to be at a funeral in another state). Marie Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Professor l Department of Psychology Chair, Health Studies Certificate Program Office hours Fall 2014: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:30 Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College Phone 717.245.1562tel:717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971tel:717.245.1971 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html From: Christopher Green [mailto:chri...@yorku.ca] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 7:35 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And let us not forget Mike Adams' classic: The dead grandmother/exam syndrome and the potential downfall of American society. http://www.math.toronto.edu/mpugh/DeadGrandmother.pdf - Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M6C 1G4 Canada chri...@yorku.camailto:chri...@yorku.ca On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edumailto:jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
***What has happened to the traditional cumulative final where students have an opportunity to demonstrate (1) learning of things that they had not understood and, most importantly, (2) to show that they can integrate material and see connections that may not have been apparent earlier? By the way, this kind of exam would be in essay and short-answer format. Sincerely, Stuart I use assessments other than exams that I feel better demonstrate the aspects you pointed out. I find one of my weaknesses as an instructor is writing exams, so I feel less comfortable using them as a majority of my students' assessment. Raechel N. Soicher, M.A. Assistant Professor, Psychology Santa Fe College 3000 NW 83rd Street Gainesville, FL 32606 Office: A-238 Tele #: (352) 381-7089 Email: raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edumailto:raechel.soic...@sfcollege.edu ~ You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room. ~ Dr. Seuss On Sep 5, 2014, at 9:01 PM, Stuart McKelvie smcke...@ubishops.camailto:smcke...@ubishops.ca wrote: Dear Tipsters, What has happened to the traditional cumulative final where students have an opportunity to demonstrate (1) learning of things that they had not understood and, most importantly, (2) to show that they can integrate material and see connections that may not have been apparent earlier? By the way, this kind of exam would be in essay and short-answer format. Sincerely, Stuart Please note that Florida has a broad public records law, and that all correspondence to or from College employees via email may be subject to disclosure. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=38239 or send a blank email to leave-38239-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
emailed and voice mailed me to tell me what a cad I was and “how would you feel”? Still didn’t defend myself but called him to explain the situation. He finally said, “I guess we all get a bit testy at these times.” Grief. Assuming she’s being honest and not deflecting at being pushed to defend an untruth, I think you are being fair and she’s grieving but not reflecting on her behavior enough to recognize that her emotions come largely from that and not from you. You are, I think, being fair with her. Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems *From:* drnanjo [mailto:drna...@aol.com] *Sent:* Monday, September 01, 2014 8:43 PM *To:* Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) *Subject:* Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hello everyone - Hope you had a nice summer and holiday weekend. So, I need to know if my two choices in a matter are the dichotomy of total patsy and heartless b-word. As I've often joked to students, May and December are bad times for grandparents (and other distant relatives) who seem to expire in droves right in time to make it impossible to sit for a final or complete a term project. A close second is the first class of the term...at community colleges, you must show up on the first day to keep your seat, otherwise according to regs we can (and must) give your seat away...to one of what is usually many students on a long wait list. SO...I had a student not show this week and when she finally contacted me I'd already dropped her. She said her grandmother had died. I said, I dropped you but if you can verify the story I'll reinstate you. And I got a fairly abusive email back. I suppose my main mistake was not simply saying you are dropped BUT I thought (perhaps wrongly) that I was giving her a chance if she was truthful. Now in retrospect it just seems like I should have said too bad.' I suppose it might have also seemed just as heartless as Too bad. I don't know. I hate being played. And I hate being mean. Avoid-avoid conflict. I also suppose I am experiencing a certain amount of burnout due to many environmental factors...not just students but other aspects of the current state of my work environment. So this is probably a tendril extended for support as well as to find out a little more about how you all react to and handle the dead fill-in-the-distant relative of your choice, all-purpose vague but serious-sounding family emergency and the rest of the excuse tropes. Welcome back. Thanks. Nancy Melucci Long Beach CIty College Long Beach CA --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177an=Tl=tipso=38171 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38171-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: csta...@uwf.