One thing I don't like about being a teacher is that some students take offense because of the grades one has to assign. I had a student, an older woman who is in a masters program in nutrition, who I liked very much. But she did not do all that well--or not as well as she thought she should--on her last essay, and this caused her to stop attending class and finally to drop at the last minute.
Though she dropped last week, I heard from her today, saying that she did so because I was not fair to the paper. She had not said anything about it when there was still time to discuss this issue; she just stopped attending. I feel terrible--not because I didn't give the paper an appropriate grade, but because she had been stewing for all this time and hadn't said anything about it. I told her that I would be glad to discuss the essay with her; I would even reinstate her into the class if I could and if she wished to, but I don't think it's possible.
Also on the school front, I was really excited that I had been assigned a creative writing workshop for this summer, but so far, only 2 students have signed up, and my signs have been taken down all over campus. I plan to make more and have them stamped so they will be official, but I don't know if it will help.
I'll try to relax and hope more students sign up; otherwise, I'll have to go look for another summer job, and I don't relish that.
No comments:
Post a Comment