UPDATE! Who's surprised?

Back in August I mentioned a student who had outed himself as someone who might not be one to put much effort into the class. I'm not saying that I pulled a Nostradamus here, but I'd just like to say that my prediction was correct. He received a 'D' in the class. Vegas would not have been giving odds on that one.

FYI

I'm not sure that there could be a more perfect story than Twilight. Sure, I understand the criticisms that the book is not the most well-written. But still. It's not the language that makes the book (although it's not as awful as some say); it's the story and the characters. Hoo boy, I love me some vampire/human love.

And, yes, I am over the age of 13.

The end of the semester is always fruitful

Student sends me this e-mail over the weekend:

"I was wondering if you could tell me what grades I received on the paper and journal article review."

Um, the student didn't turn in either of these assignments. I just really wonder what's going through her head before/during/after sending that e-mail. Did she honestly forget that she didn't turn those in? Or is she really thinking that sending that e-mail will imply that she turned in the assignments and it's my error that I don't have them in my possession? Given that she was absent on the day the latter assignment was due, I'm not sure her trickery would get very far with me.

Again!

Okay, I really have to stop responding to the limp noodle hand-raise.

Twice last week, I called on students who weren't raising their hands because I can't freaking tell. One of the student's hands really looked like it was raised and that one was particularly annoying. Since she stayed in that position after I called on her and she told me she didn't have her hand up, I asked the class to turn around and tell me if it looked like her hand up. Nothing better than getting the students to gang up on one of their own.

What's the deal...

...with the trend for students to "raise" their hands by leaning their elbow on their desk and putting their hand in the air? Sometimes, they barely raise their hands off the desk. I can't tell you how many times I ask students if they're raising their hands when they're not because I can't tell the difference anymore between a student who's raising his/her hand and a student who is playing with his/her hair or pencil or the air.

I blame me, though. If I stop responding to students who raise their hands this way, they'll learn that they need to stick that puppy straight up to be recognized.

They think if they ask, they'll receive.

My students' exam is scheduled for 3:15 this afternoon. At around 11:00 this morning, a student came to my office and asked if she could take her exam at a later date. She wasn't sick. Her grandmother hadn't died last night or this morning. Nothing. She just wanted extra time to study. Needless to say, I denied that request.

And, of course, she asked me the chapters that the exam--in 4 hours--was going to be covering. I do not see this going well for her.

A classic.

This is a question that every professor gets multiple times each semester but it never fails to piss me off and amuse me at the same time.

An e-mail from a student on Wednesday said, "I need to leave for home on Thursday morning if possible, and I would miss class that afternoon. I wanted to make sure I would not miss anything too important during class. I have arranged to get the notes I will miss from a student already. However, if I am going to miss anything major in class, I will have to stay. "

Now, this is phrased slightly more nicely than the typical, but all professors love the "Am I going to miss anything important" question. No, we do nothing important in class ever. You should be fine. Take off the rest of the semester.