The class seems a little more awake this week, kind of like coming out of “hibernation,” and getting ready for summer. The room was a bit warm this week, and with two-hundred-some students in there, it got a bit warmer even. But, I think that keeping the bottom doors open helped, without letting in loud noises. The second exam scores were a bit lower compared with the first. I’m not exactly sure what this means/reveals, but hopefully by looking at the majority of questions that were were wrong, we can find out which material was messed up most. One girl, Ally M., who I know in class, came up to and asked if I could help her on the next exam. This was the day when we were starting new material, which surprised me. She had not even learned the new material yet, and was already doubting herself on it. I did not see that as a good sign.
The students who “missed” the exam this week brought up some discussion. I believe that if you forgot about the exam you cannot retake it. If this happened for an in-class exam, you would only be able to retake it if you had some type of family/personal emergency that had a note or fit as an exception for missing an exam. Otherwise, it was the own students’ responsibilities. The week before the exam, they had plenty of reminders that there was going to be one. They received two e-mails, one from their POD leader and one from Prof. Gurung, there were study groups on Thurs and Fri, Prof. Gurung mentioned the exam all week, and the week for the exam is on the syllabus (but not the times). As for the student whose Internet shut off, I would give them another chance, but try to investigate, to see how long they were taking the exam first. It really does not seem like the student would want to have to take all the time to find all of the answers and then take the exam again, and have to make up all these excuses. What I’m not sure of is whether or not you could copy and paste all the questions on Word or something??? And finally, the student whose grandparent died, I would let her take the exam. When a family member dies, everyone is focused on mourning and looking for support in others, and I can see how you can drift from your school work. But, I did agree with the other TA’s that she should have contacted you right away about her issue, instead of waiting until last minute. This should be mentioned to her.
I like what Prof. Gurung said about letting the students out early on Thursday. It is good to give the students their money’s worth in time and that going to the end of class shows you really care about their learning. But it is also good, as you put it, to be “human,” and give the students a break now and then. This will not reinforce them that you are going to slack off for the rest of the semester and they can skip class/be let our early a lot, but that you understand many students are busy right now, and everyone needs a break. Plus, if a class ends early, it seems to make a lot of students’ days. 🙂