I know I'm going to sound way older than I actually am, but this text-messaging business is the current bane of my teaching existence. The 2007-08 academic year, for the first time, saw me add an automatic point deduction policy to my syllabus for students who are caught text-messaging in class. This will not be the first (or best) text-messaging story. I had already sent a warning e-mail to this student about seeing her texting in class. Two weeks later, I saw the long looks into her lap all throughout class. (Yeah, yeah, we've all made the jokes about other things students could be doing with their hands in their laps.) I saw the cell phone in her lap as class ended. I went back to my office and sent her the penalty e-mail. A few hours later, I received an e-mail from the student insisting that she wasn't text-messaging and that she "pay[s] attention and take[s] notes throughout class." (She also added a less-than-advised, "I wish you would have noticed that instead of my phone" to the end of the message.) I replied with a request that she come talk to me in my office. When she came to my office, I told her that I would take her at her word that she was not texting in class and that she had taken my warning e-mail seriously. However, I told her I took issue with her saying that she pays attention and takes notes throughout class given that I also saw her with her head down and eyes closed on the day in question.
She said that she was unlikely in REM sleep and that she was probably mentally taking notes.
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3 comments:
I can back her up on that, that's how I took notes a lot of the time for early morning Physics lectures. Except that I was at home in bed.
I should have suggested that's how she take her "notes."
hey...how about that. I just took notes for your class from here.
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