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d550n=Tl=tipso=38172 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38172-13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: beth.ben...@gmail.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72n=Tl=tipso=38173 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38173-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=244790.b8b4461caf9626e16ed176ff3e555e55n=Tl=tipso=38180 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38180-244790.b8b4461caf9626e16ed176ff3e555...@fsulist.frostburg.edu -- -- - Jeffry Ricker, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology - Scottsdale Community College 9000 E. Chaparral Road Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626 Office: SB-123 Phone: (480) 423-6213 Fax: (480) 423-6298 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=38192 or send a blank email to leave-38192-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
And then there are the excuses for genuine events that are used fraudulently. For example, the student who asks to be excused for a test because s/he has to have his/her wisdom teeth pulled on the exam date. However, the procedure is done in the afternoon whereas the test was given in the morning. Of course, doctors' notes and such usually indicate only a date, not a time. It is because of scenarios such as the one above that I allow students to miss up to two exams for whatever reason, but the cost to them is that they must take the missed exams during final exams. From a paper that a student and I presented at EPA a few years ago: Abstract We compared the academic performance of students who took regularly scheduled exams with that of students who took make-up exams. Students who had taken make-up exams scored significantly lower on those exams and earned lower course grades than students who had taken the regularly-scheduled exams. The results suggest that having a make-up exam policy does not give a significant advantage to students who use it. Miguel From: Jeffry Ricker [jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 4:39 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.commailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edumailto:csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even if the student is doing well in the class. Something about the regulations related to financial aid awards at 2-year schools. (The four-year schools don't have this policy, so it came as quite a surprise to me when this matter came up in a faculty development activity that involved multiple people from 2-year schools.) Perhaps if you had reinforced the message that this was not entirely your decision by telling her you would attempt to get her reinstated, assuming you could persuade the registrar or whoever to accept her documentation, you might have gotten a less hostile response. (And it would have saved you some additional grief if your attempts to reinstate her hit a bureaucratic wall.) But I wouldn't guarantee that! :-) Claudia BTW Anyone else on TIPS not getting all of the messages? I received Tim's response but never saw Nancy's question. I even looked in my spam filter. And no, I do not have a special filter set for Nancy! :-) _ Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
at the earliest possible time (she waited a week and a half). And it clearly stated that if you have to miss an exam due to an emergency you will not be allowed to make it up if you wait past the day of the exam to notify me- for any reason. Because I believed her but was trying to remain fair to the other students, I emailed her that she could give me a name and town and I’d be happy to just look it up in lieu of actually asking her to print the obituary out. She replied that I was being cruel. I did not take the bait but explained that I was being fair to the others and going beyond the syllabus to accommodate her. That’s when her dad emailed and voice mailed me to tell me what a cad I was and “how would you feel”? Still didn’t defend myself but called him to explain the situation. He finally said, “I guess we all get a bit testy at these times.” Grief. Assuming she’s being honest and not deflecting at being pushed to defend an untruth, I think you are being fair and she’s grieving but not reflecting on her behavior enough to recognize that her emotions come largely from that and not from you. You are, I think, being fair with her. Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edumailto:tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems From: drnanjo [mailto:drna...@aol.commailto:drna...@aol.com] Sent: Monday, September 01, 2014 8:43 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hello everyone - Hope you had a nice summer and holiday weekend. So, I need to know if my two choices in a matter are the dichotomy of total patsy and heartless b-word. As I've often joked to students, May and December are bad times for grandparents (and other distant relatives) who seem to expire in droves right in time to make it impossible to sit for a final or complete a term project. A close second is the first class of the term...at community colleges, you must show up on the first day to keep your seat, otherwise according to regs we can (and must) give your seat away...to one of what is usually many students on a long wait list. SO...I had a student not show this week and when she finally contacted me I'd already dropped her. She said her grandmother had died. I said, I dropped you