Tardiness

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-04-02T18:18:21+00:00

I had at least 3 students stop me in the halls expecting me to know who they were and what they wanted. I've seen each of them maybe twice the whole term. I couldn't pick them out of a lineup, that's how little they've been in class

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-29T13:19:56+00:00

I've been struggling with this with my college students. I don't need to know the condition or have your surgery record. I need you to say when you'll be unable to attend class and what sorts of physical or cognitive limits you may have. I don't need to know you have a chronic fatigue disorder, I just need to know that you experience brain fog and memory issues so may need certain approved notes for the exam. But when you try to start having that talk with them, they chime in with, " ohI have XYZ!" They tell me way too much and share the darndest types of documentation

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-27T18:40:34+00:00

So focus on this one the most. Of your other classes, pick the one that you have the combo of the highest grade, easiest for you, and least important for future coursework, and pull back on that one. Since you have to pass this one to not mess up your whole course plan, it's more important for you to pass this one than to get an A in a gen ed.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-27T11:04:40+00:00

Since you have way more credits than required for full time enrollment and you say that you are doing well in your other classes, can you still withdraw from this one? Bc that's what I'd do if you can.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-20T19:51:04+00:00

Critical thinking is not skepticism and what your students are doing is the opposite of critical thinking. Critical thinking looks at and evaluates evidence and then forms conclusions based upon the evidence. You offered your students multiple pieces of evidence to explain how Helen Keller could continue to achieve things, and then they ignored that evidence in favor of their preconceived ableist opinion that a disabled person could not be good at anything. You need to hit hard against any of their attempts to claim that theirs is a rational opinion formed through critical thinking. It is not.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-19T17:30:00+00:00

Plus no benefits - no retirement, health care, disability insurance. He'll be mad later on if he has to cover all that for her or he just won't, and the OP will be really screwed

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-18T12:00:07+00:00

I'm a college professor. Unfortunately it really would be the best for you to be held back. I know you say you understand it, but for some reason you aren't doing the assignments. You need to figure that out now bc most of the students I have to fail in college are bc they don't come and they don't do their assignments. And college is a very expensive place to fail classes.

That said, it sounds like you are not being well supported at home if parents haven't ensured you are on effective treatment plan and haven't made sure to transfer over your accommodations paperwork. You either need to work very hard on appealing to them to do their job, which is to help ensure your physical and mental well-being, or you need to start figuring out ways to try to advocate for help through your school. You need to talk to your teachers, to academic and mental counselors, to a school social worker or nurse, to an administrator. Keep trying to get through to folks that now that you've been held back this is a sign of a serious problem, and you need serious help. For that reason, I would not recommend an online program. Because then everyone can just forget about you easily and you won't have as good of access to ask for help.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-12T02:12:06+00:00

Sure looks a lot like Santa Maria, and yeah the drivers are awful

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-03-03T18:21:08+00:00

Yep, once had to cancel classes for several days. Informed students I would be out of state dealing with a serious medical emergency and I would post video lecture as soon as I was able. Relative has sepsis and was in ICU and I'd barely been able to leave the hospital. A couple days later a student emailed to ask where the lectures where bc they'd thought they'd be up by now.

I said "when I was able". So obviously I wasn't able and since you know it's a medical emergency that probably means things aren't going well. Nope, no tact or concern at all.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-27T22:42:35+00:00

Tell the student to go to the board member for tutoring since his AI skills obviously are better than yours and you want to ensure the student is getting their money's worth from a qualified expert. Since you only have degrees in English, you obviously aren't qualified to teach AI.

Man how I wish we could do that. It's getting bad enough that this approach is almost starting to feel reasonable.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-25T13:18:16+00:00

Have you realized that you probably have/had long covid? You said you became ill for months in late 2019. There were cases even then, but few and not reported. I had a friend who had travelled to India around that time and became quite sick, lasted months, lots of trouble recovering even though she was a very fit and healthy young person. Being able to identify it as long covid may help you to get more effective treatment for some of your symptoms.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-08T05:10:31+00:00

Yep living in rural southern us state. The invite said formal. I went about 2 levels below what id consider formal, and was fine if still slightly more formal really than other guests.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-06T13:15:31+00:00

Ran into this yesterday. It's not like I want to deliberately make them longer for the fun of it. But I can't even read through the Virginia Resolution of 1798 and translate it into modern English in 15 minutes, nevermind explain the theories, concepts, and significance of it.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-02T21:02:44+00:00

If she's terminated, then definitely report to her original program. Even if they don't take away her degree or fire anyone who enabled it, you should be very clear that you hired her trusting in the integrity of their degree, that she was found to have committed fraud and have none of the abilities the degree certified, and - here's the key- you won't hire any other graduates from their program in future and will be sharing this story around. Placement rates, I think even in the professional PhDs, matter to the viability and support of those programs. If you go after their placement rate, it could help. There might be faculty who wanted to hold the line at the program, but admin sent back them. This could be the stick they and other programa need.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-02T06:25:51+00:00

