I am writing to ask for advice about how to deal with students who expand vacation time, leaving before the break starts and sometimes returning after it ends. We have a "Fall break" on October 13 and 14. I had scheduled the midterm exam for the 12th but the first week of classes I already had students asking for a make up exam for they wanted to leave on the 12th or earlier. I thought for a while to move the midterm date to the 10th or to the 17th, to avoid having to write two different midterms, monitor the exams, etc.
In the end, I decided to keep the exam for the 12th, as scheduled (it will cost me at the time of student evaluations but so what!) and I am wondering whether it should also be appropriate to take points from those who decide to leave before the break officially starts. What would you do if you had to face the same situation? While taking points off might seem arbitrary, it seems to me that something needs to be done to stress the need to be a responsible student. I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter. Changing the topic, thank you to those who responded about my comments re: use of laptops. You were right - students doodle, make shopping lists, send each other messages, they absent themselves from class once in a while whether using new or old technology so .... :) Martha