but if you can verify the story I'll reinstate you. And I got a fairly abusive email back. I suppose my main mistake was not simply saying you are dropped BUT I thought (perhaps wrongly) that I was giving her a chance if she was truthful. Now in retrospect it just seems like I should have said too bad.' I suppose it might have also seemed just as heartless as Too bad. I don't know. I hate being played. And I hate being mean. Avoid-avoid conflict. I also suppose I am experiencing a certain amount of burnout due to many environmental factors...not just students but other aspects of the current state of my work environment. So this is probably a tendril extended for support as well as to find out a little more about how you all react to and handle the dead fill-in-the-distant relative of your choice, all-purpose vague but serious-sounding family emergency and the rest of the excuse tropes. Welcome back. Thanks. Nancy Melucci Long Beach CIty College Long Beach CA --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edumailto:tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177an=Tl=tipso=38171 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38171-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:leave-38171-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: csta...@uwf.edumailto:csta...@uwf.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d550n=Tl=tipso=38172 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38172-13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d...@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:leave-38172-13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: beth.ben...@gmail.commailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72n=Tl=tipso=38173 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38173-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:leave-38173-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: jeff.ric
RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Hi Hugh, I have done several times, usually with a note of appreciation. One time though, when I sent a sympathy card, the student never talked to me again Jim Matiya Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around...Leo Buscaglia From: hfo...@skidmore.edu To: tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 21:30:58 + When a student tells me that he or she will miss classes because of the death of X, I will often send a sympathy card home. It’s often appreciated. But I can imagine that in some cases it might raise the issue of why I think that someone has died. I figure it’s a win-win situation. Adams, Mike (1990). The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome and the Potential Downfall of American Society. http://www.easternct.edu/~adams/ Enjoy! Hugh On Sep 3, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Jeffry Ricker jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu wrote: Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even if the student is doing well in the class. Something about the regulations related to financial aid awards at 2-year schools. (The four-year schools don't have this policy, so it came as quite a surprise to me when this matter came up in a faculty development activity that involved multiple people from 2-year schools.) Perhaps if you had reinforced the message that this was not entirely your decision by telling her you would attempt to get her reinstated, assuming you could persuade the registrar or whoever to accept her documentation, you might have gotten a less hostile response. (And it would have saved you some additional grief if your attempts to reinstate her hit a bureaucratic wall.) But I wouldn't guarantee that! :-) Claudia BTW Anyone else on TIPS not getting all of the messages? I received Tim's response but never saw Nancy's question. I even looked in my spam filter. And no, I do not have a special filter set for Nancy! :-) _ Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment University of West Florida Pensacola, FL 32514 Phone: (850) 857-6355 (direct) or 473-7435 (CUTLA) csta...@uwf.edu
RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Doug Bernstein has keep a list of excuses he has heard why students missed a test, school, etc. Jim Matiya Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around...Leo Buscaglia From: ro...@stjohns.edu To: tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 17:19:36 -0400 Subject: RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent And then there are the excuses for genuine events that are used fraudulently. For example, the student who asks to be excused for a test because s/he has to have his/her wisdom teeth pulled on the exam date. However, the procedure is done in the afternoon whereas the test was given in the morning. Of course, doctors' notes and such usually indicate only a date, not a time. It is because of scenarios such as the one above that I allow students to miss up to two exams for whatever reason, but the cost to them is that they must take the missed exams during final exams. From a paper that a student and I presented at EPA a few years ago: Abstract We compared the academic performance of students who took regularly scheduled exams with that of students who took make-up exams. Students who had taken make-up exams scored significantly lower on those exams and earned lower course grades than students who had taken the regularly-scheduled exams. The results suggest that having a make-up exam policy does not give a significant