Excuse Files: unbelievable??

Dear Prof: I haven't been able to do my classwork for the past 2 weeks because my girlfriend moved in with me and she's always talking to me so I can't do my work. Everytime I get on the computer she starts talking and talking and talking. When she's not talking, the baby is crying or the dog is barking. I just can't do my work. Last weekend I moved in with my brother and now my girlfriend lives in my apartment and she won't give me my computer. I'm using my brother's computer but I can get you my work as soon as I get my computer back from my girlfriend.

Professor thinks: Hmmmmmm….. and you can't do your homework on the same computer you're using right now to email me all these excuses.

Rubrics: effective or not?

I will confess to having mixed feelings about rubrics and that is strongly influenced by the specific rubrics. When I design rubrics, the descriptors are very specific. For example:

Discussion posting instructions: Write two paragraphs explaining …. Blah blah blah.

Rubric descriptor: A paragraph has 6-8 sentences; sentences have 5-10 words; every paragraph begins and ends with student’s own words; each paragraph includes material from sources cited properly in the middle of the paragraph; each paragraph has a topic sentence, body sentences, and a transitional concluding sentence.

What I usually see is more along these lines in regard to just the topic sentence:

Rubric descriptor for excellent score: strong main idea is clear
Rubric descriptor for good score: adequate main idea is mostly clear
Rubric descriptor for average score: main idea is unclear
Rubric descriptor for poor score: main idea is not stated in the paragraph

I have no clue what this means and neither do students. Vague words like clear, adequate, strong, weak, and so forth mean nothing when students are attempting to meet the criteria of the rubric. The only descriptor that includes concrete language is the last one (poor performance).

I prefer to write my own rubrics. I use a descriptor that includes specific criteria and then the scoring is as follows: Excellent – all criteria met; Good – 4/5 criteria met; Average: 3/5 criteria met; Poor – less than three criteria met.

First of all, it is far easier to create a rubric with a descriptor and then scores based on how many criteria are met. Second, students see precisely what they need to do in order to get a top score. And third, grading is so much easier and is NOT subjective in any way. So that means no irate questions about why the prof assessed the student’s work as “weak or unclear” when the student thinks it is perfectly fine.

Do you use rubrics? Are they effective or not?

Excuse Files: my laptop is broken again

Dear Professor,

I am so sorry not to have emailed you before now. Someone broke into my car and stole my stereo and dvd player plus all my cds and my cell phone. They spilled a soda on my laptop and the keyboard still won’t work. This is the first time I've had a chance to email you. Is it too late to make up the work I've missed?

Professor thinks: Ummm …. didn't they steal the laptop, too? And how are you sending this email exactly?

Excuse Files: my laptop is broken

Dear Professor: I know I've missed three weeks of work but my laptop broke when I was doing my homework on the kitchen table and a mouse ran across the kitchen floor. When I jumped up on the table I knocked the chair over and it hit the laptop, which fell off the table and broke. Can I make up the missed work?

Professor thinks: Uh huh …. And in three weeks you couldn't get to campus or a library to email and let me know about this?

Do you teach writing?

You might think that you teach a subject other than English but I guarantee that you teach writing in some manner or another. The primary ways we do this are:

1. Send poorly written papers back ungraded, require the student to visit the Writing Center and rewrite the paper without grammar and mechanics errors.
2. Give a grade minus a percentage of points for poorly written work (usually with a note instructing the student to visit the Writing Center).
3. Mark up the paper, showing students where they need to improve in grammar and mechanics. On subsequent work, either take off more points or proceed to #1.

I used to do all or some combination of these. Now I don’t have to. My primary university subscribes to Grammarly for students and now I required two Grammarly reports with every written assignment. The first is done when they THINK they have finished proofreading and are ready to turn in the paper. The second report is run after they have made the changes indicated on the first report. They turn in these reports with their written assignment.

All I can say is WOW this has cut down on my grading time significantly! What do you do in regards to students’ writing in your classes?