finals fun

I just remembered I never shared any of the fun from exam week.... Hmph :) Surprised but happy that there was only minor wackiness.

Some tallies…
1 dreamer. 52 final average – “Isn’t there anything I can do for you to give me the D?” Hmmm. No. Actually I feel for this kid because he did try really hard but only at the end – lots of very low stuff from early on in the semester simply couldn’t be overcome. Frankly he only passed about 2 components all semester. One was Participation and no one got lower than 85 or so there; the other was one of the compos if I remember correctly and when I say “passed” I mean he got a 62.

1 really fun email affirming my latest style choices (which you've seen :)

1 borderline person trying to scrounge a higher grade - every day he has a new theory about why he's missing a B by 1.7 points. Now you REALLY think I'm a bitch, since my syllabus states from the beginning of the sem: FINAL COURSE LETTER GRADES IN MME S’S CLASSES ARE NOT ROUNDED UP. If you want a certain grade in this course, it is up to you to make that grade. In compensation I do actually offer a fair amount of EC possibilities throughout the semester, but yes I really do stick to this rule. And it's not because of my true Bitch nature, quite the reverse. I actually can be a pretty big pushover at times but I'm also human and tend to have prejudices against people sometimes, like those who don't come to class very often or don't pay attention, etc., so rather than risk saying yes to someone and then saying no to another and then worry whether I did it because I secretly dislike them (trust me I could spend hours dissecting such things) I have learned that it is safest for me to stick to black & white procedures.

1 really happy senior with an A. Even wrote me to say how much he enjoyed my class. He earned the A and was great to have in class (he was in the 10h of course).

1 last minute sob story or slacker scramble, depending on how much truth you put in it… Maybe you’ll understand in a minute why I’m slightly doubtful…. “Mark” has only been in class 10 days all semester. (For better or worse I threw out my absence policy this semester and instead had a quiz every single day, hoping that those who believed themselves too good at French to bother coming every day or who simply were planning to spend their mornings with their hangover instead of in class would thus get it in the end (and you know which end I mean). Mark got C’s and D’s on everything he was there for. Mark also missed the oral interview last week and just got in under the wire with an official Health Center excuse (where he probably ran over there after realizing he missed the oral and feigned a stomach ache or something to get the requisite Orange Excuse Slip Complete With Raised Health Center Seal so he could make it up. I told Mark to come and make it up Tuesday during my office hours 12-2pm. I had a meeting at the Conference Center at 3h15, so imagine my reaction when Mark arrived at 2h55, thinking my office hours were 12-3. (Which, if they HAD been I still would have been disgruntled since he waited til the last 5 minutes, but whatever.)

--“Can’t I do it now?”
--“Absolutely not.”
--“Well I thought your signature said 12-3.” (The email signature that was set up a week ago, you mean? And is the same on every single one of the gazillion emails I send out every day, every one of which, except, apparently, for the one you received, says “12-2”?)
--“It didn’t. And you can’t do it now because I’m due in a meeting soon. You’ll have to do it tomorrow morning. There is no other choice.” I said this knowing full well that the next day was the first day of finals and he may have an exam.
--“Yes, ma’am. Anytime.” Damn Sparky yes ma’am anytime! Music to my ears.
--“9am.” Really wanted to say 7h30 just 'cause... but I was nice. (Crazy!)
--“I’ll be here.” You dang well better.

Anyway we did the interview the next morning and (they get to draw a chapter from upside-down cards and that’s what their interview covers for the most part) he drew Ch. 1 and I thought, “Dang! There is no justice! This guy is going to skate thru this thing!” I was good and gave him standard interview questions instead of making them harder like I wanted to, but in fact he bombed it. Seriously whatever he was there for in Ch. 1 has completely escaped his noggin by now. I even gave him a couple of extra Really Easy ones to see if we could boost the average a little but then he bombed those, too, so I stopped.

So whatever. This morning was our class’s exam, at 11h. At 9h45 I got an email (I knew the exact time because of the pernicious new feature on our computers which beeps at us and gives a mini-dialogue box with email details in the corner of our screen with each new message – teehee I finally had a second to disable same later in the day  ) from Mark saying that he is dyslexic and had been having a hard time studying for the final and had noticed I was giving another of the same level on Monday and could he please take it with that class?

Eyebrows raised in wonderment and amid various other utter bewildery feelings, I said back:

I'm very sorry but no; we are not supposed to change final exams for any students unless they have a conflict of 3 or more finals in one day (as per Student Handbook and the Dean of Students). I'm afraid you will have to take the final today and make the best of it.

Then, to be nice even tho I really didn’t quite believe him and a teensy bit, I admit, to call his bluff in case it needed it…

I strongly encourage you to get some dispensation for your dyslexia if possible - next semester go to the Students with Disabilities Office and they can help you so that you can officially ask for different test procedures, etc., whenever necessary. They are really great and this is a resource not all schools have; you should take advantage of it if you think it will help or at least go see what they're about.

I should have added also that his class’s grades were due at the Registrar by Saturday a.m. but I wasn’t lacking for valid reasons why not as it was.

So… Mark arrived at the exam 25 minutes late, just in time for the listening comprehension in fact. He was the last one done; in fact I had to ask him to stop. In the 2.5 hours allotted, all but one other person finished in 1.5 or so. The next-to-last finished at just under 2 hours. (You’re thinking now, see he is dyslexic! But I swear to you that he has never been the last to finish one of the midterms – not even close, so…)

As he handed in his test finally I asked him,
--“Did you see your email? You should go to the Disabilities Office, seriously. They can be very helpful.”
…pause…
--“Yeah, I’ve seen them before.”
--“Well they can give you official dispensation so that you won’t have this problem again.”
--“I decided not to go thru with it because I think it’s better for me to try to live with it. I mean, I have to sometime. I mean… on the job or whatever…”
--“Oh. OK.”

He left and as I was coming back to the office I thought that part of that argument sounded considerably more sound than just bullshitting but if he really is dyslexic and he really does live by that rationale, then it destroyed his argument for my allowing him to take the final later… Guess if he really wants to live w/o any special dispensation in the real world he got some more practice at it today.

Now before all you kabillions of adjuncthell readers write me that I should be more sensitive to challenged students, I’ll have you know that my brother is dyslexic and I have a theory about a certain learning disability (processing disability really) that I have as well so I really do understand. Not to mention living most of my life believing I was severely math-challenged (recently dispelled).

Now for the but…

But one shouldn’t expect in this situation to get extra help if one refuses to do the legwork and go to Disabilitites. Unfortunately that is the only way to be fair to everyone instead of taking everyone’s word for it who says they’re challenged in some way. It’s a useful and necessary resource on both sides.

I do admit that I took part of his story with a grain of salt due to his absences tho. Cf. human prejudicial tendencies touched on above...