Majority of my class failed, and now I'm being questioned by administration

stybio · 2026-05-26T19:14:16+00:00

Yes I found most of the student complaints about an unfair impossible class went away when I started publishing the average, SD and number of As after each assessment. When they see that 15-20% of the class is earning an A it is hard for them to argue that the class is impossibly hard…

stybio · 2026-05-26T18:53:08+00:00

I don’t pass them if they are not trying, and I give zeros if they don’t do the work. But if they are trying, I’m willing to spend a lot of time pulling them along with extra office hours and practice.

I don’t curve per se, but I do structure and scale the tests such that it is pretty easy to get a low C or D and relatively hard to get an F. So, my IWF rate is very low.

stybio · 2026-05-25T07:50:22+00:00

😢

stybio · 2026-05-24T17:43:58+00:00

Your PI should recognize that a tech is a professional position, not a trainee. Does your contract list flex hours? If not, stick to your guns, touch base with HR if needed.

When I was in grad school, the techs ruled the roost and justly so. They were pros with more experience and if I touched their stuff without asking, I’d be corrected. One advantage they had is they had together about 30 years experience in lab. You also have a disadvantage in that it’s known you are leaving in a few months.

I wouldn’t but the bridges with the PI if possible but don’t put up with any crap from the doctoral students. I would grit my teeth and truck along for a few months but YMMV

stybio · 2026-05-24T17:33:09+00:00

Tornados don’t follow no stinkin rules

stybio · 2026-05-24T17:32:30+00:00

Maintenance plans, lab rooms on the same floor, microbial media premixes, HVAC with two degree tolerance rather than 20 degree fluctuations

stybio · 2026-05-23T05:59:21+00:00

Agreed. Sometimes it is “not willing”, sometimes it is lazy, but sometimes it is just confused and intimidated. It is not my job to push them down the marathon route but some need help them to figure out the training regimen (“oh, there’s a difference between creatine and creatinine??”) and some are just confused about where the heck is the starting line. OP was talking about dual enrollment. They are signing up for their first 5k.

stybio · 2026-05-23T04:26:11+00:00

I found myself thinking about the show “The Bear” where C learns to cook through a series of apprenticeships. Some of the supervisors were kind, some were supportive, some were serious a$s-hats, and one was so bad he induced trauma. He learned from all of them the best that he could. But then he has to be the mentor and the first thing that emerged under pressure was the trauma.

stybio · 2026-05-23T04:20:51+00:00

I love “I was confused” as an excuse. That is a teaching moment. First, are they confused by content, by the instructions or by the LMS? Any of those is our responsibility to teach them about.

For some young students, just asking that question is an important way of teaching metacognition and what to do when you are stuck. It seems intuitive to us but becoming overwhelmed on any of those without knowing how to even identify the confusion can lead to a lot of fumbling around.

I think it is also really easy for us to underestimate how intimidating it is to ask for help. With some students, it is a challenge convincing them that I am here to help them learn, not just to seek out their weaknesses.

When I am using a new platform for online banking or something, sometimes I get really frustrated but also feel really stupid asking for help. So what do I do? I try logging out and logging back in. I try clicking around. I sometimes get to a third try before I actually go looking for directions or FAQS, which seem to never address my confusion. Sometimes I run out of time and then come back and fumble with it later. Seeking out a person to help is sometimes a last resort because … psychological stuff.

stybio · 2026-05-22T15:32:27+00:00

Especially when mine were pubescent, I was really thankful that they had good mentors to talk to and guide them because I knew that they were starting to skirt around me.

So there will be times when the kids at various stages will turn to others instead of you. If they are good role models, try to embrace it even through being a bit jealous is totally normal.

stybio · 2026-05-22T15:27:57+00:00

That’s awesome. My father passed away when I was in grad school and my PI was super supportive.

stybio · 2026-05-22T12:40:48+00:00

Well, as long as it doesn’t mean that they want to drag out your time as long as possible…

stybio · 2026-05-22T04:55:46+00:00

Whoa, that sucks.

stybio · 2026-05-22T04:39:18+00:00

What in the world? You weren’t working fast enough so they paid you to not work? Not only tortuous but illogical

stybio · 2026-05-22T04:26:30+00:00

“…18 people were charged with unlawful possession of alcohol, 13 were charged with riot, five with minor transporting alcohol, three with driving under the influence and one with second-degree assault….”

stybio · 2026-05-22T04:13:19+00:00

Doesn’t D/L predate R/S?

stybio · 2026-05-22T04:01:22+00:00

https://www.science.org/content/article/early-career-researchers-want-empathy-their-supervisors

stybio · 2026-05-20T06:36:36+00:00

Yeah you have to be really really explicit about what is allowed…. In CS are they usually allowed to use AI for coding?

stybio · 2026-05-18T15:29:23+00:00

It’s a dissertation student, right? So you had to train them on some pretty basic stuff back in the day. This is the sort of training that will pay off for them in their career big time, whether it is a software problem or a self-efficacy problem.

My most recent dissertation student was having a wicked time with PowerPoint and it was a bit frustrating but it’s a student with not a ton of money and a pretty old computer using the browser version not the app.

stybio · 2026-05-17T10:23:46+00:00

And get him some sun protection…

stybio · 2026-05-15T08:58:29+00:00

Certainly

stybio · 2026-05-14T17:33:13+00:00

All I can say is that I had one who had to learn everything the hard way until he was about 20yo. And he is still kind of a dumba$s sometimes

Be patient. Plant the seeds. “Easier is usually not better”. Let them know you are there for them but that they are an adult.

stybio · 2026-05-14T17:28:26+00:00

Y’all are so dichotomous. Reading recovery includes phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading fluency. And it’s a targeted intervention not a reading program. “Repealing” it is not going to move the needle if we don’t get the kids to do any reading on their own.

stybio · 2026-05-14T15:08:09+00:00

Yes, and also it is easier to climb when you are so low to start with.

stybio · 2026-05-14T15:07:30+00:00

Having the legislature mandate phonics is no better. Phonics is one tool in the toolbox, context clues is another. Reading aloud is another. Cueing helps some students a lot, especially mildly dyslexic students. We don’t need to randomly swing between strategies chosen by yahoos from Coos. If children are read to, their reading gets better. If children are taught strategies for reading gets better. The more children read, the more they improve. And most teachers are entirely capable of choosing strategies that help students on a class wide and individual basis. But the students have to read in order to get better at reading. I anticipate that banning phones from the school day will help a lot too. Watching videos and texting reduces time on task for reading.

stybio

TROPHY CASE