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I would agree to a request to keep a phone on vibrate...but I will accept a student's excuse of family illness or death in the family without prodding or prying. I wouldn't lie about that, and it's hard for me to imagine other people lying about it, either. Heck, I believed my student until her granny yelled "I ain't dead yet!" to her mom.
I'd rather not add to a student's stress at a bad time, so I'll suspend my doubt and accept the excuse.
One of the hardest things I ever had to do: I had a night class, and one of the most popular students in the class died on the way to school (stopped at an intersection on a non-Interstate four-lane to make a left turn, and in the dusk a semi driver mistook the left-turn lane for the fast lane and rear-ended her little car).
I got called out of the class about thirty minutes in and was told of my student's death. I wrestled with whether or not to tell the class, but they klnew from my demeanor that something bad had happened, and so I told them. It was a two-hour class, but for the next hour and a half we had an impromptu memorial service, talking about our classmate and what she had meant to us.
I told that story once to some teachers from another school, and one of them snorted, "Huh! If I lost one of my students, I'd just say, 'Thank God for small favors' and go on teaching."
See, that's what I don't want to be.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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-------------------- My mom, about my nervousness with Jeopardy!: "Don't worry about it. Just get drunk and you'll do fine." Blog Just call me Mickey 2 Posts: 3295 | From: Radford, VA/Herndon, VA/Orlando, FL | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by The Ota Faction: French 101 done! I swear, I must be the only person on Earth who tries to remember French conjugations, but end up with Spanish conjugations; I haven't taken Spanish in 14 years, and I have to have it stuck in my head now?!
No, you're not the only one. When I get stuck for a word in one language, I'll remember it in the other language, but not the one I need.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Brad from Georgia: One of the hardest things I ever had to do: I had a night class, and one of the most popular students in the class died on the way to school (stopped at an intersection on a non-Interstate four-lane to make a left turn, and in the dusk a semi driver mistook the left-turn lane for the fast lane and rear-ended her little car).
I got called out of the class about thirty minutes in and was told of my student's death. I wrestled with whether or not to tell the class, but they klnew from my demeanor that something bad had happened, and so I told them. It was a two-hour class, but for the next hour and a half we had an impromptu memorial service, talking about our classmate and what she had meant to us.
I told that story once to some teachers from another school, and one of them snorted, "Huh! If I lost one of my students, I'd just say, 'Thank God for small favors' and go on teaching."
See, that's what I don't want to be.
Why on earth did that individual chose the teaching profession?
My mother passed away last year while I was taking a graduate course. However, the library program is a small one and since I already work in the field and know many of the professors from conventions and such, a lie would be quickly caught out.
Not many students who lie to get passes probably make it to grad school, anyway.
-------------------- So many books, so little time. Posts: 1192 | From: McDonough, Georgia | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by The Ota Faction: French 101 done! I swear, I must be the only person on Earth who tries to remember French conjugations, but end up with Spanish conjugations; I haven't taken Spanish in 14 years, and I have to have it stuck in my head now?!
No, you're not the only one. When I get stuck for a word in one language, I'll remember it in the other language, but not the one I need.
In German class once, when stumped for an answer, I responded, "Je ne sais pas."
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
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A family member passed away the week before finals this year (on thanksgiving). During that week all the term papers and final assignments were due. Since I was going to the funeral, I emailed my professors and told them I would be handing my work in early. They all offered an extension but I wouldn't feel right doing that.
Also, where does a professor draw the line in terms of importance? I mean, my 2nd cousin-great-aunt twice removed passing away is probably really different than an immediate family member. But how is a professor to know that I wasn't raised by my uncle or something?
Posts: 336 | From: Currently: Jakarta Indonesia Australia Belgium Berkeley CA > Lima Peru< | Registered: May 2002
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One of the hardest things I ever had to do: I had a night class, and one of the most popular students in the class died on the way to school (stopped at an intersection on a non-Interstate four-lane to make a left turn, and in the dusk a semi driver mistook the left-turn lane for the fast lane and rear-ended her little car).
I got called out of the class about thirty minutes in and was told of my student's death. I wrestled with whether or not to tell the class, but they klnew from my demeanor that something bad had happened, and so I told them. It was a two-hour class, but for the next hour and a half we had an impromptu memorial service, talking about our classmate and what she had meant to us.
I had to do something like that this year. I teach 8th grade and a very popular 6th grade teacher here collapsed while grading papers after school one day. She had to have emergency surgery, but died afterwards. The next day we had to tell all of our students. As a teacher, that was the most difficult thing I had to do. We spent the whole day talking about her and writing cards for her family.
