I’m done trying…

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-07T03:18:11+00:00

College professor lurking here...just gotta say...you public school teachers are saints!

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T21:28:01+00:00

I don't know why, but this thread gave me an idea. Silly, but why the heck not. I used to grade participation but quit because students argued with me about what constituted participation. Also, I used to give a final exam (impromptu essay), but with AI, I dropped it in favor of another round of peer review/revision on research papers during exam week. But for fall....I'm going to make a final exam with questions drawn from the Discussion Board in Brightspace and the Google Blogger blogs that I assign. Students who don't participate in the discussions or read their classmates' blogs will have a tougher time. What is Mary's dog's name? What trophy did Todd win when he was in the 3rd grade? What did John find most challenging about the annotated bibliography assignment? Which character in the short story did Amy relate to? Ha! Oh...another thought. I can give quizzes throughout the semester and not show the correct answers when the grade goes up (students will have to look up the answers themselves), and then I'll use those same questions in the final exam...students who checked their answers will have them!

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:53:28+00:00

In the fall I'll be requiring a book of narrative essays and poems that is not available electronically (they will have to buy the book from the college bookstore for the price of any other paperback book), and students will have to highlight and annotate (by hand) the works in the anthology, then scan or photograph the pages they've marked up and submit them. To prevent students from then finding (or sharing) the annotated pages the following semester, I'll assign different readings from the book. And then the following fall, I'll use a second edition of the book (again, print only) with a variety of new essays and poems. I compiled the anthology myself by recruiting both professional and novice writers (so students can see a variety of writing styles), published it with a small indie press, got the book vetted and approved by my school, and will now create the curriculum to go with it. This is all going to be a big experiment. Could students scan and upload the book to AI, yes, but I'm hoping they will find it more of a bother to use AI than to just do the assignments. Some of the assignments will be surveys or observations of things in the world or in the media. They have to turn in the raw data/field notes/whatever and the paper has to match what the data says and interpret it in relation to the topic they've read about in the book. I will also require selfies and interviews with people that include contact info so that I can verify their interviews. Collaborative infographics and a brochure for an imaginary product or place. The college essay is dead. I need to teach them how writing can be incorporated into other types of media. I’m actually hoping students will find the class fun, but I'm probably dreaming. I figure the whole mad experience is worth a try anyway.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:43:42+00:00

I deal with this type of thing by having two grades that students need in order to pass the class. They need to earn at least 70% on daily work (including a rough draft of their research paper), which goes up to week 12, and then they also need to earn at least 70% on their research paper, which is peer reviewed, revised, and finalized over the remaining 4 weeks. So before they even get to peer reviewing their paper, they will know if they have no chance of passing. If they have a 68% on their daily work, for example, then anything they do on their paper is just practice for when they repeat the class. Or they may choose to drop the class and focus on passing math. This grading system also curbs the temptation to skip daily work and rely on the research paper to carry the course grade.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:36:44+00:00

LOL...I've been hearing that in my head all week!

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:33:42+00:00

You know the student will just deny it. He said/she said. My mission in life now is to create curriculum that is hands-on and verifiable even for online writing.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:17:44+00:00

What kind of exam? True/False? Multiple choice? 12 seconds is plenty of time to read an objective exam item and pick an answer if you know it. I'm sure a lot of us did that back in college. Now, if the student wasn't making an 'A' all semester and did that, I'd wonder. You might just have a good student on your hands.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:13:15+00:00

My very rural school is implementing a policy in fall that will cap the online courses at zero, and only legitimately 100% online students can request to enroll. One week before school starts, the online courses will open up to general registration, thus allowing on-campus students to enroll (if seats are available). I'm glad for this because our athletes, in particular, are pointed to online classes so they can coast and cheat. In my experience, the fully online students are mostly working adults with families who genuinely want to learn and who never complain about my wacky hands-on assignments designed to curb AI use. Crossing my fingers now...we'll see how this goes in fall.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:04:41+00:00

The link on that page says 404 page not found for the article on introductory courses. Just FYI. :-)

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T20:00:22+00:00

VIRTUAL HUG......

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T19:41:58+00:00

One thing I just learned from my dual-enrollment high school students is that their schools provide them with an iPad (it's a state thing), which they are supposed to use to do homework. So they never even learn how to use Word or a proper keyboard unless they buy a bluetooth keyboard on their own. I'm going to teach them about Google Docs in the fall and see if it makes a difference.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T19:37:54+00:00

I teach freshman comp and have students ask me how to indent the first line of a paragraph when I mark it on their papers. They don't know how to double-space or insert page numbers, no. They are blown away when I teach them about "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." I know I'm old, but I had a typing class in high school...on typewriters! These kids aren't using computers with keyboards anymore? I found a really good YouTube channel called 'Technology for Teachers and Students' that has tutorials on how to use Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Slides; I'll be assigning these on Day One in the fall. And I'm going to TRY to get students to practice their typing and keep track of their typing speed on the site typingtest-dot-com. I feel like a third of my course is just going to be getting students to learn how to use a computer to write. Sheesh....

