Re: I've been accused of giving those "easy As"

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Well said marjory!

On 9/25/10, marjoryt wrote:
> During my years as a student and then instructor, I found that
> some professors are not in touch with their students.
> Consequently, miscommunication ensues. Students vastly prefer
> to be in a class learning something - they don't want to just
> sit. However, they grow frantic and flee in large numbers if
> they perceive the instructor is:
> - assuming that only the student in that major should make good
> grades, or that only students who are honor students are worthy
> of making good grades or that athletes can't be good students or
> that a bad grade on a test means the student is lazy
> - and I've heard my coworkers say these things while at
> lunch -
> - not updating the information - obviously hasn't changed the
> notes, refuses to provide real world examples, continues to
> throw up overhead slide after overhead slide
> - not responsive to how today's students learn - these students
> want to do something with the information, not just listen,
> read, and then test
> - seeming to enjoy throwing difficult assignments to students
> with very little warning and no examples - these students ALWAYS
> want examples
> - treating the students as if they should be stamping out
> projects and essays and reports in a factory - no flexibility
> for due dates, methods of presentation. For example, if a
> student doesn't have the draft by Tuesday, the student earns an
> automatic F for the entire assignment with no make up
> opportunity - 2 of my coworkers do this frequently and believe
> they are weeding out the poor students.
>
> I've been accused by some of my younger colleagues of being
> an "easy A." I simply laugh in their faces. My department
> chair does the same thing. More of my students make As and Bs,
> but that's because I'm using mastery instruction, not easier
> assignments. I'm monitoring student performance and tweaking
> the course to ensure the most students are learning at the
> success level - B and above.
>
> Students, in my opinion, don't look for "easy" as much as they
> look for "reasonable expectation of making a decent grade."
 

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