advantage to students who use it. Miguel From: Jeffry Ricker [jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu] Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2014 4:39 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hi all, I have required proof of the death of a family member for a long time now. I do this because, years ago, a student told me that he had missed a test in my class because his grandmother had died; and then several weeks later, in another instructor's class, he missed a test because (he told the instructor) that grandmother died! Apparently, she rose from the dead after the first funeral, only to die a short time later. The poor lady! Caron, Whitbourne, Halgin (1992) looked at fraudulent versus legitimate excuse-making, and found no difference in the frequency of these among college students. One difference they did find, however, is the greater number of fraudulent excuses claiming that there was a family emergency (p. 91). On the other hand, legitimate excuses were more likely than fraudulent ones to involve the death of a grandparent. Go figure. I seem to remember another paper, mentioned on TIPS a long time ago, showing that grandparents are more likely to die just before test days. Is this a false memory? Best, Jeff Reference Caron, M. D., Whitbourne, S. K., Halgin, R. P. (1992). Fraudulent excuse making among college students. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 90-93 On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:49 AM, Beth Benoit beth.ben...@gmail.commailto:beth.ben...@gmail.com wrote: Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edumailto:csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even if the student is doing well in the class. Something about the regulations related to financial aid awards at 2-year schools. (The four-year schools don't have this policy, so it came as quite a surprise to me when this matter came up in a faculty development activity that involved multiple people from 2-year schools.) Perhaps if you had reinforced the message that this was not entirely your decision by telling her you would attempt to get her reinstated, assuming you could persuade the registrar or whoever
RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Dear Tipsters, With regard to the anecdote at the end of Bernstein's list (the two students with identical answers who studied together), I had occasion a couple of years ago to call THREE students into the office because their answers to short answer questions were extremely similar and, in parts, identical. (They were mostly wrong as well.) That was also their explanation: We studied together. When I challenged them to explain how studying together (which I agreed was generally an acceptable, even good, strategy) meant that they had ended up choosing the same questions when there was quite a bit of choice and then giving answers that had very similar if not identical wording (and spacing!), they insisted that it was all because they knew the same stuff in the same way. Sincerely, Stuart McKelvie __ Recti Cultus Pectora Roborant Stuart J. McKelvie, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, 2600 rue College, Sherbrooke (Borough of Lennoxville), QC J1M 1Z7, Canada. (819)822-9600X2402 Floreat Labore __ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=38201 or send a blank email to leave-38201-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
to an emergency you will not be allowed to make it up if you wait past the day of the exam to notify me- for any reason. Because I believed her but was trying to remain fair to the other students, I emailed her that she could give me a name and town and I’d be happy to just look it up in lieu of actually asking her to print the obituary out. She replied that I was being cruel. I did not take the bait but explained that I was being fair to the others and going beyond the syllabus to accommodate her. That’s when her dad emailed and voice mailed me to tell me what a cad I was and “how would you feel”? Still didn’t defend myself but called him to explain the situation. He finally said, “I guess we all get a bit testy at these times.” Grief. Assuming she’s being honest and not deflecting at being pushed to defend an untruth, I think you are being fair and she’s grieving but not reflecting on her behavior enough to recognize that her emotions come largely from that and not from you. You are, I think, being fair with her. Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems From: drnanjo [mailto:drna...@aol.com] Sent: Monday, September 01, 2014 8:43 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hello everyone - Hope you had a nice summer and holiday weekend. So, I need to know if my two choices in a matter are the dichotomy of total patsy and heartless b-word. As I've often joked to students, May and December are bad times for grandparents (and other distant relatives) who seem to expire in droves right in time to make it impossible to sit for a final or complete a term project. A close second is the first class of the term...at community colleges, you must show up on the first day to keep your seat, otherwise according to regs we can (and must) give your seat away...to one of what is usually many students on a long wait list. SO...I had a student not show this week and when she finally contacted me I'd already dropped her. She said her grandmother had died. I said, I dropped you but if you can verify the story I'll reinstate you. And I got a fairly