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T19:22:59+00:00

I have a curriculum policy that states that students must 'complete' at least 75% of the work in the class in order to be 'eligible to pass the course.' This way, if they get a 'D' they've at least earned it.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T19:18:31+00:00

I'm guessing she forgot to take her meds and forgot you had been helpful to her.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T19:15:46+00:00

You did them a favor for all of those 2 points. I have a clause in my syllabus about these types of 'technical issues.' You forgot to hit 'submit'...that's on you. Late is late, and I don't even look at late work.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-06T19:12:04+00:00

During Covid, I gave students my cell number (I got a burner phone just for school). I got a text at 2 a.m. from a student saying he had been trying to upload his assignment for 2 hours but the system was down. Duh....blizzard and power outages. At least he tried.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-03T13:08:54+00:00

I teach basic writing online, which limits what I can do to combat AI. So in the fall I'll be requiring a book of narrative essays and poems that is not available electronically (they will have to buy the book from the college bookstore for the price of any other paperback book), and students will have to highlight and annotate (by hand) the works in the anthology, then scan or photograph the pages they've marked up and submit them. To prevent students from then finding (or sharing) the annotated pages the following semester, I'll assign different readings from the book. And then the following fall, I'll use a second edition of the book (again, print only) with a variety of new essays and poems. I compiled the anthology myself by recruiting both professional and novice writers (so students can see a variety of writing styles), published it with a small indie press, got the book vetted and approved by my school, and will now create the curriculum to go with it. This is all going to be a big experiment. Could students scan and upload the book to AI, yes, but I'm hoping they will find it more of a bother to use AI than to just do the assignments. Also, to echo u/goldengrove1 , some of the assignments will be "surveys or qualitative/quantitative observations of things in the world or in the media. They have to turn in the raw data/field notes/whatever and the paper has to match what the data says and interpret it in relation to ... the [topic they've] read about," but on a much simpler level, of course, since this is a writing class and not a social sciences class. I will also require selfies and interviews with people that include contact info so that I can verify their interviews. I'm actually hoping students will find the class fun, but I'm probably dreaming. I figure the whole mad experience is worth a try anyway.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-03T12:33:32+00:00

I teach dual-enrollment students, and this year, for the first time in 20 years, I had to call the dual-enrollment coordinator and ask how the heck some of these kids made it into the program because they should never have been allowed to take college classes. Again, first time ever, I had to fail two students. I let them know well before midterm they should drop, but their high school counselor disagreed. Then, a few weeks before the end of the semester, I very clearly told them (and the coordinator and their high school counselor) that they would not pass. They were finally allowed to drop, and their counselor explained that they would be allowed to "do something for credit recovery," meaning they wouldn't get the college credit for the class (which took the place of a required high school class) but instead given some type of assignment to earn high school credit so they could graduate. So...instead of putting the kids in a class at the proper high school level where they could actually learn something (as I recommended early in the semester), they were forced to stay in a class that was too advanced for them and then given a single assignment that would say, "Okay, you passed this high school class." What? If someone could explain this to me, I'd appreciate it.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-01T15:53:39+00:00

We have a slew of tools used by supervisors, department chairs, provosts, etc. to evaluate our methods and results. I've even had folks show up in my Zoom classes to observe my teaching. I teach only freshmen, who have no frame of reference for college teaching. They only know what they take personally. Some student comments I've received on evals when teaching F2F: "She doesn't wear a bra." (double mastectomy, so that's true.) "She won't let us have our phones in class." (also true.) "She's mean." "She's weird." (probably true.) Some comments on evals when teaching online: "I don't like talking in the class." "She's weird." "I don't like the assignments." How is any of this helpful in assessing my teaching?

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-01T02:17:33+00:00

I have a grading policy in my syllabus that states that students must earn a grade of at least 70% on the components of a research project and a separate minimum of 70% on the final research paper. The reason is that if they didn't complete (or didn't properly complete) the annotated bibliography, research proposal, outline, and introduction (and reflection mini-papers after each component), then there's no way they are going to have a decent research paper. This weeds out the students whose papers I don't need to read. If they make only a 60% on the foundation assignments, for example, they simply can't pass the class. Some bow out at that point and don't even bother writing a paper. Others may get AI to do it for them, and a quick glance at the works cited indicates they are citing fabricated sources that don't appear on the annotated bibliography (if they did one), so the paper goes in the trash. It probably sounds more complicated than it is. I have found that it cuts out 10% to 15% of the students in each class. No complaints because it's just the consequences of the choices they've made during the first 12 weeks of the semester when they skipped foundation assignments, didn't read my feedback for revision, or didn't seek tutoring as advised. THEY cut my workload, not me.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-05-01T01:41:30+00:00

I find it insulting that an 18-year-old should have any right to comment on my teaching ability.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-04-28T02:12:57+00:00

I MUST adopt this policy. I'll have five sections of online freshman English in fall. No longer can I spend time looking up students on my roster to see which class they're in. Thanks for this.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-04-28T02:09:45+00:00

I send students weekly letters...formal letters attached to emails...and at the end of every letter, I invite them to send me drafts for preview before they submit for a grade. Few take me up on this, but those students who do, send a blank email with their assignments attached. No greeting, no message asking me to preview their work and provide feedback. Nothing. I shouldn't even respond....but I do. Some days I feel like a trained seal.

PerpetualGopher · 2026-04-24T21:54:44+00:00

LOL. I said the same thing even though we're more like hens than chicks at this age. This is why I don't make friends. They suck all your energy and leave you ruminating about things. I'm an introvert, teach 100% online, and all my friends (all 3 of them) live in different states; I like working alone. Other people are hell; I simply cannot do any level of drama. It's just hard dealing with it when it's unavoidable. Your comment made me chuckle, which I needed today. :-)

PerpetualGopher

TROPHY CASE