I will return to the alphabetical list of topics at some point, but I wanted to write something that is more chronologically-based. This was the last week that students could drop a class, even with getting a W on the transcript. We are on a semester system, and this has been the ten weeks into the semester mark. So at this point students have a good idea (or should) of where they are at in terms of grades. As an undergraduate at my college you could only drop classes in the first two weeks of the semester. In grad school the deadline for dropping was the end of the fourth week (that was the situation for undergraduates there as well). Here you can drop without any indication on your transcript up to the end of the fourth week and with a W on the transcript up until the end of the tenth week. So you have a really good idea where you are by the time you have to drop. Some students take advantage of this; others should. I have no idea usually why students make the choices they do. And that is probably a good thing. Follow me after the jumping orange jelly bean trail for some thoughts about students at this point of the semester.
This is when both academic and personal issues can combine to make the semester stresses overwhelming. I am teaching two large freshman-level classes in which perhaps a third of the students are just starting college. Even though they are lower-level classes they are not easy, and not undemanding. But the first year students know and understand these issues, generally. I think that is because for the most part our first year orientation, advising, and mentoring lets students know what is going to required of them, and we for the most part we get students who are willing to take responsibility for their own failings (not coming to class, etc.). They know where the help with time management, peer editing, and mental support can be found. They have advisors in their residence halls who are easily accessible to them and they are able to take advantage of that. And some of them at least are not afraid to ask for help. They seem to be less anxious to drop a class in which they are doing poorly.
But that is overall. There are those students whose idea of what they can accomplish is somewhat mistaken (either with overcommitting themselves to work and difficult classes and personal lives, or with not realizing that working every night on a regular basis is required even in those classes in which there is not a visible or immediate deadline). And the emotional stress of being away from home, not having that support network upon which they have relied for years, and not having access to the medical care that has helped them to cope through the years of high school, all combine with the time management issues and a lack of understanding the requirements of college, and who knows what. This is where I cannot help. I can help with the academic side of things, and I can recommend that they talk with people in student support services such as the Writing Center, Student Accounts, Counseling, and Disability Services. But I don't know (and I don't want to know) about divorces, romantic entanglements, and financial pressures. I know they exist. But I do not feel comfortable with making allowances for things outside of academic issues. That being said, I do appreciate the students keeping me informed when health issues interfere with their ability to do the work in class. I had a student this semester who had serious (but not life-threatening, thank heavens) health issues and was in and out of a hospital. When the student said that (he or she) was thinking about dropping the semester for health reasons, I encouraged that approach. It is a rough semester and I hope the person can return in the future once things are straightened out. What a rough way to begin one's college career!
The odd and really puzzling situations are usually with upper level students, those who have perhaps figured out ways to work around requirements and deadlines in their own majors and have forgotten the frustrations of finding your way in a new discipline with a different departmental ethos, and a different set of expectations. Or at least that is what I tell myself; I certainly remember that in my own attitudes by the time I was a junior in college. This semester I have one in one lower level course who has come less than half the time. I write a notice to the student (and the advisor is cc:ed automatically) pointing out that a lot had been missed and this was potentially a big problem. I got a rather snippy notice back from the student that "I am aware I have missed class and am dealing with the issues." Fine. I heard nothing from the advisor (by the way, I am quite sure this is the same student I had in an earlier class where the issues were the same). And the student's attendance went downhill from there. I got an email an hour before the last test asking to take it later because the student had missed a lot of class (I was out of town). I said no (the exams require time in the classroom facility and I do not make up multiple versions of the exam, so both logistics and academic integrity would be issues with this request, plus the student had not been coming to class and had never indicated any health problems to me, and had never made an effort to follow up on any comments on earlier papers/assignments. The student didn't take the exam, didn't submit the last paper, and has not dropped the class. I don't get it. Why would you stay in a class like that?
The others that puzzle me are in an upper level class. Although it is difficult and very few are majors or using it for a minor, the students are there every week and most of them are really reliable about submitting papers, although some don't do so well on them. But then there are those who are there all the time but don't seem to be bothered by deadlines. I don't accept late papers, to make all things equal for all students, and I have all the assignments' deadlines available at the beginning of the semester, extending them only when I have the agreement of all the class. This last paper submission deadline was a full week later than it had been scheduled originally (of course, I would have accepted it early) and two of the students didn't even turn in anything.v Both have been coming on a regular (or at least semi-regular) basis. Both have written the tests and quizzes. I emailed them and asked if they had turned it in somewhere else (a drop box on line rather than email, which was the way I requested the submissions). Nope. They hadn't finished them yet. But while I have had several students in the class (and my lower-level ones as well) come and talk with me about ways to improve, what I expect, etc., I have not seen those students that I worry about. I want them to do well and they seem interested in the subject, or at least they attend class every day (-ish). My hope is that they are taking this pass/fail, as I don't feel particularly sanguine about the grades that are to come.
Then there are those students who either have never shown up after the first day or stopped coming relatively early and never bothered to drop the class. I can only figure that there is a minimum number of hours they have to take and dropping the classes would put them below those hours. But it seems a very expensive way of keeping health insurance/financial aid/a job. And it is one that can follow you forever (or at least anywhere you will need a transcript). I worry about those who fool around with this kind of thing.
So it is that time of the semester where I worry about my students who need to be worried about, worry about the papers and tests I need to be grading, and thank the gods for those students who are responsible and patient with me.
What is your semester like these days?