abusive email back. I suppose my main mistake was not simply saying you are dropped BUT I thought (perhaps wrongly) that I was giving her a chance if she was truthful. Now in retrospect it just seems like I should have said too bad.' I suppose it might have also seemed just as heartless as Too bad. I don't know. I hate being played. And I hate being mean. Avoid-avoid conflict. I also suppose I am experiencing a certain amount of burnout due to many environmental factors...not just students but other aspects of the current state of my work environment. So this is probably a tendril extended for support as well as to find out a little more about how you all react to and handle the dead fill-in-the-distant relative of your choice, all-purpose vague but serious-sounding family emergency and the rest of the excuse tropes. Welcome back. Thanks. Nancy Melucci Long Beach CIty College Long Beach CA --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177an=Tl=tipso=38171 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38171-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: csta...@uwf.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d550n=Tl=tipso=38172 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38172-13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: beth.ben...@gmail.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72n=Tl=tipso=38173 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38173-13105.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aa...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: jeff.ric...@scottsdalecc.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=244790.b8b4461caf9626e16ed176ff3e555e55n=Tl=tipso=38180 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38180-244790.b8b4461caf9626e16ed176ff3e555...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Claudia and others, I didn't receive Nancy Melucci's initial post either, but read it at the bottom of Tim's reply. I don't recall this happening before, so hope it's just a quirk. Or maybe that's what happened to two previous posts of mine that got no replies? Beth Benoit Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 11:51 PM, Claudia Stanny csta...@uwf.edu wrote: Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even if the student is doing well in the class. Something about the regulations related to financial aid awards at 2-year schools. (The four-year schools don't have this policy, so it came as quite a surprise to me when this matter came up in a faculty development activity that involved multiple people from 2-year schools.) Perhaps if you had reinforced the message that this was not entirely your decision by telling her you would *attempt* to get her reinstated, assuming you could persuade the registrar or whoever to accept her documentation, you might have gotten a less hostile response. (And it would have saved you some additional grief if your attempts to reinstate her hit a bureaucratic wall.) But I wouldn't guarantee that! :-) Claudia BTW Anyone else on TIPS not getting all of the messages? I received Tim's response but never saw Nancy's question. I even looked in my spam filter. And no, I do not have a special filter set for Nancy! :-) _ Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment University of West Florida Pensacola, FL 32514 Phone: (850) 857-6355 (direct) or 473-7435 (CUTLA) csta...@uwf.edu CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/offices/cutla/ http://uwf.edu/cutla/ Personal Web Pages: http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 10:05 PM, Tim Shearon tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu wrote: Nancy Short version- you are doing the right thing and it’s her environmental factors and lack of self-reflection that lead to her response. (I.e., it’s her – not you) Long version: I’ve had exactly the same thing happen – even getting abuse from a parent for being “heartless in their time of need”. My syllabus stated that if you must miss you MUST notify me at the earliest possible time (she waited a week and a half). And it clearly stated that if you have to miss an exam due to an emergency you will not be allowed to make it up if you wait past the day of the exam to notify me- for any reason. Because I believed her but was trying to remain fair to the other students, I emailed her that she could give me a name and town and I’d be happy to just look it up in lieu of actually asking her to print the obituary out. She replied that I was being cruel. I did not take the bait but explained that I was being fair to the others and going beyond the syllabus to accommodate her. That’s when her dad emailed and voice mailed me to tell me what a cad I was and “how would you feel”? Still didn’t defend myself but called him to explain the situation. He finally said, “I guess we all get a bit testy at these times.” Grief. Assuming she’s being honest and not deflecting at being pushed to defend an untruth, I think you are being fair and she’s grieving but not reflecting on her behavior enough to recognize that her emotions come largely from that and not from you. You are, I think, being fair with her. Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems *From:* drnanjo [mailto:drna...@aol.com] *Sent:* Monday, September 01, 2014 8:43 PM *To:* Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) *Subject:* Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hello everyone - Hope you had a nice summer and holiday weekend. So, I need to know if my two choices in a matter are the dichotomy of total patsy and heartless b-word. As I've often joked to students, May and December are bad times for grandparents (and other distant
