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[concordancia]

Those students who have written a paper each week only have one left (they have to do ten short essays by the end of the semester), but I think I am going to tell the grad students that I will no longer be reading papers which do follow the MLA format. We are not talking picky points here - we are talking about not being able to distinguish between an author and a webpage.

[antiphon1]

Holy crap.

One of my students just tried to use a syllabus as a published source. 

And it's my syllabus.

Holy crap.

[llanfair]

Antiphon1, it could have been worse: at least they cited it, right?

[notaprof]

Holy crap.

One of my students just tried to use a syllabus as a published source. 

And it's my syllabus.

Holy crap.

What's the problem with this?  There were probably more copies printed and in circulation of your syllabus than of some academic books.

[antiphon1]

What's the problem with this?  There were probably more copies printed and in circulation of your syllabus than of some academic books.

Given the number of times I've taught this class, you're probably right.

Antiphon1, it could have been worse: at least they cited it, right?

Sigh.

Please tell me you're not in my class.  The next justification you'll give me is, "It's published.  You posted it on Moodle."

[concordancia]

What's the problem with this?  There were probably more copies printed and in circulation of your syllabus than of some academic books.

Given the number of times I've taught this class, you're probably right.

Antiphon1, it could have been worse: at least they cited it, right?

Sigh.

Please tell me you're not in my class.  The next justification you'll give me is, "It's published.  You posted it on Moodle."

I once had a student write an essay introduction that sounded really familiar. I reviewed some of the readings from the unit that dealt with the topic, just skimming some for tone, but I definitely picked up a handful of books and opened several files. I took a break and while outside realized that she had plagiarized the assignment sheet. Now, I can imagine comp professors out there actually suggesting this, so I just took off a chunk of points, commenting that it is never OK to copy someone else's words verbatim, etc. Evidently she didn't mind the grade, as the next essay began the same way. After scanning to realize she had at least written an essay about the new unit, I gave her the same D grade and said if she couldn't be bothered to write with her own words, I couldn't be bothered to read it. Repeat for unit 3 of the course...

[antiphon1]

I once had a student write an essay introduction that sounded really familiar. I reviewed some of the readings from the unit that dealt with the topic, just skimming some for tone, but I definitely picked up a handful of books and opened several files. I took a break and while outside realized that she had plagiarized the assignment sheet. Now, I can imagine comp professors out there actually suggesting this, so I just took off a chunk of points, commenting that it is never OK to copy someone else's words verbatim, etc. Evidently she didn't mind the grade, as the next essay began the same way. After scanning to realize she had at least written an essay about the new unit, I gave her the same D grade and said if she couldn't be bothered to write with her own words, I couldn't be bothered to read it. Repeat for unit 3 of the course...

I suppose we should be thankful the students bothered to read the class materials. 

Eh.

I deducted the standard points for use of an unpublished source and wrote a note explaining the difference between a published source and an unpublished source.  It really could have been worse.  I've had students try to use Facebook as a published source.

[ls410]

I gave a make-up exam on Friday.  She has several unexcused absences and half way through the make-up, she said "But I wasn't here when you covered X".  I reminded her that topic was in the textbook and I had been nice enough to give her the links to the videos we watched about it.  What did she think I'd do - not make her answer those questions?  This is the same student who sat in her chair before class and kept saying "Miss" [NOT Miss 'Last Name', just plain old Miss] and waving her doctor's note at me to get me to walk over to her so she could schedule the make-up.  No broken foot or any reason why she couldn't come to me. 

[oseph]

I gave a make-up exam on Friday.  She has several unexcused absences and half way through the make-up, she said "But I wasn't here when you covered X".  I reminded her that topic was in the textbook and I had been nice enough to give her the links to the videos we watched about it.  What did she think I'd do - not make her answer those questions?  This is the same student who sat in her chair before class and kept saying "Miss" [NOT Miss 'Last Name', just plain old Miss] and waving her doctor's note at me to get me to walk over to her so she could schedule the make-up.  No broken foot or any reason why she couldn't come to me. 

