Senior Serious?

The last full week of classes of this school year is finally here. It is now Wednesday but I feel as though it should be Friday! Why? Well, there is one thing I did NOT plan on and that was the tenacity of seniors who have failed my course to come begging for a passing grade. It began on Monday, the day I administered finals....

Imagine the feeling you would have after completing your teaching for the day and then finally sitting down at your desk with a sigh, glad to have this tough day in the books. I sat through a very quiet 1st hour study hall. Then came my large Coop class 2nd hour where taking a 50 question scantron test for the class and writing answers to 5 questions for the work portion of the Coop final. It was a very rare quiet classroom that day. My 3rd hour Law class began reviewing for the final and was a good break from sitting waiting for students to finish exams. Then came my smaller 4th hour Coop class. Out of 10 students I was hoping for 8 to show. I had only 7. Two of my students who did NOT complete the project part of the final exam for Coop also did not show up to take the scantron part. One of them told me they weren't coming weeks earlier and in fact had only come to my class a total of 12 days all semester. The other has slowly dropped the ball in the last few weeks despite my many warnings that his grade was suffering. When I asked why he didn't do the project I was told "I don't know. I didn't want to." He often told me things such as "Its my time I will do with it what I want." Okay then. Your choice.

Shortly after I gave my 4th hour students the exam a student from my 2nd hour class came to ask why his grade was so low. Against my better judgment, I sat at a table in my classroom and walked him through why his final project grade was a D. During our conversation I agreed to give him a few more points after he explained why he did certain things. A VERY nice thing for me to do. He then wanted to see his class grade, so I showed him that and the few things he was missing. I should not have allowed him to make anything up - my deadline had passed, but I want people to do well and since their semester is technically not over until Tuesday, then I thought I'd give him a chance. I showed him in the textbook a missing assignment. I didn't want to leave my test-taking students alone in the room so I told this student to come back later that day and I'll give him another missing assignment. 3:15 came and that student did not come back. His choice.

That brings us to Tuesday, the last day for Seniors. Yesterday. I told students in my 2nd hour class that they could come see me after 4th hour to check on their grades. I wasn't going to deal with it during class (which is why I showed the end of The Blind Side so that I couldn't get on the computer). I made them banana bread as a congratulations to completing my course. Sure enough, the same student who came to see me on Monday came back up to my office 5th hour on Tuesday. I asked him why he didn't come back yesterday and he told me I didn't tell him to. Seems someone didn't listen very well! He then questioned a few other grades I had given him, including an extra credit assignment. I gave him a few more points, told him I was not going to give him any more missing assignments since he chose not to return. This turned into a 15 minute pleading spree which I retorted with a variant of the fact that his grade does not come down to the final it comes down to a semester of 5 months of work. Sitting now at a 59% with the extra points I had given him already, I refused to pass him with any more that he did not deserve. My department chair (D.C.) was in the room as was another teacher, although the D.C. had to walk out to prevent himself from laughing. Upon the end of that encounter my department chair walked in saying I was gonna be alright as a teacher. You bet I am!

Once again stressed out by the blatant and direct approach of a desperate student who can't take ownership of his own output over the course of the last 17 weeks I sat back thinking this was done. I ate the rest of my lunch. My two coworkers and I discussed the encounter and agreed I was right for standing my ground, although they both agreed I went further than I needed to by giving him a few more points and letting him turn in that last assignment. It wasn't more than 25 minutes later that my pleading student returned. More desperate than before. This was his THIRD TIME begging for a D. I held my ground I asked my student point blank did he study for quizzes, knowing the answer was probably a no with scores in the D and F range. He said no, he never studied. This time my D.C. had to speak up. He asked the student did he feel he did everything he could to meet the requirements of the class. It was a yes or no question. My student floundered and tried to explain his answer. He couldn't say yes and couldn't say no. Even reading this you can probably guess what the correct response was. He finally left after another 30 minutes of begging. I left the building for a bit to cool down (emotionally and physically - it was hot in the building!). I wasn't upset or angry but it does take a lot of emotion to deal with telling a student they screwed up!

And now it is Wednesday. No seniors. Only 1 class with students, another with just 2 students who already took finals for me. Easy, right? Almost.

I had just finished eating a big plate of pasta when one of the counselors came up to our office to say that a father had called him asking how his son was not graduating and that his son was on the way to come take finals. Do you recall the student who didn't come to my 4th hour class? It was him. Even by taking the scantron part of the final in my class, he would barely crack a 50%. Yet here was this counselor telling me the student was more than likely coming and that I, in not so many words, needed to do what it takes to give him the exam. I had planned to go visit a few employers for the last time and said I'd stay til 12pm. My D.C. and coworker were both in the room again. When the counselor left I wasn't sure what to do! Surprisingly the student showed up. I gave him the scantron and then my D.C. and I went down to talk to the Principal but she was in a meeting with the school Superintendent.

The student finished the scantron exam then I told him we should go talk to the Principal. He was afraid of her so he stayed upstairs. Another coworker drilled him on his study habits and asked where he was at while the rest of the seniors were in school taking their finals. He said he didn't think he needed it to graduate. Meanwhile, I sat down with my principal and asked her opinion. Honestly, she wasn't very helpful. I needed a solid answer and I can understand why she didn't want to tell me what to do. I had three choices. In the end, after 30+ minutes of discussion, I decided to let the student work on the final project and strive to get a good grade on it and perhaps pass my class. As a consequence he will not be able to attend commencement. This was a big deal to his family, according to the counselor, but I think its a fair trade for letting their son get their diploma. It's not really what I wanted to do but I also know it would be hard for me to deal with the fact that this kid has no chance to graduate through any other course (he had about a 14% grade in English) and I knew that he would probably not be successful in summer school since he was barely successful during my class this semester, or any other for that matter.

I've already built several things into my curriculum for next year that will prevent this type of last minute pleading from happening. Once every week I will go through grades with students during class time. Perhaps every Friday. I will not take late work after each quiz has passed. No questions asked. I will NOT change any grades once we reach the day of the final exam. No exceptions. I will try and call home more. And I've got a folder system already set up so that everything for my class goes into this folder in certain places and I will check these folders each chapter to be sure students are graded on being organized and prepared.

I'm hoping no further grade begging continues this week. I think heading out with a few fellow teachers for 1/2 price wine night is going to be just the thing I need to settle my mind and end the day. Not to mention prepare me for many a meal while feasting in Italy.

Thanks for reading. If you have any comments on what you would have done or what I can do to prevent such occurrences during the school year, please let me know. Have a great rest of the week. That's my goal!

KB