My one thought was that, "The last thing she did on earth was grading papers." That's not the way I want to go.
WRT the topic about exams...teaching middle school, I don't have much of a problem with students skipping out on exams.
Our district doesn't have exams until January 20, so I've got a ways to go yet. I sure hope my kids study this year I let them use notes and everything, and I still haven't had one ace my exam after 12 years!!
-------------------- KB
It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. -Rene Descartes Posts: 12 | From: Las Vegas, NV | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Originally posted by The Ota Faction: French 101 done! I swear, I must be the only person on Earth who tries to remember French conjugations, but end up with Spanish conjugations; I haven't taken Spanish in 14 years, and I have to have it stuck in my head now?!
No, you're not the only one. When I get stuck for a word in one language, I'll remember it in the other language, but not the one I need.
In German class once, when stumped for an answer, I responded, "Je ne sais pas."
I took French and German at the same time. The only confusion in my mind came when I'd try to remember whether the "ss" in a French word took a scharfes-s.
-------------------- "Well, it looks we're on our own ... again."--Rev. Lovejoy Posts: 3572 | From: St. Louis, MO | Registered: Sep 2003
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That's the only confusion you had? I took German with French (though I'd already had quite a bit of French) and found myself doing all sorts of weird things. Does hier mean here or yesterday?
Then there's always "fun with flashcards," in which my weary brain would lose the English for the word in question, and I'd give up in exasperation after it supplied, for example, the French, Choctaw, and Greek for a Hebrew word, but not the English...
Avril
-------------------- There is no failure unless one stops. --Ray Bradbury Posts: 2115 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Aug 2002
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I posted this in the unhijackable thread, but I'm so proud of myself I'll put it here too:
I made straight A's! Woo!
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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Quantum/Physical Chemistry: A+ Materials Science: Semiconductor Processing: A+ Chemical Engineering: Unit Operations: A+ Hindu Mythology: Pass (grade is either pass or not pass)
Woohoo! My first all A+'s ever! (A+ is awarded to the person with the highest cumulative score in the class).
5th semester of all A's in a row! If it wasn't for freshman year where I got an A- and a B+ I would have a 4.0 ... oh well, losing it early took the pressure off so I've been pretty laid back since then.
Posts: 336 | From: Currently: Jakarta Indonesia Australia Belgium Berkeley CA > Lima Peru< | Registered: May 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Avril: That's the only confusion you had? I took German with French (though I'd already had quite a bit of French) and found myself doing all sorts of weird things. ...
Same thing here. I took French and German at the same time and one night I had a dream that I attacked and surrendered to myself.
OTOH, congrats on all those great grades, folks!
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:Originally posted by The Ota Faction: French 101 done! I swear, I must be the only person on Earth who tries to remember French conjugations, but end up with Spanish conjugations; I haven't taken Spanish in 14 years, and I have to have it stuck in my head now?!
I had taken Spanish in high school and college. Then, I decided to take Italian. On one homework assignment, I got it back and the prof had written "non e italiana" in several places. In my tiredness, I had done portions of the assignment in Spanish and not Italian.
-------------------- "My name is the symbol for my identity and must not be lost." Motto of the Lucy Stone League. Posts: 1815 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2004
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Well, final grades are in and I have somehow passed another semester of this program.. One of my compatriots, however, did not, and as such we are down to three (started with eight, this stuff is hard).
Got a month to kick back, work, do 48 hours worth of ER clinicals, and try to pass my NREMT-I exam.. "Fun"..
But still, only one semester left, now to focus on Christmas.
-------------------- "All people are responsible for the good that they didn't do" Posts: 4774 | From: Virginia | Registered: Feb 2004
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Snopes vibes really do work! I got my final grades back today, and I somehow managed to get an A in "Fundamentals of Investing" - the one class I was really struggling in, or so I thought. I was expecting a C and hoping for a B, but either I did better on the final exam than I thought, or the instructor threw actual numbers out the window and just assigned a letter. I'm certainly not about to go argue with him, so I guess I'll just keep my A and be happy with it.
So far, out of the 10 classes I've taken (about two per term since Spring '05), I've had nine A's and a B, which puts my GPA at 3.91 (I know it should be 3.90, but my transcript says 3.91 so that's what I'm going by). I don't think I've ever done this well in school, so I'm trying to keep it up (I graduated HS with a 3.5, but it was mainly due to easy Senior year classes, not any great effort on my part). Not to mention that since my company prepays my tuition, if I get a C, then I have to pay back 50% of the tuition as part of the agreement - now that's incentive.
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I let them use notes and everything, and I still haven't had one ace my exam after 12 years!!![[Wink]](wink.gif)
