GREETINGS,
below you will find the information you need to complete Reading Packet #3 for next week.
I also wanted to address an issue that I have felt very uncomfortable about since yesterday's class. Likewise, a few students have also discussed their uncomfortableness with me. The issue surrounds the topic of fairness and responsibility. I clearly stated in my course outline, and again in class during the first week, that in class work could not be made up. However, for reasons I am not completely sure of, I relented yesterday and allowed those who had come unprepared to complete Journal 1 and submit it late.
After much anxiety, I have decided to adhere to my original policies regarding student responsibility and preparedness for class. Those students who were unable to complete the journal will not be able to turn the journal in late. I am sure that those who found themselves in this situation will agree that it is the right thing to do. And I apologize to the majority of students who came prepared for my momentary weakness--because it really IS, bottom line, a fairness issue.
READING ASSIGNMENT FOR WEDNESDAY
The following link will lead you to...Reading Packet #3, due to be read by Wednesday.
"Assessing and Managing Depression in the Terminally Ill Patient"
http://focus.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/3/2/310
It is an article published in the spring of 2005 in The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry.
It APPEARS at first glance to be very "academic"--however--do not fret. It is actually very readable and quite interesting. It offers case studies to consider which always aids in a rather academic topic such as this one.
Walter is obviously affected by his knowledge that he is terminally ill and so it is rather interesting to follow this idea further from television "land" to reality.
Do those who were not prepared for Journal 1 still have to submit the assignment even though it is late?
ReplyDeleteI ask because you mentioned in class that even though an assignment can receive a "zero" it still has to be turned in to satisfy the word count requirement for this course.
When I announced in class that all assignments must be completed whether or not they have already earned a failing grade, I was referring only to the out of class essays, since they are the "bulk" of the writing in the course. (See the excerpt below from the course outline)
ReplyDelete5. After the due date, a late essay loses 10 points for every day it’s late, including weekends. NOT submitting an out of class essay is NOT an option. The English dept. requires that you write an approximate number of words in this course. The out of class essays provide a large part of the word count requirement.
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ReplyDeleteWell I don't think it's the right thing to do. You said to the whole class that people could turn in the assignment later. Now you are going to take it back? That's not fair to us either professor. Especially if we have taken the time to do the assignment already.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThere should be some kind of compromise because it is unfair to the students who were misguided by your words on Wednesday. If you had stated this in class at the time maybe the students who had not finished watching episode 4 could have at least written something down to get points.
ReplyDeleteTo Jackie any other student who feels similarly...
ReplyDeleteagain, I was really caught off guard on Wednesday when I discovered students came to class unprepared; that never happened last semester. I was wrong to relent on the policy I state in the course outline. It is a contract of sorts. So going back to the original stated policy, in my view, IS the right thing to do.
As far as you taking the time to do the assignment and now finding out that I will not accept it is a moot point--you had to watch episode 4 anyway, with or without the journal assignment.
Also, no points would have been earned if students HAD written "something down" even if they had not viewed the episode. The response had to be based on the prompt.
So, yes, bottom line, I am taking back my announcement that this journal could be made up by students who came to class unprepared.
I do not agree and I still think it's unfair but of course I can't do anything about it. See you Monday.
ReplyDeleteHello Prof. Fraga,
ReplyDeleteI see you most recent post and I understand that in this arena, you set the rules. It is not a democracy. However you did establish a verbal contact with us on Weds. that superceded your written syllabus. Based upon that contract, I obligated myself to finding, securing and viewing that episode. I then wrote the essay with in the parameters of time and space that you dictated.
I did not attend that Friday's class due to extreme weather ,it was a choice and I will stand by that choice. Safety over class attendance. I realize the choice that I made will impact my grade by 1/4 (200-50) I still ask you to honor your contract to accept this one time only my late essay. Dock me points but accept the word count, as that was the point and goal of the exercise.
I will see you in class this morning.
BTW, I have been monitoring your blog and you made no mention that we were to see this episode. I know that the syllabus stated that we were but after the cancellation of class it seemed uncertain that you would be adhering to the syllabus in a strict sense.
Perhaps it would be benifital to list on your blog any changes to the schedule particularly the viewing of episodes. If that had been done I would have secured a copy and been ready for class when the assignment was presented with no break in your policy . It would have been a very fair thing to do.
Thank you,
Sherri Lum-Alarcon
Hi Sherilyn,
ReplyDeletethanks for your commentary, but I am still going to stand by my written policy found in the course outline. Again, it was poor judgment for me to make the concession I did spur of the moment, as I have already explained above.
As far as using the blog to inform students of changes to the course outline, that is exactly what I do use it for. Since there was no change in the course outline for that Friday, I did not make note of any changes. Episode 4 was scheduled to be viewed. As stated in the course outline, if one misses class, they are still responsible for what was missed--in this case, episode 4. The schedule did not change so I did not feel any reminder was necessary. Those who do not attend class do not get a different "due" date than the rest of the class who attended.
Your concern about word count has been addressed above in my comment on March 3rd.
Once again, I admit my error...I was really taken aback and put on the spot, thus my poor decision that I ultimately retracted.