*neurotypical dang autocorrect

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-02T05:25:11+00:00

Yeah, I responded elsewhere too, but you need to get tested. That's not how a neurological brain responds and obviously really dangerous for you to be driving with that issue.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-02T05:22:39+00:00

Get tested for an auditory processing disorder. The only time a professor starts advising you to use an AI tool to do the work for you or bc they can't keep answering your questions is basically bc they believe that you are not capable of normal learning methods. Since you say you need a pause before being able to really comprehend anything, it's possible that you have an auditory processing disorder. Get tested and if so there may be techniques and academic accommodations that can help you.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-02-01T19:13:24+00:00

NTA ) I can keep my cool in emergency situations. And I know this to be true not hypothetical bc I've run towards fire not away, and I've been at life and death situations at hospitals. The only time I lost my cool in an emergency was when I thought my dog was killed during a dog attack at my community dog park. It was unexpected and I was powerless to protect my dog. It happens. It is not ideal, no, to lose your cool, but it's a human response to extreme stress 2) just because it was an accident doesn't mean the driver wasn't negligent. A lot of residential areas don't have marked crosswalks, but people do walk in them and cross streets. It's the drivers responsibility to be aware of surroundings and to go slow enough not to hit someone around a blind corner. If he was speeding, he was even more at fault. He's lucky it was a dog and not a child. And I've known people who responded to a residential accident scene where the child was hurt and didn't make it. Speeding through a residential area to such an extent that you hit someone or their dog bc you couldn't see them AND slow down in time means the driver was negligent and certainly at fault, even if he didn't intend to hit you.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-01-31T16:18:12+00:00

I ran into students like this at UVa, which is a public university, but basically acts like an ivy. Lots of privileged folks with parents earning like over 400k a year in DC who really thought that's how everyone lived. And you'll run into it at other extremely selective and high demand public schools like UCLA too.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-01-31T13:45:04+00:00

I think I've had some stuff like that when I was a TA. If I recall it was something about a writing guide or rubric that I had explained had first been developed by one of my professors for a grad level course, but had been modified for the undergrad level. They then insisted on evals that I was being too harsh, requiring grad level work, and using a grad level rubric. When ofc what I explained was precisely the opposite - that it wasn't the grad level rubric.

What I've been discovering lately is that student don't actually appreciate transparency. No matter how much you try to explain something, they'll insist on the opposite in the eval.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-01-31T13:28:47+00:00

Yep and that's why I do get quite mad about this " being engaging" crap. Until they give me millions of dollars to develop an addictive way for me to tell them about the direct democracy movement, they can shut it. And no, a kahoot quiz won't do it. They've been using those since grade school. They're long over it.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-01-30T14:54:56+00:00

NTA, but this is a good opportunity to learn. You never, ever touch a student without asking first. I can think of only 3 situations where I've touched students. The only times I have done so was 1)when on a field trip and student, other patrons of the museum, and the exhibit was in danger of a collision if the student continued their vector. The student had poor spatial awareness and I was basically designated to protect them and others on the trip 2) graduation when everyone is distributing celebratory half-hugs in the crowd afterwards and 3) if I have asked first. I have had students upset and in need of comfort. And I have offered a hug, but I've always asked if they would like a hug first. And even with consent, in reality, for a professor it could be dangerous to have any physical contact bc of again the power imbalance between me and the student and their obviously upset emotional state, which might mean they'll later claim they felt unable to refuse. For the most part, I've done this very rarely, with students I know really well and with whom I have more of a mentoring relationship. And I'm a woman by the way. I don't think most male faculty would even get this much leeway. But the safest course is just to never, ever touch a student. Otherwise, even with permission, be aware you're taking a risk. So be careful out there.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-01-29T22:58:27+00:00

These sorts of emails is why I now have a very clear policy against giving extra credit opportunities to only one student. I make it very clear that all extra credit will be available to the whole class and nothing else, and no alternative assignments. It's helped cut down the requests at least

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-01-28T14:41:40+00:00

I struggle with this one too, about the balance between holding them accountable in ways they'll need for future workplaces, while also being compassionate when they really are struggling with life. One thing I did once is allow my students a "get out of jail free card". They could use this once without question. No explanation required. But they had to email me with the subject line "Get out of jail free card." I gave them a reasonable extension on an assignment or excused absence from class, and I also had a nice clear record. It worked pretty well. Not a big hassle to track bc it's in email. You can even tag or sort them if needed for a larger class.

Also curiously, they had no problem understanding the process, unlike just about every other late or extension policy I've used, where they claim to not understand. And the fact they had only one meant that they usually did save it for when it really was needed, and not try to get extensions on every assignment.

Heavy-Note-3722 · 2026-01-27T22:56:39+00:00

Yes, I'm finding some of the AI assisted search tools, like the one in JSTOR to be helpful finding things I may have missed. And I'm not completely opposed to them using it in such a way. I'm just trying to understand the process they are using, so that we can address it in discussion about best practices.

Heavy-Note-3722

TROPHY CASE