Sunday, January 9, 2011

And so it begins...

The end of each semester is highlighted by groveling.  I had my first official grovel today and it's pretty good:

Dear Sir ,
I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your class this course.  I know it's not easy to teach us but you managed to keep us all interested and we even had fun.  I wish all my teachers were like you. Thanks a lot! 
I'm really afraid of getting the Academic Warning.
I know that my grades don't help !!!
But I hope you to help me raise my grades.  I don't ask for much, I only want C or more =P
Please help me Sir.
Thank you again!

I have not (and won't) look up this student.  I have no idea if she is seriously failing or currently getting an "A" but scared.

******
Unrelated:
I had a male student argue with me about subtracting .05% of his participation grade because he came late twice.  I repeatedly said, "Nobody - in all the time I've been teaching has missed a grade by .05%... anything close to that and I'll give it to you."

But he felt the need to argue.  I gave in (as Spellman would say, I conceded the battle.)  The war is his final grade... and he'll get his final grade with the extra .05% but the normal 2-3% lee-way in giving a grade?  Yeah, that's gone.  He'll get exactly the grade he earned.  So he got .05% and perhaps lost a better grade.  Welcome to the thinking of a student at my university.

2 comments:

  1. I sure don't understand your grading system.

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  2. Grading and posting grades is different here.... probably worth a post in itself. In summary, we are allowed up to a 5% bump for a student. I rarely give more than a 1 or 2% bump it's good to know there is an allowable 5%.

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