iBeth

Responding to Final Exam Excuses

My husband sent me this joke in which a professor gets the last laugh.  Four students miss an exam due to partying, but they tell their professor they fell victim to a flat tire.  He agrees to let them take the exam a day late:

The guys were excited and relieved. They studied that night for the exam. The Professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem worth 5 points. Cool, they thought! Each one in separate rooms, thinking this was going to be easy....

Then they turned the page.

On the second page was written....

For 95 points: Which tire? _____

I love this story, even though it is obviously fictional.  (Where would a professor find four separate empty rooms during exam week?)  But I don't think the idea could be used in real life.  The students would protest the fact that so much of their grade was based on material not covered in class.  And even if they gave different answers, each would insist that he got it right and the other were wrong, and how could the professor say otherwise?  That story has "grade appeal" written all over it.

Excuses are always tough to deal with.  On one hand, no one wants to be played for a sucker.  On the other hand, tragedies do happen. 

For example, three of my 34 students in one class this semester had mothers die.  With the first two students, everything they said rang true.  From the third student, the excuse sounded a bit odd--without giving details, I just couldn't see how one circumstance led to the next, and it was coupled with a larger request--but I tried to respond with appropriate sympathy while requiring for evidence ("I'm so sorry to hear about this.  Of course you can retake the exam.  Just bring me some sort of documentation and explain how X led to Y, for example, did you have to travel to the hospital?  Then we'll figure out when you will be ready to take it.")  The evidence never showed up. A week later, the registrar contacted me about a hardship withdrawal for the third student, and I felt bad that I had doubted at all.  (Based on my experience, mothers of college-age students die far more often than fathers--very creepy.)

Emma Plays Teacher

As someone with lots of teachers in the family, I remember pretending to be a teacher as a child.  In fact, so many children do so that at work, we warn teacher hopefuls against using such memories as the focus of their application essays.  Pretending as a child to be a teacher doesn't really set you apart from your peers.

Still, I was delighted to see that when Emma pretended to be a teacher, she wrote out her teaching notes!

What Is Clifford Doing?

Amelia's new book, Clifford's First Easter, a gift from her grandma, features this thought-provoking illustration.  What is Clifford doing behind that milk carton?  I admit that my first thought wasn't terribly appetizing.  Find out what Clifford is really doing after the jump.

Free Ed Howdershelt

Awhile ago, I mentioned that Ed Howdershelt was a great author only available via e-book.  Well, this week at Fictionwise, you can download his 3rd World Products: Book 1 for free!  Enjoy . . . .