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 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 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.bae00fb8b4115786ba5dbbb67b9b177a&n=T&l=tips&o=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=13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d550&n=T&l=tips&o=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.b9b37cdd198e940b73969ea6ba7aaf72&n=T&l=tips&o=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.b8b4461caf9626e16ed176ff3e555e55&n=T&l=tips&o=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. 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