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Hello everyone - Hope you had a nice summer and holiday weekend. So, I need to know if my two choices in a matter are the dichotomy of total patsy and heartless b-word. As I've often joked to students, May and December are bad times for grandparents (and other distant relatives) who seem to expire in droves right in time to make it impossible to sit for a final or complete a term project. A close second is the first class of the term...at community colleges, you must show up on the first day to keep your seat, otherwise according to regs we can (and must) give your seat away...to one of what is usually many students on a long wait list. SO...I had a student not show this week and when she finally contacted me I'd already dropped her. She said her grandmother had died. I said, I dropped you but if you can verify the story I'll reinstate you. And I got a fairly abusive email back. I suppose my main mistake was not simply saying you are dropped BUT I thought (perhaps wrongly) that I was giving her a chance if she was truthful. Now in retrospect it just seems like I should have said too bad.' I suppose it might have also seemed just as heartless as Too bad. I don't know. I hate being played. And I hate being mean. Avoid-avoid conflict. I also suppose I am experiencing a certain amount of burnout due to many environmental factors...not just students but other aspects of the current state of my work environment. So this is probably a tendril extended for support as well as to find out a little more about how you all react to and handle the dead fill-in-the-distant relative of your choice, all-purpose vague but serious-sounding family emergency and the rest of the excuse tropes. Welcome back. Thanks. Nancy Melucci Long Beach CIty College Long Beach CA --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=38171 or send a blank email to leave-38171-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
RE: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Nancy Short version- you are doing the right thing and it's her environmental factors and lack of self-reflection that lead to her response. (I.e., it's her - not you) Long version: I've had exactly the same thing happen - even getting abuse from a parent for being heartless in their time of need. My syllabus stated that if you must miss you MUST notify me at the earliest possible time (she waited a week and a half). And it clearly stated that if you have to miss an exam due to an emergency you will not be allowed to make it up if you wait past the day of the exam to notify me- for any reason. Because I believed her but was trying to remain fair to the other students, I emailed her that she could give me a name and town and I'd be happy to just look it up in lieu of actually asking her to print the obituary out. She replied that I was being cruel. I did not take the bait but explained that I was being fair to the others and going beyond the syllabus to accommodate her. That's when her dad emailed and voice mailed me to tell me what a cad I was and how would you feel? Still didn't defend myself but called him to explain the situation. He finally said, I guess we all get a bit testy at these times. Grief. Assuming she's being honest and not deflecting at being pushed to defend an untruth, I think you are being fair and she's grieving but not reflecting on her behavior enough to recognize that her emotions come largely from that and not from you. You are, I think, being fair with her. Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edumailto:tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems From: drnanjo [mailto:drna...@aol.com] Sent: Monday, September 01, 2014 8:43 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hello everyone - Hope you had a nice summer and holiday weekend. So, I need to know if my two choices in a matter are the dichotomy of total patsy and heartless b-word. As I've often joked to students, May and December are bad times for grandparents (and other distant relatives) who seem to expire in droves right in time to make it impossible to sit for a final or complete a term project. A close second is the first class of the term...at community colleges, you must show up on the first day to keep your seat, otherwise according to regs we can (and must) give your seat away...to one of what is usually many students on a long wait list. SO...I had a student not show this week and when she finally contacted me I'd already dropped her. She said her grandmother had died. I said, I dropped you but if you can verify the story I'll reinstate you. And I got a fairly abusive email back. I suppose my main mistake was not simply saying you are dropped BUT I thought (perhaps wrongly) that I was giving her a chance if she was truthful. Now in retrospect it just seems like I should have said too bad.' I suppose it might have also seemed just as heartless as Too bad. I don't know. I hate being played. And I hate being mean. Avoid-avoid conflict. I also suppose I am experiencing a certain amount of burnout due to many environmental factors...not just students but other aspects of the current state of my work environment. So this is probably a tendril extended for support as well as to find out a little more about how you all react to and handle the dead fill-in-the-distant relative of your choice, all-purpose vague but serious-sounding family emergency and the rest of the excuse tropes. Welcome back. Thanks. Nancy Melucci Long Beach CIty College Long Beach CA --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edumailto:tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177an=Tl=tipso=38171 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-38171-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edumailto:leave-38171-13545.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b1...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5n=Tl=tipso=38172 or send a blank email to leave-38172-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent
