Thursday, December 21, 2017

End of semester stories - persistence pays off

I released the class standings for the three sections I am handling this semester. Included were their scores for assignments I gave throughout the semester and for the long exams that included those I assigned as take-home work and for which discussions among students were encouraged in order to facilitate learning.

I got emails from four students regarding their scores and tentative grades. One student asked if its possible to have one exam rechecked as he was percentage points away from getting a 1.0. I quickly checked his scores and decided to give him an early Christmas gift as simple rounding off his average will improve his already excellent grade. I am usually generous with grades even if its not the Christmas season. I just don't feel like its worth stressing over percentage points and cases of a few points in exams.

Another student asked why he got a very low score in an exam. I remembered him as one who did not bother to include/attach solutions to his exam but instead submitted only the answers. How could I give full or even partial credit when it is not clear to me that the student did his work and understood the topics covered in the exam? I promptly replied to him asking if he already got the papers back and read what I wrote on his papers. He replied with a 'Thanks' and I never heard from him again.

I got a message from one student who believed she was able to submit one assignment and confirmed with her partner (it was a group project) about their submission on time. Turns out I have no record of their submission and I replied that perhaps her partner failed to submit it on their behalf. She had good scores in exams and assignments but her partner had average scores so I suspected perhaps that the other person wasn't able to submit their work but was afraid to admit it. There was no effort from him to support her. I recalled that there was a confusion where the assignments were to be submitted because half the class placed theirs in the wrong pigeon hole (this was the first homework) in our new building. And so I asked her to check for maybe their paper was still there (students were notorious for leaving their assignments or returned/corrected work so these usually accumulate by the end of the semester). To cut a long story short, she was able to find their paper in the pile and along the way also found the papers of 3 other classmates. I was able to correct their standings and this resulted in higher grades.

I wonder how many students are as persistent these days? I wouldn't categorize her as the grade- conscious type as she was not begging for points or asking for additional work to get a higher grade. The student 'fought' for what she thought she worked for that she wasn't able to get credit for. The other students (total 4) didn't even make an effort to rectify their situations and I suspect they didn't even check what was recorded as non-submissions. I was tempted not to change the scores and grades of the others, in a way making a point or lesson here, but that was not the right thing to do. I took the inspiration of the persistent student for the benefit of the others. Persistence pays off and the effort of one benefited others.
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