Along those lines, I had a student ask to stop by my office yesterday.  I said "Sure, why?"  She told me that she had missed class the week before, so she wanted to know what she'd missed.  We set a time, and I told her I'd send her an email with instructions about what she needed to do before our meeting.  So I went to my lecture notes, made a short list of the topics we'd covered, and emailed that to her.  In my email, I told her to use the index in the textbook to read about these topics, and then in office hours we could go over any specific questions she had about what she had read.  She never showed for our scheduled meeting.  I am wondering if she just gave up once she saw the list or whether she actually did what I asked and realized she didn't have any questions.

[mickeymantle]

I have found over the years that if you try to be generous to students, they either never acknowledge your assistance or they just continue to complain.  There have been a few exceptions, but too few to really recount.

[cc_alan]

I have found over the years that if you try to be generous to students, they either never acknowledge your assistance or they just continue to complain.  There have been a few exceptions, but too few to really recount.

I learned something very valuable from my grad advisor. He and others shared the instruction in a lab that had strict requirements for lab report due dates/times. As TAs we weren't allowed to take lab reports after a specific time and had to refer the student to the professor. This was even for any legitimate reasons since we weren't the professors.

My advisor would allow students one mulligan for a screw-up (no accepted reason for the late report). However, the condition was that everything else had to be turned in on-time or not only would he not accept the next late report, the original late one would earn a 0. His argument was that there would be students who would benefit from the "get out of jail" offer and then be able to finish the lab. What usually happened was that the student who turned in the first late report had other things going on which kept him/her from putting in the needed time to write up the reports and would then drop before trying to turn in a second one late.

My goal isn't to be generous but to find a way to allow a student a chance to fix one major eff-up that offers a balance between another chance and too much extra work for me. Some will benefit from it while others will crash-and-burn.

Alan

[mickeymantle]

I agree with you, cc alan.  But I've seen the problem get worse in the last few years.  I had one student tell me that hu sibling was in Iraq and that hu was taking care of sibling's child.  A complete lie, and the person wasn't 18 or 19.  (I've also had some Iraqi veterans who turned out to be excellent students, so this situation was even more galling.)  In addition, as I've recounted on another thread, our college's administrators are panicking about swine flu and bending over backwards (I won't go farther than that) to appease spoiled snowflakes. 

[weimlvr]

S1153685F4614740 I bolded the atoms so that you might see them in this sea of numbers! This is what of my gen chem students calculated for a molecular formula! Maybe it's some kind of polymer??

[cc_alan]

I agree with you, cc alan.  But I've seen the problem get worse in the last few years.  I had one student tell me that hu sibling was in Iraq and that hu was taking care of sibling's child.  A complete lie, and the person wasn't 18 or 19.  (I've also had some Iraqi veterans who turned out to be excellent students, so this situation was even more galling.)  In addition, as I've recounted on another thread, our college's administrators are panicking about swine flu and bending over backwards (I won't go farther than that) to appease spoiled snowflakes. 

I don't know if it's something that's become worse in my classes over the years. We do have an awesome dean who strongly supports the faculty so perhaps that's been an issue. We can set policies and as long as we get the "okey-dokey" from the chair or dean, we're covered. I usually have a few students each year complain to the dean but since I have everything in writing and I discuss it with the students, I have yet to have anything progress any farther than a quick talk.

Side note- it is pretty funny when a cheater goes to the dean to complain about me. It's happened twice in the past year.

The flu hasn't been too much of an issue. The admin here and at the local BigU issued a vague policy in that we're supposed to try and work with the students I have adjusted some assignment dates in a few cases.

<crosses his fingers>

Alan

[conjugate]

S1153685F4614740 I bolded the atoms so that you might see them in this sea of numbers! This is what of my gen chem students calculated for a molecular formula! Maybe it's some kind of polymer??

Now that's a hefty molecule.  I know that the "di-" prefix means two atoms, and "tri-" means three, but I'd hate to have to figure out a prefix for 1,153,685 of them.  Who's had Advanced Latin for Really Ambitious Chemists?