Nancy, Given your institution's policies, you had no choice but to drop her if she did not show up. I expect she had the same experience in multiple classes if she was out of town for a funeral, which probably adds to her stress but should send her a clear message that this is what happens at this institution. Now if yours was the only class she missed and was dropped from, that raises a new set of questions, doesn't it? If she were out of town, wouldn't she have missed multiple classes? Just asking. . . . I think you were most kind and generous to offer to reinstate her. But I know how rigid the rules about attendance can be at two-year institutions. I learned recently that in Florida, students who miss more than a certain number of classes must be withdrawn by the instructor, even if the student is doing well in the class. Something about the regulations related to financial aid awards at 2-year schools. (The four-year schools don't have this policy, so it came as quite a surprise to me when this matter came up in a faculty development activity that involved multiple people from 2-year schools.) Perhaps if you had reinforced the message that this was not entirely your decision by telling her you would *attempt* to get her reinstated, assuming you could persuade the registrar or whoever to accept her documentation, you might have gotten a less hostile response. (And it would have saved you some additional grief if your attempts to reinstate her hit a bureaucratic wall.) But I wouldn't guarantee that! :-) Claudia BTW Anyone else on TIPS not getting all of the messages? I received Tim's response but never saw Nancy's question. I even looked in my spam filter. And no, I do not have a special filter set for Nancy! :-) _ Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment University of West Florida Pensacola, FL 32514 Phone: (850) 857-6355 (direct) or 473-7435 (CUTLA) csta...@uwf.edu CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/offices/cutla/ http://uwf.edu/cutla/ Personal Web Pages: http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm On Mon, Sep 1, 2014 at 10:05 PM, Tim Shearon tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu wrote: Nancy Short version- you are doing the right thing and it’s her environmental factors and lack of self-reflection that lead to her response. (I.e., it’s her – not you) Long version: I’ve had exactly the same thing happen – even getting abuse from a parent for being “heartless in their time of need”. My syllabus stated that if you must miss you MUST notify me at the earliest possible time (she waited a week and a half). And it clearly stated that if you have to miss an exam due to an emergency you will not be allowed to make it up if you wait past the day of the exam to notify me- for any reason. Because I believed her but was trying to remain fair to the other students, I emailed her that she could give me a name and town and I’d be happy to just look it up in lieu of actually asking her to print the obituary out. She replied that I was being cruel. I did not take the bait but explained that I was being fair to the others and going beyond the syllabus to accommodate her. That’s when her dad emailed and voice mailed me to tell me what a cad I was and “how would you feel”? Still didn’t defend myself but called him to explain the situation. He finally said, “I guess we all get a bit testy at these times.” Grief. Assuming she’s being honest and not deflecting at being pushed to defend an untruth, I think you are being fair and she’s grieving but not reflecting on her behavior enough to recognize that her emotions come largely from that and not from you. You are, I think, being fair with her. Tim ___ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor, Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: tshea...@collegeofidaho.edu teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems *From:* drnanjo [mailto:drna...@aol.com] *Sent:* Monday, September 01, 2014 8:43 PM *To:* Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) *Subject:* Re: [tips] The season of the deceased grandparent Hello everyone - Hope you had a nice summer and holiday weekend. So, I need to know if my two choices in a matter are the dichotomy of total patsy and heartless b-word. As I've often joked to students, May and December are bad times for grandparents (and other distant relatives) who seem to expire in droves right in time to make it impossible to sit for a final or complete a term project. A close second is the first class of the term...at community colleges, you must show up on the first day to keep your seat, otherwise according to regs we can (and must) give your seat away...to one of what is usually many students on a long wait list. SO...I had a student not show this week and when she
